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NFL: what you need to know to start the new football season

2021-09-09T16:27:39.885Z


Where a new child prodigy is playing, how many Germans are there - and why the players' union fears a vaccination requirement through the back door: everything important for the new NFL season.


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JULIO AGUILAR / Getty Images

More than half a year after the Super Bowl, the new NFL season starts.

The defending champion, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, will open the game on Friday morning against the Dallas Cowboys (2.20 a.m., TV: ProSieben; Stream: DAZN).

DER SPIEGEL answers the most important questions and answers about the start of the season.

What's new?

So far there have been only 16 games in the regular season, i.e. the playing time up to the playoffs.

With the new season this number increases to 17, so there will be another game day.

This is the first time since 1978 that the regular season schedule has been expanded.

The background to the decision is likely to be the dear money: Last March, the league signed a new television deal for 113 billion dollars and eleven years.

According to media reports, another regular season game was part of the agreement.

This doesn't mean that the players have to hold out their bones more often;

To compensate, one game of the four-game preparation was canceled.

Who is the favorite?

It goes without saying that Tom Brady is also the focus of attention this season. Yes, the 44-year-old is still playing and reaching for his eighth Super Bowl ring this season. The Buccaneers managed to keep the regular players from last season together during the summer break. In addition, the Kansas City Chiefs, who were defeated by the Buccaneers in the final, are likely to play a role in the fight for the title again. Last season, quarterback superstar Patrick Mahomes was not adequately protected by his teammates, several offseason commitments are said to have solved this problem.

In addition to the two Super Bowl participants, the Buffalo Bills can also be expected this year.

Quarterback Josh Allen is considered one of the favorites for Most Valuable Player of the Season (MVP).

Which brings us to last season's MVP: Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers finally wants to go back to the Super Bowl;

that's why he considered leaving the Packers in the summer and even stayed away from the start of training.

The Packers gave the 37-year-old quarterback more say, amended his contract and brought back a good buddy of Rodgers in Randall Cobb, a fitting recipient.

Now Rodgers has to deliver.

What other personal details are interesting?

With Trevor Lawrence, one of the most dazzling quarterback rookies in history is starting his first professional season.

After outstanding college performance, Lawrence was selected first in the draft, he is considered a child prodigy.

However, it is unclear what kind of influence he can already have on his team.

The Jaguars only won one game last season, most recently reaching the playoffs in 2017.

After all: Lawrence is going into the season as a regular player, he played so well in preparation.

Not all rookie quarterbacks can say that, they are often first built behind experienced playmakers.

Are there German professionals?

With Jakob Johnson (New England Patriots) and Amon-Ra St. Brown (Detroit Lions) two German players are in the 53-player roster of the teams.

Other German players like St. Brown's brother Equanimeous are in training squads, but can hardly hope for longer playing times for the time being.

The prospects for Amon-Ra St. Brown are likely to be the best: With the Detroit Lions, the slot receiver, which is set up centrally and after short passes, either plays its speed or anticipates deep passes, namely new quarterback Jared Goff.

And in his career so far, Goff has above all shown good connections with this type of passport recipient.

What about Corona?

Players were allowed to sit out last season with a compensatory salary if they feared the consequences of the corona virus. This option is no longer available this season. Players like Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, Guard for the Chiefs, are returning to the teams. Duvernay-Tardif had suspended the previous season to work as a doctor in his Canadian homeland during the pandemic.

The virus will continue to occupy the league, however, because the vaccinations of the players have been discussed at length for months. Although there is no de facto mandatory vaccination for NFL players, the NFLPA players' union fears such a vaccination through the back door. The coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars, Urban Meyer, had admitted in an interview with the Florida Times Union that the vaccination status of players played a role in the final squad cuts. Although the Jaguars rowed back afterwards, the NFLPA nevertheless initiated investigations.

In addition, the league's regulations show that teams run a great risk when using unvaccinated players. In its corona protocol, the league differentiates between vaccinated and unvaccinated: If a game cannot take place because a team has to be quarantined because of an unvaccinated player, the game is not repeated, but scored against the respective team. The fact that unvaccinated people do not have a good standing was already apparent around the dismissal of star quarterback Cam Newton from the New England Patriots.

Source: spiegel

All sports articles on 2021-09-09

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