THE New England Patriots are a remarkable football team.
They have been without arguably the best quarterback in the game – Tom Brady – for the first four weeks of the season.
Their stand in for him, Jimmy Garoppolo, got injured in the second game of the season.
Then rookie Jacoby Brissett stepped in.
And things were remarkably flying, with three straight wins to open the season, before Brissett hit a very early rookie wall and gave up a 17-0 shut out loss to the Buffalo Bills.
But, guess what.
They are 3-1 and Brady is about to resume proceedings.
And everyone is terrified.
Trust us.
They have even said it.
Take one AFC defensive coach who spoke to Bleacher report.
“Thanks to Roger Goodell,” the coach said.
“Tom Brady is going to kill us all.”
Another defensive assistant, this time from the NFC, said: “This Tom Brady scares the s*** out of me.”
They should be scared.
Happy Tom Brady is one of the most powerful one man forces in the NFL.
Angry Tom?
Well, good luck.
The Patriots near perfect start to the season, coupled with the return of Brady, has them at +400 to go one better than last season and take the Super Bowl.
It’s little wonder.
Reports are that Brady looks tanned, toned and ready to grab this league by the scruff of the neck.
His mate Gronk cannot wait either.
“It’s just like any other week, except Tom’s back at quarterback, baby.”
Outside of the Patriots, the Pittsburgh Steelers look like their nearest challengers, rated a +700 chance with Bovada.lv, thanks to another brilliant start to the season for two-time Super Bowl champion Ben Roethlisberger.
The Seattle Seahawks are just behind at +750, then the Green Bay Packers – complete with the corpse of Aaron Rodgers – and the flying Minnesota Vikings are equal at +900. The bookies are still not taking the reigning Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos seriously, rating them at just +1000.
2017 NFL Super Bowl 51 odds:
Pittsburgh Steelers +700
Seattle Seahawks +750
Green Bay Packers +900
Minnesota Vikings +900
Denver Broncos +1000
Philadelphia Eagles +2200
Dallas Cowboys +2200
Arizona Cardinals +2500
Carolina Panthers +2500
Cincinnati Bengals +2500
Atlanta Falcons +2500
Kansas City Chiefs +2800
Houston Texans +2800
Baltimore Ravens +3300
Oakland Raiders +3300
Los Angeles Rams +4000
New York Giants +5000
Indianapolis Colts +5000
Washington Redskins +6600
Buffalo Bills +6600
New York Jets +10000
New Orleans Saints +10000
Jacksonville Jaguars +10000
San Diego Chargers +15000
Detroit Lions +20000
Tampa Bay Buccaneers +20000
Miami Dolphins +20000
Chicago Bears +25000
San Francisco 49ers +50000
Tennessee Titans +50000
Cleveland Browns +500000
Odds provided by Bovada.lv
Warriors strike fear in opponents
The Golden State Warriors are the shortest priced NBA title favourites in history.
And if you watched their preseason opener against the Los Angeles Clippers, it would have been painfully obvious why.
If that game was anything to go by, then every other team is playing for second. The Warriors led 71-33 at half time and eventually ran out 45 point winners, 120-75.
The Clippers suited up all their stars, including Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan, but simply had no answers with Kevin Durant joining an already super powerful offence.
The Warriors are going to lay down plenty of hurt on teams this season and there is little wonder why they are a ridiculous -125 to win the title, even before a ball has been bounced in anger in the regular season.
Reigning champions Cleveland are the second favourites at +300 and the San Antonio Spurs are third at +900 and you have to go all the way back out to +1800 for the Boston Celtics.
This is going to be an interesting season… if you are a Warriors fan.
2017 NBA title odds:
Cleveland Cavaliers +300
San Antonio Spurs +900
Boston Celtics +1800
Los Angeles Clippers +2500
Toronto Raptors +4000
Oklahoma City Thunder +4000
Chicago Bulls +4000
Indiana Pacers +6600
Minnesota Timberwolves +6600
New York Knicks +6600
Memphis Grizzlies +6600
Portland Trail Blazers +7500
Miami Heat +10000
Atlanta Hawks +10000
Houston Rockets +10000
New Orleans Pelicans +10000
Detroit Pistons +10000
Washington Wizards +10000
Milwaukee Bucks +10000
Utah Jazz +10000
Dallas Mavericks +20000
Los Angeles Lakers +20000
Orlando Magic +20000
Charlotte Hornets +30000
Denver Nuggets +50000
Sacramento Kings +50000
Philadelphia 76ers +50000
Phoenix Suns +50000
Brooklyn Nets +50000