NFL is back after a turbulent off season.

Deshaun Watson and Patrick Mahomes start the season.

NFL is back. Arrowhead Stadium was hosting the first game of the new season after the Chiefs dramatically won the Super Bowl in February. Since then it has been chaos with Covid-19 with teams announcing their plans for restrictions with all 3 New York teams, the Giants, Jets and the Buffalo Bills not opening their stadiums because of New York States lockdown measures. The Atlanta Falcons will play all of their games in September behind closed doors. The Green Bay Packers had an opt-out clause for their season ticket holders in which 80% of them took the offer on and have announced that they will be limiting the capacity to between 10,000 and 12,000 fans. Baltimore announced they would restrict the attendance to 14,000.

Both teams standing united against racism

Meanwhile, Miami is only opening it up 15,000 fans, and the New England Patriots have their limit at 20,000. The rest of the league would announce. Philadelphia said no fans as the city council told no gatherings more massive than 50 people. Along with the limited amount of fans in the stadiums, there were no pre-season friendly games as the NFL decided not to do games because of player safety, not just injuries but also the risk of the virus spreading. Even during the offseason was the Black Lives Matter coming back into the frame after the George Floyd murder and then during training camp the events in Kenosha, Wisconsin. And the postponements of sporting events and even teams saying "a day doing practice in training camp is not right at this moment in time", and deciding to not practice and let the players use their platform for racial change and even asking people to register for voting in November. Also, there are no international games this season, but the NFL is keeping the potential to have games back in London in 2021.

Travis Kelcie carrying on from last year

 The season began in Kansas City as the home town Chiefs were raising their championship banner after winning the Super Bowl in February against the Houston Texans. These teams met in the playoffs last year, and produced one of the greatest games of all time as the Chiefs came from 24 points down to beat the Texans 51-31 in the divisional round of the playoffs. The Chiefs Arrowhead Stadium, which is considered to be one of the loudest stadiums in the world was limited to having only 17,000 fans in the stadium. The chiefs are well known from their Super Bowl appearance, and they are one of the favourites to do a repeat and be the first team since the 2004 New England Patriots to do it. Meanwhile, the Texans have a potential future star in quarterback Deshaun Watson, but the big name of the team is a defensive end and future Hall of Famer JJ Watt entering his 10th season in the NFL looking to get to a Super Bowl.

David Johnson running in for the score.

Houston was going to return the football and have Watson on the pitch. It ended up being a 3 and out after a false start penalty on 3rd down. Mahomes came out for his first possession with good field advantage. After having a touchdown ruled out as the receiver didn't maintain control of the ball as he was brought down, the Chiefs went 3 and out and was forced to punt. The Texans got the first score with running back David Johnson going 18 yards. The first quarter ended 7-0 and the Chiefs levelled the scores after Travis Kelce carried on his form from last season. The Chiefs scored the next touchdown after Watkins dived in for the endzone two plays after his original touchdown was ruled out after he was tackled a yard short. On the stroke of halftime, the Texans were trying to tie the game but were forced to kick a field goal 51 yards out, but Fairburn's kick despite being on the right hashmark just went away to the right of the goalposts. The Chiefs went down the pitch after the missed kick and their kicker Harrison Butker made it 17-7 Chiefs at halftime.

The Chiefs then went extended the lead as their rookie running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire ran the ball for his first career touchdown and in the process getting a 100-yard rushing game after only having 12 carries. After that, it was a quiet 3rd quarter. Watson started the 4th quarter with an interception to L'Jarius Sneed. Texans thought they had a pick of their own, but there was a pass interference penalty on the Texans. The Chiefs then put a touchdown after Tyreek Hill finished the drive. The Texans were now in a damage limitation mode after getting blown out again.

Watson getting hit before being intercepted.

The Texans did after Jordan Aikans caught a touchdown pass to make it 31-13 however on replay it looked like the play should have been disallowed as one the of Texans play moved too early. Texans carried on, and Watson made it 31-20 with over 2 minutes left on the clock. They then tried an onside kick, but the Chiefs returned it to the 20-yard line. After a couple of chances, the Chiefs ended up kicking the field goal to make it 34-20. Both teams have 10 days off before their next game with Houston hosting Baltimore, and the Chiefs go to the Chargers to play in the brand new SoFi stadium in LA.

The road to the Super Bowl is on, and the final destination is Tampa Bay's Raymond James Stadium and who knows what the world will look like at the time of the game. Hopefully, there will be a packed stadium to enjoy the game. Will either of these teams play there in February. That will be the question as the season progresses.

Back with more soon.

KRO Mark