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Steven Senne/Associated Press

Super Bowl odds: 5-1

What they are considered: The prohibitive favorites to crush everything in their path and win the Super Bowl.

What they really are: The slight favorites to crush everything in their path and win the Super Bowl.

Now, 5-1 odds aren't all that impressive. The Golden State Warriors, for example, are getting 4-7 odds to win next year's NBA championship, meaning you need to bet $100 to win $57, meaning the house wants you to bet the Warriors about as much as your local coffee shop wants you to sit around all day taking advantage of their free refill policy. At 5-1, the Patriots are a rather enticing wager.

But the Patriots are getting 1-7 odds to win the AFC East. No, those numbers are not reversed: You need to bet $7 on the Patriots to win their division if you want to win one buck. Treasury bonds have higher interest rates.

Those odds are both an endorsement of the Patriots and an indictment of the Jets and Bills, who have taken the low 'n slow barbecue approach to rebuilding, and the Dolphins, who have spent a decade trying to bail their boat by drilling holes to let the water out.

The Patriots are still very, very good. They are also thin at many positions (including quarterback), old at others (particularly quarterback) and moody and disgruntled at a few (you get the idea). They only resemble the overwhelming force of nature we have grown to know and tolerate because the names above the marquee remain the same.

In the NFC, the Patriots would be just one of seven or eight viable Super Bowl contenders. But as long as most of the AFC is cowed by their mere presence, the Patriots can use their VIP passes to cut to the front of the line.

Tom Brady will get old one of these years. This may or may not be the year. But you don't want to lay 1-7 odds that it won't be.