Sky Sports’ Neil Reynolds’ 5 things to watch this season
Neil Reynolds will be presenting Sky Sports’ live coverage of the NFL 2019/20 season, with more than 100 live games on Sky Sports.
You can also watch The NFL Show (Saturdays) on BBC One and iPlayer, plus NFL This Week (Tuesdays) on BBC Two and iPlayer.
The NFL’s 100th season kicks off on Thursday September 5 as the Chicago Bears host the Green Bay Packers. The 2019 campaign promises to be wide open and exciting, with as many as a dozen teams harbouring genuine Super Bowl ambitions. Sky Sports presenter Neil Reynolds highlights some of the major talking points and things to look out for in the upcoming season.
Will the Patriots defend their crown?
Everyone
keeps waiting for the downturn from a New England Patriots team that has
reached the last three Super Bowls. There has been plenty of change during the
offseason, most notably the retirement of superstar tight end Rob Gronkowski.
But as long as 42-year-old quarterback Tom Brady continues to hold Father Time
at bay and head coach Bill Belichick is at the helm, the Patriots always have a
chance to win it all. That pairing has produced six Super Bowl victories and
this team knows what it takes to win. They will be in the mix once again in
2019.
£4.00 153 tickets remaining Four-time
Pro Bowl all-star Andrew Luck shocked the football world – and his own team – by
retiring just two weeks before the first Sunday of the new campaign. Luck was a
genuine superstar who offered Super Bowl hope to the Indianapolis Colts. But he
was worn down by a plague of injuries in recent seasons and walked away from a
team that made the playoffs last year. The Colts now turn to Jacoby Brissett,
who is 5-12 as an NFL starter. Head coach Frank Reich insists the Colts are “in
good hands” with Brissett at the helm. Only time will tell. The
Cleveland Browns have long been the punchline of many an NFL joke with their
stadium being dubbed ‘The Factory of Sadness.’ The Browns have not enjoyed a
winning season since 2007 and have not made the playoffs since 2002. But after
going winless in 2017, the long-downtrodden Browns showed signs of life by
winning seven games under rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield in 2018. The
offseason addition of superstar receiver Odell Beckham Jr. has Cleveland’s
passionate fans dreaming of Super Bowl glory. Succeed or fail, the Browns are
going to be one of the biggest stories of the 2019 season. Every
NFL offseason sees prominent players move teams but 2019 proved to be off the
charts in terms of big-name transactions. The Pittsburgh Steelers parted
company with disgruntled superstars in receiver Antonio Brown, who joined the
Oakland Raiders, and running back Le’Veon Bell, who inked a deal with the New
York Jets. How will those stars fare in new surroundings and can the Steelers
survive without them? Super Bowl-winning quarterback Nick Foles has moved from
the Philadelphia Eagles to the Jacksonville Jaguars, while the aforementioned
Odell Beckham Jr. was traded from the New York Giants to the Cleveland Browns
in a stunning offseason. The
most exciting player in the NFL today remains Kansas City Chiefs quarterback
Patrick Mahomes. The 2018 NFL Most Valuable Player will be keen to show the
world that his first full season as a starter was no fluke. Mahomes threw for
5,097 yards and 50 touchdowns last term and now we await the repeat
performance. Mahomes is truly special and can do it all. Guided by the
excellent play-calling of head coach Andy Reid, Mahomes and the explosive
Chiefs will look to go one step further in 2019 after falling at the Super Bowl
semi-final stage a year ago.
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How will the Colts cope without star quarterback Andrew Luck?
The awakening of the Browns
Famous faces in new places
Mahomes ready for a repeat act?
