By Nick Konotopskyj
Sports assignment editor
It has been eight long months since Seahawks Head Coach, Pete Carroll, decided not to give the ball to running back Marshawn Lynch in Super Bowl XLIX. We all know what happened next—Wilson gets picked off and New England brings the Vince Lombardi trophy home for the first time in eight years.
Well, we can all finally rejoice together and announce that “football is back!” With a new year comes lofty expectations, even for some teams who had subpar 2014/15 seasons.
That is the beauty about a fresh season because now, all 32 teams have a chance to win the Super Bowl.
This year in particular really is the “big one,” because it is Super Bowl 50. This year’s Super Bowl will take place in Santa Clara, California, which is home to the 49ers.
The crazy offseason of 2015 saw everything from countless suspensions to new locations for some of the games’ best players and coaches. Oh yeah, and then some guy in Massachusetts got accused of deflating a couple of footballs.
Tom Brady — you might have heard of him — was that guy. The mess that was deflate gate is finally over, and with it comes a quarterback who will not be suspended and a commissioner in Roger Goodell who sees his already tarnished legacy take another pummeling.
But for the Patriots, the most difficult part of this season lies ahead as they try to repeat as Super Bowl champs. Winning consecutive Super Bowls is hard to do, and the odds are stacked against New England. Literally.
According to Bovada.com, the Seattle Seahawks have the best odds of winning the Super Bowl at 7/1 followed by Green Bay (15/2), Indianapolis (9/1), New England and Philadelphia (both 10/1).
The American Football Conference (AFC) looks to be competitive this season with a lot of teams having realistic playoff chances. Behind New England and Indianapolis, there are teams like Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Cincinnati and Denver who all made the playoffs last year.
The next tier of teams looking to climb up into that playoff field includes San Diego, Miami, Buffalo, Houston and Kansas City.
Looking at the National Football Conference (NFC), Seattle is the class of this conference, and they brought in even more talent in the form of tight end Jimmy Graham from New Orleans. With that addition, Seattle goes from an average offense to arguably one of the best in the conference.
After them comes the conference runner-ups from last year; the Green Bay Packers. Things aren’t particularly great for those cheese heads at the moment since they lost their leading receiver, Jordy Nelson, to a season-ending ACL injury.
Some teams that should contend for the conference after them include the Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas Cowboys, Carolina Panthers, Arizona Cardinals and Detroit Lions. We can even add New Orleans to that group just because of Drew Brees’ talent.
When looking at the cellar dwellers for 2015, the names that come to mind are the Jacksonville Jaguars, Tennessee Titans, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, San Francisco 49ers and Washington Redskins.
Fans have been patiently waiting for week one for quite some time, and now it is finally here. It is time to kick back, and enjoy some Sunday football. As for who I have winning it all, I’ll take the Green Bay Packers over the Baltimore Ravens, 28-24.
