The 2017 NFL season kicks off Thursday night with the Kansas City Chiefs traveling to Foxborough to take on the defending Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots.

The line opened at Patriots -7, meaning Vegas expects Tom Brady and company to win by a touchdown, but it's since gone up to -9. That's significant since almost 10 percent of NFL games end on seven.

The Over-Under, or total number of points projected to be scored, stands at 48.5, up a half-point from where it opened. Given it's the NFL Kickoff Game, it'll be one of the most-bet-on and most-watched games of the season. Average Joes and experienced pros alike will have a stake on the outcome.

Before you make any bets on a game like this, you'll want to hear what SportsLine Senior Analyst Larry Hartstein has to say.

He had his finger on the pulse of Patriots football last season. In November, Hartstein jumped on the lowly Jets plus-8.5 points and Gang Green led the Pats until a Brady TD pass with 1:56 left. The result: a 22-17 New England win and an easy Jets cover.

It was one of his seven straight wins on NFL picks involving the Patriots. That's unheard of. Hartstein will try to make it eight straight in Thursday's game and is sharing what he's picking over at SportsLine.

Hartstein knows there are plenty of questions heading into the Patriots-Chiefs game. Patriots No. 1 wideout Julian Edelman tore his ACL in the preseason and is out for the year, but New England signed Brandin Cooks in the off-season. Chiefs RB Spencer Ware tore his PCL and LCL in the same week, leaving unproven third-round draft pick Kareem Hunt to carry the load.

The last time these teams met, in a 2016 playoff game, New England won 27-20 at home. And Andy Reid, starting his fifth year with Kansas City, has never been this big of an underdog with the Chiefs.

However, Hartstein knows New England is used to covering big spreads -- the Pats went 15-3-1 against the spread last year while facing super-inflated lines. And the Pats are 18-6-2 ATS in their last 26 games at Gillette Stadium. And did we mention Rob Gronkowski is healthy? Gronk torched K.C. for seven catches, 83 yards, and two TDs in the January 2016 playoff win.

Hartstein thinks Patriots vs. Chiefs is going to be a relatively low-scoring game that will likely go Under, but there's one team he thinks is the strong play to put your money on.

So which side of Patriots-Chiefs should you take? Visit SportsLine now to see what huge x-factor determines the NFL Kickoff Game, and whether the Patriots can cover as massive eight-point favorites, all from the expert who's nailed seven straight Patriots games, and find out.