The NFL playoffs are well and truly underway, and the field has been cut to just eight teams after a series of exciting wildcard encounters. Now it’s the business end of a long and grueling season, which was one game longer than any other in modern history; it’s time for you to consider your bets for the team best placed to secure Super Bowl glory.
The wildcard playoffs saw the favorites, top-seeded teams, ran out winners in five of the six games, with the San Francisco 49ers’ 23-17 win over the Dallas Cowboys being the only exception.
When it comes to Super Bowl odds, there is one team that we think is well worth backing, even though they are not currently the favorites with most of the US sportsbooks. The current favorites are the Green Bay Packers, who are narrowly ahead of the Kansas City Chiefs.
These two teams will, of course, be counting on Aaron Rodgers and Patrick Mahomes, respectively, but our pick comes in the form of Tom Brady’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who eased past the Philadelphia Eagles in the wildcard game, completing a 31-15 win to book a clash with the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC playoff.
The Rams beat the Buccaneers in week three, but a lot has happened since then, and we still think that Tampa Bay has it within them to complete back-to-back Super Bowl triumphs, which would give Brady his eighth Super Bowl ring.
Tampa Bay is on a great run of form at present, winning seven of their last eight games while the Los Angeles Rams have lost four of their last ten games.
Tom Brady has been in typically sublime form this season, leading the way in terms of passing yards and touchdowns over the course of the regular season, and anyone who felt that the 44-year-old would struggle to motivate himself for yet another season has clearly been shown otherwise.
Brady doesn’t look like he’s going to quit any time soon, and another Super Bowl triumph may just lead the former New England Patriots star to keep going. On the matter of his short team future, the legendary NFL star commented, ahead of the Eagles clash;
“I feel like it’s, for me, always about the team’s success, so it’s hard to compare one year to another. I feel like I want to play as a championship-level player. That’s what I’ve said for a long time. When I’m not able to do that – I said a long time ago, ‘When I suck, I’ll retire,’ but what I really meant was when I’m not capable of leading the team to victory, then someone else has to do the job,”
And of course, Brady followed that up by throwing two more touchdown passes to help Bruce Arians’ side into the divisional playoffs, and we’d back a sensible bet on Tampa’s season continuing until the very end.