It has certainly been a crazy and odd year. Insert your own verb and it’s been that. Covid has made sports hard to pull off at us regular living folks’ level let alone on a professional level. As the MLB has done, the NFL will travel and have zero fans at games.
The Marlins found out quick how bad it can be when the players are careless and don’t take precautions. With advanced knowledge, the NFL is hoping they can be as successful as the NHL and NBA has been except without the need to sequester it’s players and staff in a bubble for months on end.
The NFL decided that it was too soon to play when they decided to do away with the preseason, something I’m sure the players were cool with but as we head into game one, with zero major contact since the end of everyone’s season last year, it will be interesting to see how the players cope and fingers crossed, no major injuries will occur due to going from 0 to 100 come week 1.
I’m excited to see the game finally back and kicking off (especially since my Flyers were knocked out of the playoffs) so I will be holding my breath Covid stays away and that the players are safe and we can see some normalcy return to our lives.
This year, I will be using lines straight from Fox Bet since it is now legal in PA and it’s the site/app I personally use. Kickoff is here!
Houston Texans at Kansas City Chiefs, NBC, 8:20p (Chiefs -10, O/U: 53)
The Texans are coming off some big changes last year after they dealt Clowney to Seattle mid season last year and seeing top receiver Hopkins fly the coop to Arizona. The Texans tried to fill in the Hopkins hole by adding a reliable route runner in Randall Cobb and Brandin Cooks, who can take the tops off defenses, to give Watson some more options on the outside other than Will Fuller V, while swapping out Carlos Hyde for David Johnson in an attempt to revive his career sharing the backfield with Duke Johnson. Watson had a solid year last season but Bill O’Brien knows he can see better out of him and with acquiring Tunsil mid last year to protect his backside, having 3 capable receivers and 2 solid running backs to anchor the backfield, he should have the weapons needed to be dangerous. One notable defensive addition this season for the Texans is Vernon Hargreaves from the Buccs who looks to help strengthen the secondary.
The Chiefs will be raising their championship banner after their special run last season that saw them comeback against the Texans. Chiefs were down 24-0 in the 2nd quarter and then laid on 41 unanswered points (28 before the half) and ultimately winning 51-31, hence this meeting. The Titans game was tighter but they pulled away in the 4th and in the Super Bowl, they were down 20-10 heading into the 4th quarter and the a switch was turned as they then scored 21 unanswered points to claim the Lombardi Trophy.
With the new season, they return most of their starters while adding rookie running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire to the backfield and starting while Damien Williams voluntarily opted out due to the virus. I don’t see much change in this offense, they should be as high flying and explosive as the last few seasons under Mahomes. The real question is, will you see it in week 1?
Andy Reid will not show you his special tricks week 1 unless they need a momentum shifting play in a tight game and late in the 4th. The truth is, this first week will be tough to bet since there hasn’t been a pre-season. I would take the more reliable picks here, Chiefs to cover in the under, Chiefs 30-17.
Necessary Roughness 