NFL 2017 Preview NFL AFC
Hey, sports fans. It's Mark here and I am starting my weekly NFL updates on this page. I'll be writing up weekly previews and reviews on who won the games and who were the best players of the whole week and also the headlines coming into that week's fixtures as the start of a 275 game season between the 32 teams as they begin their pursuit towards winning Super Bowl 52 in Minnesota next February. I was planning on posting this last night but I ran out of time before the first game of the season so I'll write a little report on it at the end.
It's only 7 months since the New England Patriots did the unthinkable and created one of the greatest comebacks in NFL history and taking a comfortable lead for the Falcons to winning in overtime. Well, the 2017 season starts tonight with the Patriots taking on the Kansas City Chiefs at Gillette Stadium. The Patriots start the season a little different to what they did last season with Tom Brady starting, unlike last year when he was suspended for four games over Deflategate. Now this year they lost their top receiver Julian Edelman to an injury in pre-season. The Patriots are the pre-season favourites to win it all again. Kansas themselves are looking to take a win in a tough division which includes Super Bowl 50 winners Denver, Super Bowl favourite Oakland and recently moved Los Angeles Chargers.
Now I'm going to go through the rest of the divisions and the hopes of all the teams. To start this off I'll explain the Divisions and conferences. The NFL has two conferences, the NFC and the AFC. In each of the conferences, there are four divisions and in each of them are four teams. The winners of the division go through to the playoffs and two of the best in both conferences join them to make a 12 team playoff. the champions of each conference meet to play in the Super Bowl, I'll explain more when the playoffs begin.
For now, let us look at the divisions starting off in the AFC conference. The AFC East is a good place to start as it contains the Patriots, as I've mentioned them let's look at the rest of the division. One of the three other teams is the Miami Dolphins. The Dolphins have played in 5 Super Bowls and won in two of them, the first was at the end of the Perfect season 17 wins no defeats, now looking to emulate the past with different stars including London-born Jay Ajayi. One of the teams is the New York Jets, the Jets, won Super Bowl 3 in one of the most historic games in NFL history, are looking to be a team for the next few years with Bowles. The last team are the Buffalo Bills, the Bills are seen as one of the unluckiest teams in NFL history, 4 back to back Super Bowl appearances all ending in defeat including one of the most famous moments when they had to kick a 40-yard field goal to win and missed it wide right. The favourites are of course the Patriots because of their players and coaches and also believe in winning the games.
The next division is the AFC North. The division holds 2 Super Bowl winning teams and a super bowl runner up and a team that can never get any luck at all. The first team to look at is the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers are one of the most storied teams winning 6 Super Bowls, New England has 5, the team is a shadow of the one that had been constantly talked as Super Bowl favourites in years previous, though it doesn't help that their quarterback Ben Roethlisberger keeps getting injured, and with two major stars in receiver Antonio Brown and running back Leveon Bell. The next team on the list is the Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens are a team that's currently stuck in the middle of a road between good and poor, which is a shame because 5 years ago they won the Super Bowl in dramatic fashion. The team has struggled since the Super Bowl and is looking for something big to happen to get them back to the big game. The next team to look at are the Cincinnati Bengals. The Bengals are a team that very talented but always underachieve in either going out in the first round of the playoffs or actually miss the playoffs as a whole. The team seems to be the overwhelming favourites for the division but that is if the Steelers struggle. The last team to look at in the division is the Cleveland Browns. The Browns have been a constant bottom of the league team, if there were ever a relegation-promotion format the Browns are overwhelming favourites every year, however this year it looks like the team is on the way to building something for the start of the next decade.
The next division is the AFC South. The South holds four different teams with different ambitions, one looking for playoffs, one looking to be the next big thing, another trying to be who they were and the other more famous for international fans. First up is playoff lookers, the Indianapolis Colts, the Colts are a team that should be favourites but have struggled since the whole deflate-gate scandal of which they were unknowing victims off. The next team are the next big thing, the Houston Texans. The Texans host a wealth of stars including JJ Watt, Andre Hopkins and college national champion quarterback Deshaun Watson. However, the Texans have to take on a tough season as their home city has been affected by the disaster caused by Hurricane Harvey. Only when they step out on the field is when everyone sees how much it will affect them mentally. The last team in the division is the Jacksonville, or London, Jaguars. The Jaguars have been seen as a team that have been strugglers and are not always favourites for the playoffs let alone the Super Bowl.The reason why they are often called the London Jaguars is that they have played in London since the 2013 NFL season.
The last division in the AFC is the West division which holds the Chiefs as mentioned earlier. So I'll talk about the rest of the division. One of the teams is the Oakland Raiders. The Raiders are a team that is one of the most legendary and famous in American Sports that have been for years underachievers since they lost their last Super Bowl appearance 14 years ago but are finally on the way back to where they belong as playoff contenders. They have Derek Carr as the quarterback who for a majority of last season was seen as a contender for MVP or player of the year until he went down with an injury. Now they look to finish off what they started last season. The next team in the frame are the Los Angeles Chargers. The Chargers who up until this year moved to San Diego are one of those teams that have been seen as underrated. this is mainly because they are in one of the toughest divisions and sometimes they can be great and have great players but because they used to play south of L.A they never got recognition and are always seen as second favourites in their division. The last team in the division are the Denver Broncos. The Broncos are a team that's now trying to find a new identity as some of the key players in their Super Bowl winning team from two years ago are no longer there. Manning retired a few weeks after the Super Bowl, Khalil Mack was traded to the Oakland Raiders, Demarcus Ware retired at the end of last season, Head Coach Gary Kubiak retired after having health issues for the second time and defensive guru Wade Phillips left so it's a brand new team.
Like I said I had hoped to post this and my NFC preview last night but time ran out. Also, I had a chance to watch the Patriots and the Chiefs play earlier today. The Chiefs beat the Patriots 42-27 in a shock win with a 4th quarter performance looking like a repeat of the Super Bowl with the Chiefs scoring 21 unanswered points and Chiefs Quarterback Alex Smith beating Patriots quarterback Tom Brady in terms of performance with Smith throwing for 233 yards while Brady could only get 31 on 3 catches out of 10 throws. Pundits in America like Skip Bayless and Stephen A Smith were saying that it was only week one for the Patriots and that most of the team are not in working order yet which I agree because the team looked a little confused.
My predictions for the 6 playoff teams are East winners Patriots despite losing last night to win the division and are still favourites for the representatives of the AFC in the Super Bowl, AFC North I have to go for the Bengals, South I have to give it to the Texans and for the West I'm going for the Raiders, my wildcard picks are the Titans and Chiefs. Join me in a bit when I preview the NFC.
KRO Mark
It's only 7 months since the New England Patriots did the unthinkable and created one of the greatest comebacks in NFL history and taking a comfortable lead for the Falcons to winning in overtime. Well, the 2017 season starts tonight with the Patriots taking on the Kansas City Chiefs at Gillette Stadium. The Patriots start the season a little different to what they did last season with Tom Brady starting, unlike last year when he was suspended for four games over Deflategate. Now this year they lost their top receiver Julian Edelman to an injury in pre-season. The Patriots are the pre-season favourites to win it all again. Kansas themselves are looking to take a win in a tough division which includes Super Bowl 50 winners Denver, Super Bowl favourite Oakland and recently moved Los Angeles Chargers.
Now I'm going to go through the rest of the divisions and the hopes of all the teams. To start this off I'll explain the Divisions and conferences. The NFL has two conferences, the NFC and the AFC. In each of the conferences, there are four divisions and in each of them are four teams. The winners of the division go through to the playoffs and two of the best in both conferences join them to make a 12 team playoff. the champions of each conference meet to play in the Super Bowl, I'll explain more when the playoffs begin.
For now, let us look at the divisions starting off in the AFC conference. The AFC East is a good place to start as it contains the Patriots, as I've mentioned them let's look at the rest of the division. One of the three other teams is the Miami Dolphins. The Dolphins have played in 5 Super Bowls and won in two of them, the first was at the end of the Perfect season 17 wins no defeats, now looking to emulate the past with different stars including London-born Jay Ajayi. One of the teams is the New York Jets, the Jets, won Super Bowl 3 in one of the most historic games in NFL history, are looking to be a team for the next few years with Bowles. The last team are the Buffalo Bills, the Bills are seen as one of the unluckiest teams in NFL history, 4 back to back Super Bowl appearances all ending in defeat including one of the most famous moments when they had to kick a 40-yard field goal to win and missed it wide right. The favourites are of course the Patriots because of their players and coaches and also believe in winning the games.
The next division is the AFC North. The division holds 2 Super Bowl winning teams and a super bowl runner up and a team that can never get any luck at all. The first team to look at is the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers are one of the most storied teams winning 6 Super Bowls, New England has 5, the team is a shadow of the one that had been constantly talked as Super Bowl favourites in years previous, though it doesn't help that their quarterback Ben Roethlisberger keeps getting injured, and with two major stars in receiver Antonio Brown and running back Leveon Bell. The next team on the list is the Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens are a team that's currently stuck in the middle of a road between good and poor, which is a shame because 5 years ago they won the Super Bowl in dramatic fashion. The team has struggled since the Super Bowl and is looking for something big to happen to get them back to the big game. The next team to look at are the Cincinnati Bengals. The Bengals are a team that very talented but always underachieve in either going out in the first round of the playoffs or actually miss the playoffs as a whole. The team seems to be the overwhelming favourites for the division but that is if the Steelers struggle. The last team to look at in the division is the Cleveland Browns. The Browns have been a constant bottom of the league team, if there were ever a relegation-promotion format the Browns are overwhelming favourites every year, however this year it looks like the team is on the way to building something for the start of the next decade.
The next division is the AFC South. The South holds four different teams with different ambitions, one looking for playoffs, one looking to be the next big thing, another trying to be who they were and the other more famous for international fans. First up is playoff lookers, the Indianapolis Colts, the Colts are a team that should be favourites but have struggled since the whole deflate-gate scandal of which they were unknowing victims off. The next team are the next big thing, the Houston Texans. The Texans host a wealth of stars including JJ Watt, Andre Hopkins and college national champion quarterback Deshaun Watson. However, the Texans have to take on a tough season as their home city has been affected by the disaster caused by Hurricane Harvey. Only when they step out on the field is when everyone sees how much it will affect them mentally. The last team in the division is the Jacksonville, or London, Jaguars. The Jaguars have been seen as a team that have been strugglers and are not always favourites for the playoffs let alone the Super Bowl.The reason why they are often called the London Jaguars is that they have played in London since the 2013 NFL season.
The last division in the AFC is the West division which holds the Chiefs as mentioned earlier. So I'll talk about the rest of the division. One of the teams is the Oakland Raiders. The Raiders are a team that is one of the most legendary and famous in American Sports that have been for years underachievers since they lost their last Super Bowl appearance 14 years ago but are finally on the way back to where they belong as playoff contenders. They have Derek Carr as the quarterback who for a majority of last season was seen as a contender for MVP or player of the year until he went down with an injury. Now they look to finish off what they started last season. The next team in the frame are the Los Angeles Chargers. The Chargers who up until this year moved to San Diego are one of those teams that have been seen as underrated. this is mainly because they are in one of the toughest divisions and sometimes they can be great and have great players but because they used to play south of L.A they never got recognition and are always seen as second favourites in their division. The last team in the division are the Denver Broncos. The Broncos are a team that's now trying to find a new identity as some of the key players in their Super Bowl winning team from two years ago are no longer there. Manning retired a few weeks after the Super Bowl, Khalil Mack was traded to the Oakland Raiders, Demarcus Ware retired at the end of last season, Head Coach Gary Kubiak retired after having health issues for the second time and defensive guru Wade Phillips left so it's a brand new team.
Like I said I had hoped to post this and my NFC preview last night but time ran out. Also, I had a chance to watch the Patriots and the Chiefs play earlier today. The Chiefs beat the Patriots 42-27 in a shock win with a 4th quarter performance looking like a repeat of the Super Bowl with the Chiefs scoring 21 unanswered points and Chiefs Quarterback Alex Smith beating Patriots quarterback Tom Brady in terms of performance with Smith throwing for 233 yards while Brady could only get 31 on 3 catches out of 10 throws. Pundits in America like Skip Bayless and Stephen A Smith were saying that it was only week one for the Patriots and that most of the team are not in working order yet which I agree because the team looked a little confused.
My predictions for the 6 playoff teams are East winners Patriots despite losing last night to win the division and are still favourites for the representatives of the AFC in the Super Bowl, AFC North I have to go for the Bengals, South I have to give it to the Texans and for the West I'm going for the Raiders, my wildcard picks are the Titans and Chiefs. Join me in a bit when I preview the NFC.
KRO Mark
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