Patriots are rare 20-point favorites against Colts

The winless Indianapolis Colts have been slapped around all over the NFL. Why shouldn’t Las Vegas do the same?

The Colts are 20-point underdogs to New England on Sunday, a gargantuan spread by NFL standards.

According to R.J. Bell of Pregame.com, this is only the 10th time in the modern era that an NFL team has been favored by 20 or more points, and the first since 2007.

In fact, four of the previous nine instances came with the Patriots in 2007, when New England became the first team to finish the regular season 16-0. (The 1972 Miami Dolphins, the league’s only “perfect” team, played a 14-game regular season.)

Only three franchises have ever been 20-plus-point favorites -- New England, San Francisco and Buffalo -- and those clubs went 9-0 straight up but just 2-7 against the spread.

The biggest favorites to lose a game straight up were the Washington Redskins in 1995, when they fell to Dallas despite being favored by 17 1/2 points. Favorites of 15 points or more have won 104 of 110 games straight up.

Unwavering

Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin didn’t need any more incentive to beat the Bengals, seeing as his Steelers are tied atop the AFC with Baltimore at 8-3, but here’s a little more: He’s one victory away from becoming the sixth coach since 1970 to win at least nine games in each of his first five seasons.

The head coaches to win at least nine games in each of their first five seasons since 1970, according to the NFL (*active):

HEAD COACH TEAM(S) No.
George Seifert San Francisco 8
Mike Holmgren Green Bay, Seattle 8
Bill Cowher Pittsburgh 6
Chuck Knox L.A. Rams 5
Mike Sherman Green Bay 5
Mike Tomlin Pittsburgh 4*

Air-traffic control

If Saints quarterback Drew Brees were to throw for at least 311 yards against Detroit on Sunday, he would become the NFL’s first quarterback to reach 4,000 yards passing in the first 12 games of a season. That’s well within reach: He’s averaging 335.4 yards per game.

With 3,689 yards through 11 games, Brees is on pace to break Dan Marino’s single-season passing record of 5,084 yards, set in 1984.

In a conference call with reporters who cover the Lions, Brees conceded that getting the record “would mean a lot” -- a distant second to winning games, of course -- and reminded them he’s traveled this path before.

“We kind of went through this whole process back in 2008 when we were 15 yards short of the record,” he said. “It seemed like every week, people would bring it up. From like the fourth game of the season all the way to the last game. It was like every week we were answering those questions and thinking about it.”

It bears retweeting

“If you had told NBC folk in April that they’d flex out of Colts-Pats to put the Lions on instead, they’d have told you that you were insane.” (@RichEisen)

sam.farmer@latimes.com