It feels significantly longer than the six and a half months that have passed since Sean McVay and the Los Angeles Rams managed to repeat what the Tampa Bay Buccaneers achieved for only the first time one year prior, hoisting a Lombardi in their own backyard. That Rams side seemed destined to achieve the crowning glory from the day Matt Stafford arrived in the City of Angels, and with a star studded supporting cast featuring the likes of Odell Beckham Jr and Von Miller, the 21 season, and Super Bowl LVI, had a feeling of inevitability about it. This year, inevitability couldn’t be further from the reality, the field is wide open, as many as twelve teams have a realistic shot of being a part of the NFL’s showpiece game on the 12th February 2023, in Glendale Arizona.
The Rams will be looking to repeat, despite losing Miller to the Bills, OBJ to free agency, and legendary right tackle Andrew Whitworth to retirement, whilst the Bengals, the side standing under the streaming So-Fi confetti had to contend with what might have been, have invested heavy in the O-line, looking to address their achilles heel ahead of another unlikely run to the big game.
Whilst inevitability was the story of 2021, change is the theme of 2023. When Aaron Rodgers is caught in a collapsing pocket, he’ll not see Devante Adams finding space through crowds of willing defenders, that will be Derek Carr and the Las Vegas Raiders, whose divisional rivals Kansas City won’t have the ‘Tyreek down there somewhere’ option. Mahomes will have to make do with Juju, as Hill makes home in Miami. Whilst many stars find new homes, Danger Russ Wilson will be hoping it’s time to ride in Broncos Country, whilst the post Meyer era starts in Ernest in Jacksonville. That’s without mentioning the return of one of the world’s most remarkable athletes, Tom Brady, returning to Florida and looking to make another run at solidifying greatness…again.
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The NFL season kicks off on Friday 9th September
NFL 2022/23 Season Preview and Predictions
New Orleans Saints to make the Play-Offs
When Drew Brees retired in 2021, not many would have had legendary head coach Sean Payton following him so shortly. Upheaval in Louisiana has the Saints out to better than evens for a playoff berth, which in my humble opinion, is outstanding value. Whilst Payton has left the building, Jameis Winston is back from a season ending injury and looking to pick back up on an outstanding run that saw the Saints looking like contenders back in early 2021. The odds also reflect a looming suspension for star running back Alvin Kamara, who is facing battery charges for an offseason incident in Las Vegas, however, it is looking increasingly likely that the outcome won’t find a conclusion until much later in the year, and any NFL suspension likely to come in the 2023 regular season.
Michael Thomas is back from a series of injured years, rumoured to be driven by organisational politics rather than physical limitation, and a defence that is up there with one of the best in the league. If the stars align, the Saints could be dark horses for a Super Bowl run, but in a division with an Atlanta Falcons side anticipated to win less than four games, a Carolina Panthers who are improving, but are more than a Baker Mayfield away from contending, and a Buccaneers side that are one of the favourites to win the whole thing, but notoriously struggle against the Saints, and crucially, have one of the toughest regular season schedules, expect the Saints to be competing for the top spot in the NFC South, and at worst, comfortably making it as one of the wild card sides.
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Predictions: New Orleans Saints to make the Play-Offs @ 2.1
AP NFL Comeback Player of the Year 2022/23 – Brian Robinson
Brian Robinson Jr was drafted by the Washington Commanders (yeah, it still doesn’t roll off of the tongue) 98th overall in the 2022 NFL draft, and is believed by many to be the next star off of the Alabama RB production line, following in the footsteps of Derrick Henry and Mark Ingram. All was going well for Robinson, until only last month he was shot twice in an armed robbery attempt. Released from hospital, fortunate for his injuries to be classed as minor and superficial, Robinson is expected to return to full health in as little as four weeks. Even still, if Robinson doesn’t suit up until late 2022, even one snap will be enough of an emotional return to get the voters excited about triumph through adversity, after all, America loves an underdog.
Robinson showed glimpses of what he can be capable of in this league, but even modest production will be a reminder of what he has been through, and what he has achieved to make it back onto the field, especially as a rookie.
NFC Championship Winner – Philadelphia Eagles
Adding AJ Brown and Hasson Reddick is instantly going to make you a more competitive team on both sides of the football. Drafting Jordan Davis in the trenches and Nakobe Dean to add serious speed in the line back corps add to the identity successful Philly teams thrive off, nasty, fast, unforgiving and gritty. The Eagles stumbled into the postseason in 2021 with a side that had obvious holes, which on the face of it at least, seem to have been suitably filled. The Cowboys are weaker at worst, stagnant at best, whilst the Commanders and Giants won’t pose as much of a consistent threat as they might hope. The schedule is also generous, only 2 road games against a side that made the playoffs last year, and a very appetising home schedule which sees the greatest challenge come in the form of Green Bay in week 12, the Eagles could, and probably should, be heading into that game at least 7-4, and that would be a pretty poor return for the early season slate.
Yes, the Eagles are not the best roster in the NFC, but they are probably the most improved, and with the Buccaneers having somewhat of an injury crisis, the Packers Devante Adams-less, the Rams regressing, and the 49ers in a QB crises, if the Eagles can find a slice of consistently through the regular season, and carry that through to the postseason, with a guaranteed home route to the Super Bowl, it’ll be extremely difficult for a team to come into the city of brotherly love and leave with a win.
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Super Bowl LVII Match Up – Los Angeles Chargers v Tampa Bay Buccaneers
It would be remiss of me to predict anything other than Tom Brady being a part of, and likely winning, Super Bowl LVII, in what is ultimately his last season. For the first time since Brady arrived in Tampa, The Bucs are being talked down as potential Super Bowl candidates, after a spate of injuries to the O-line, and the surprising retirement of Rob Gronkowski. If Tom Brady knows one thing, it’s how to motivate a team who have the world against them, or more so, make a team believe they have the world against them, create a siege mentality to thrust them to a title, or, to at least a point in the regular season where Rob Gronkowski decides to come out of retirement and help old buddy Tom. Watch this space.
The Bucs still have ample cap room, have added some excellent veterans in Logan Ryan and Julio Jones, and still have the majority of the roster that won Super Bowl LIV. Over in the AFC, the Los Angeles Chargers look like the real deal. Justin Herbert took a huge leap in his second season and the Chargers look set to be a real force in the AFC. JC Jackson will add some balance to a secondary that was ultimately the weakness in an otherwise well balanced roster. Whilst the Super Bowl rolled through Los Angeles in 2021, it would be no surprise to see the play offs run through the other side of town in 2022.
18+ please gamble responsibly. All odds displayed correct at the time of publishing.
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