There were plenty of opinions, many of them skeptical, when the New England Patriots traded for WR Randy Moss last offseason.

So, the Los Angeles Times decided to take a closer look at how Moss has fit in so well with the Pats this season. Among those quoted in their feature are Patriots owner Robert Kraft.

"He said, 'Look, I want to come here, I want to win, and I want to be part of the Patriots family,' " Kraft said in the story. "The whole time I talked to him he looked me right in the eye and he didn't look away. And I believed him.

"I've learned in life that you have to take people as you find them. You listen to everyone, but in the end you do what your gut is. I know that [Coach Bill Belichick] felt that he was someone he could count on."

Moss is just one reason the Patriots have been installed as odds-on favorites to beat the Jacksonville Jaguars this weekend. Right now, the spread is at minus-13 for New England.

"If they would have continued and beat Pittsburgh the way they did in the first half, I could see 10 or 101/2 for this game," a Vegas oddsmaker told the Florida Times-Union. "The line is a lot about what happened in the second half of that game."

"The public's going to be all over the Patriots," said another in the same story. "They're the biggest story in the NFL."

As for Jacksonville, they'll be without at least one of their starters when they come to Gillette Stadium.

"Mike will not play," head coach Jack Del Rio said of str linebacker Mike Peterson, who hasn't played since breaking his right hand back in November.

And he's not the only question mark for the Jags, as you'll discover in a Boston Globe piece today.

QUICK HITS

An ESPN.com columnist says for the Jags to upset New England, QB David Garrard needs to play a near-perfect game.

FOXSports.com, meantime, believes it's the Jacksonville ground game that could be the difference in Saturday's Divisional Playoff.

Andif you're a fantasy football team owner with Tom Brady as your QB, The Sporting News thinks you may want to reconsider holding onto him next season.