The NFL season can’t come soon enough! Only 50 more days until the season kicks off with the defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs hosting the Lions on September 7.ย
Our research collective here at CBS Sports, including Ryan Satsky and myself, churned out 50 nuggets to hype the start of the season. Bring your appetite, from historic trends, betting info and fantasy, you’ll get your fill.
1. The Chiefs are the Super Bowl favorites and are trying to become the first repeat Super Bowl champions since the 2003-04 Patriots. The last time the preseason Super Bowl favorite actually won the Super Bowl was in 2018 (Patriots).
2. Kansas City is looking to become the third team ever to reach four Super Bowls in a five-year span, along with the 1990-93 Bills & 2014-18 Patriots.
3. The Chiefs have company in the AFC as the Chiefs and Bengals have met in the past two AFC Championship games. They could be the third matchup to meet in three straight Conference Championship games (1974-76 Steelers/Raiders, 1992-94 Cowboys/49ers).
4. Any championship talk has to include Buffalo. Over the past three seasons, the Bills lead the NFL outright in scoring offense and scoring defense, without a title to show for it though. They are the fifth team in NFL history to lead the NFL in scoring offense and scoring defense in aย three-year span, and the other four teams all won a title during their spans (1953-55 Browns, 1960-62 Packers, 1962-64 Packers, 1972-74 Dolphins).
5. The AFC got even more loaded with the Aaron Rodgers trade. The Jets allowed the fourth-fewest PPG in the NFL last season. The last time Aaron Rodgers had a top-eight scoring defense was 2010, his only Super Bowl victory.
6. Speaking of titles, the last 17 QBs to lose their Super Bowl debut have not made it back to the Super Bowl. That’s bad news if you’re Jalen Hurts (among others).
7. One player who won’t be winning a title this year is Tom Brady, who retired with seven Super Bowl rings, as many as all active QBs combined (as starters). Patrick Mahomes (2), Aaron Rodgers (1), Russell Wilson (1), Matthew Stafford (1), Nick Foles (1) and Joe Flacco (1) have seven combined (Foles and Flacco are currently free agents).
8. The Buccaneers aren’t the only team that misses Tom Brady. The Patriots are 25-26 in the past three seasons since Brady left, including a 47-17 playoff loss to the Bills in 2021. They went 249-75 with Brady as their starting QB.
9. Brady’s retirement kicked off a busy QB carousel that included Aaron Rodgers’ trade to the Jets and Derek Carr’s signing with the Saints. When the dust settled, Dak Prescott was left as the longest tenured QB with his current team, despite being drafted in 2016. This QB landscape is unprecedented. It is the first time in the Super Bowl era (since 1966) no QB has an active stretch of nine-plus seasons with his current team.ย
10. The new QB guard includes Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud and Anthony Richardson, who were all drafted in the top four in 2023. Temper your early expectations because the last first-round pick QB to win a playoff game as a rookie was Mark Sanchez in 2009.ย
11. The Cardinals may already have their eyes on the top prize of the 2024 NFL Draft, which is expected to be USC QB Caleb Williams. Arizona is an underdog in every game this season and they also have the 2024 Texans‘ first-round pick. Only one team in the Common Draft Era (since 1967) picked one-two in the same draft. The 1992 Colts (Steve Emtman & Quentin Coryatt).ย
Go to Source
Author: Douglas Clawson
July 19, 2023 | 9:26 am