The NFL returned to action last month, with football fans settling in for another hotly contested campaign. So much has happened in the world since the Kansas City Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers to win the Super Bowl for the first time back in February, with the coronavirus pandemic having a major impact on the sporting world over the last six months.
Thankfully, the new NFL season has been able to get underway, with a mixture of heavily reduced crowds, or in some cases no crowds at all. But for fans of American football, who are always eager to pick their winners on betting exchange sites, it’s simply been a relief to see the NFL back on our television screens, and it’s set to be an intriguing season.
We’ve had a look at five teams to look out for this season, who may end up battling it out for that famous Vince Lombardi Trophy in February.
Kansas City Chiefs
Much of the attention will be on defending Super Bowl champions Kansas City Chiefs after their success last season. Quarterback and Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes will be the main man once again for the Chiefs, and they looked formidable in winning their first two games of the season. It’ll be interesting to see how they cope with the pressure of being the defending champions, a position the franchise has never been in before. It’s been a solid start, but there are bound to be hiccups along the road towards the play-offs.
New England Patriots
The Patriots are always a team to watch, and their success in the NFL in recent years is unparalleled. They have won the Super Bowl six times since the turn of the millennium, thanks in large to the renowned coach-quarterback duo of Bill Belichick and Tom Brady. However, the Patriots will have to do without Brady this time around, as the four-time Super Bowl MVP has made the move to Florida to join the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Many NFL fans won’t have witnessed the Patriots without Brady, and that makes their fortunes all the more interesting for the season ahead.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Brady’s move to the Buccaneers makes them one of the most intriguing teams of this new NFL campaign. It wasn’t the happiest of starts for the team and their new quarterback, losing to the New Orleans Saints in the opening game, but they reversed their fortunes by defeating the Carolina Panthers on home soil a week later. Although they won’t be one of the favourites to win the Super Bowl, Brady’s presence makes the Buccaneers an exciting team to observe this season.
Baltimore Ravens
It seems like yesterday that the Baltimore Ravens were beating the 49ers in the Super Bowl in 2014, but six years have passed and the Ravens have only made the postseason play-offs twice since then. They have improved in the last couple of seasons, and started the current campaign like a house on fire, winning comfortably against the Cleveland Browns and Houston Texans. They’ll be one to watch for sure.
San Francisco 49ers
Another interesting aspect of the 2020 NFL campaign will be charting how the 49ers react to the disappointment of defeat in the Super Bowl last season. The franchise has won the Super Bowl on five occasions but has lost its two most recent appearances in the sport’s showpiece event, to the Ravens in 2014 and the Chiefs just last year. There’ll be a real determination within the group to go one better this season and bring the trophy back to the Bay Area.
