You may or may not tell from my username that I am a NE Patriots supporter. In fact I was born and bred in Boston and have had a season ticket for 25 years, so do some of my family including my wife and her brother. Since moving to England a couple of years ago I haven't had much chance to go back and see many games. I would guess 3 or 4 during that time as we usually go back home during the Thanksgiving and New Year period.
Even though my wife and I have a life in England now we aren't giving up our season tickets which we renewed again as I know our children in the future will want them and of course who knows what happens in the future for us. Certainly if we ever decide to leave England we'll only go back home to Boston.
Anyway I am very much looking forward to the new season as NFL fan less so a Patriots supporter. The mood in the camp does not seem as cohesive but still with Bill and Tom we will always be in the mix to challenge. I think losing Cooks and Amendola could cost us. Though I don't think people have recognised that our incoming players are quite good and have come under the radar of most people. I've always admired Jeremy Hill and whilst he has is deficiencies I think that is outweighed by what he can bring to the team.
Defense was terrible last year and the Eagles shredded us in the Super Bowl. McCourty and Shelton are players Bill can work with however if Hightower is back fit then he is a huge asset for us.
Still I think this could well be a year of transition for us but again with Bill and Tom we always have to be discussed in the conversation for the Super Bowl.
To that end I think there are 7 teams in the NFL that have the capabilities of winning it and for me they are:- Eagles, Saints, Vikings, Rams, Jaguars, Steelers and Pats.
For the AFC conference game I have to go with Steelers vs Jaguars and in NFC in the divisional rounds I have Saints at the Vikings and Eagles at the Rams. Only because of home advantage to I just give it to Vikings and Rams for the NFC conference. However it is so strong with those 4 team in the NFC that you cannot discount any of them beating the other on their day. Which makes for a classic NFL year.
If I had to call it right now I see the Super Bowl being a Steelers vs Vikings with the outlay for Cousins being worth every cent with Vikings winning it.
However of those 7 teams it wouldn't surprise me to see any of them winning it.
This also is not mentioning the likes of the Titans who I feel have a very exciting team, Chiefs who will probably make the play-offs again and be formidable but can they get past their first KO round? Also in the NFC the likes of the Falcons with with Ryan and Julio can on their day beat any team and Packers with Rodgers you never know. But those teams have some problematic areas which I feel makes them not in that cut of 7 teams above them.
Other teams that I will be keeping an eye on are the Texans to see if Watt and Watson can come back and if they do then they both transform the defence and offense respectively and make the Texans a play-off threat. It will be also interesting to see the 49ers how they get on. I also think that even with a terrible year last year the Giants still have good players and will cause teams problems. At the other end of the spectre I expect a very difficult year for the Seahawks, Redskins and Buccaneers. I also fancy Cleveland to win 3 games, yes 3 games!!!
