As we gear up for the 2020-2021 NFL season, there a few things you casual football fans should know.
Ok. Don’t get angry if you are reading this and you are an avid fan; I’m not calling you a casual fan. It’s just hardcore fans might already have this info. That said, I’ll get some gold in here for you as well, so don’t tune out.
Thing Number One:
The Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers are favorites to win the Super Bowl again.
It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that the two teams that collided in Super Bowl 55 are the favorites to win Super Bowl 56. If you want the precise, technical answer, though, the Kansas City Chiefs are true favorites at +500 or five to one. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are the second favorites at +650 or thirteen to two.
Although, I agree with the bookies that the Kansas City Cheifs are packed with power and are a young team that is just getting better. A couple of things they are leaving out, or rather, a couple of things that the betting public is leaving out that impact the lines.
The Kansas City Cheifs have a much more difficult schedule than the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the upcoming season. On top of that, they have a tougher conference all around (IMO). The Ravens, Bills, Titans, Colts, and Browns are all going to be really tough teams this year. Heck, even Pittsburgh will be solid. So, I believe the Bucs have an easier path. After all, the odds on the best regular-season record have three teams from the AFC in the top four.
Then when we look at the regular-season strength of schedule, how it should be calculated—which is scoring the schedule by opponents’ projected regular-season wins—instead of how good they were last season. We see that The Tampa Bay Buccaneers still have one of the easiest slates in the league, while the Chiefs have a harder-than-average schedule in 2021.
This is based on season wins totals in Vegas, following that base, the sports betting sites offers daily lines and picks, plus early point spreads that are already out as well. It should be noted that according to season projections, the actual most challenging schedule in the league goes to the Pittsburgh Steelers, with the Texans and Raiders just behind. The easiest slates in the league go to the 49ers, Browns, and Eagles, respectively.
Thing Number Two:
The Green Bay Packers’ chances of returning for a third consecutive season to the NFC Championship Game are plummeting.
Why? Because the Packers have mismanaged one of the best QBs in the history of the game. He won league MVP last year and still didn’t get anything he asked for personnel-wise early on in the offseason. So, what’s Aaron Rodgers doing right now?
He’s not attending camps with Green Bay. I can tell you that much.
Last I saw, he was taking an interview for somewhere in Hawai’i for The Match, a celebrity golf doubles match for charity. He is focusing his efforts on chillin’ in the paradise and prepping for a Montana golf game against Tom Brady and Phil Mickelson. Yes, he actually stated right now, his next responsibility is The Match. So, he’s throwing massive shade at the Packers and gladly eating 100,000.00 dollar fines for not showing up to mini-camps.
If Aaron Rodgers is out of the mix in the NFC, it will make Brady and Co.’s path that much easier. After all, the rumors are that Denver would love to have Aaron Rodgers. Heck, they took an ancient Peyton Manning and built a Super Bowl team around him.
Thing Number Three:
The Tennessee Titans will win the AFC South and make trouble for the rest of the AFC in the post-season. The Titans have been getting better and better. And now that they have Julio Jones, A.J Brown., Josh Reynolds, and Derrick Henry all on the field with Ryan Tannehill, this offense is going to be scary as long as they stay relatively healthy.
The Colts are still the favorites, but I can almost promise you that Carson Wentz is not the solution for Indianapolis’ needs. He’s just a band-aide, and although they won’t be terrible, I think the Colts will be underwhelming, and the Titans will rule the south.
There you have it, three things you need to know about the upcoming season and a bit of info that even you veteran football fans might not have known.
Barry Lachey is a Professional Editor at Zobuz. Previously He has also worked for Moxly Sports and Network Resources “Joe Joe.” He is a graduate of the Kings College at the University of Thames Valley London. You can reach Barry via email or by phone.
