The 2013 NFL season is set to kick of on Thursday. The league should be very competitive this year with the Super Bowl Champion Ravens losing a good portion of players from last year’s team.
The 49ers appear to be the favorites to win it all. They made it to the Super Bowl last year, and lost a 34-31 heartbreaker to the Ravens. San Francisco did not lose a lot of players like the Ravens did. It seems that they may have actually gotten better.
They fixed a lot of glaring holes in their team. They improved both offensively and defensively. They added Anquan Boldin to give Colin Kaepernick a go-to receiver, which he did not have last year. More importantly, they signed Nnamdi Asomugha and drafter Eric Reid to make the secondary stronger. They also signed Phil Dawson to do the kicking after David Akers’ historically bad season last year.
There does not appear to be too much prime competition for them in the NFC. They should definitely at least make it back to the Super Bowl.
Many people seem to think that the Seattle Seahawks will be able to give them a run for their money. The Seahawks should be the best defensive team in the NFL. They have an awesome secondary, and a lot of strong, fast guys up front.
Their quarterback, Russell Wilson, was a rookie last year and will only have a year more of experience this year. However, the team does not appear to have the amount of offensive firepower to make it past the strongest defensive teams in the playoffs.
The AFC appears to be wide open. Even though they lost a lot of players, the Ravens should still be a tough team. They still have one of the most consistent quarterbacks in Joe Flacco. Flacco thrives in a big-game environment.
The Steelers did not even make the playoffs last year, but they are shaping up to be a factor this season. Ben Roethlisberger played all of last year with a torn rotator cuff, and they never had a solid running back.
They had a great draft, and the first two Steeler draft pick should be starters. Leveon Bell appears to be the running back they need, and Jarvis Jones will solidify a line backer core that just lost James Harrison. The Steelers should pass up the Ravens and Bengals and take the AFC North.
However, the best team in the AFC appears to be the Broncos. Peyton Manning is going to be 100 percent healthy after coming back last season from a season-long injury.
The Broncos added Wes Welker to an already stacked receiving crew. Manning now has Welker, Demaryius Thomas, and Eric Decker to choose from. All three have shown potential to be a number-one receiver.
The Broncos may get off to a slow start defensively, with their best player suspended, but by week six they should be showing how great they can be.
When all is said and done, the San Francisco 49ers will take out the Denver Broncos in the Super Bowl and win their sixth trophy to tie them for the most all time.
