Everything ready for a new NFL season, which will be marked by the return of Tom Brady

With the reversal of Tom Brady’s retirement, his Tampa Bay Buccaneers turn heads ahead of the start of the NFL season this Thursday, in a championship that will have the quarterback obsessed with winning his eighth Super Bowl.

Brady’s resounding retirement, announced shortly after the “Bucs” fell in the playoffs against the Los Angeles Rams, champions of the past Super Bowl, lasted a few weeks and then Tampa received its star player with open arms.

This season, Brady’s team will be led by Todd Bowles and Bruce Arians, who managed the renowned player and the Bucs two seasons ago, will now be a consultant.

For Arians, Brady is “throwing better than I’ve ever seen him” ahead of his 23rd season in the NFL and although the quarterback’s absence from some preseason activities for personal reasons alerted the league, the player He assures that he is looking for a new crown.

At 45, Brady warned that his competitive fire “still burns”

adding, “I have a lot to prove this year,” the NFL superstar said. “I’m here to show that I’m still capable of leading a team to a championship.”

In a season in which the Rams will try to become the first team in 18 years to sign a two-time championship, the Bucs put all their chips in their leader.

“Tom is Tom,” rookie running back Rachaad White said. “He is our leader. He is everything we want. He is our captain. He is iconic.”

But beyond Brady and the defending champions, the controversy sets the pace once again at the start of the league.

The scandal is still alive and splashes among others the quarterback of the Cleveland Browns, Deshaun Watson. The player was suspended amid allegations of sexual assault and inappropriate behavior during massage sessions.

Watson, who missed the entire 2021 season amid the allegations while with the Houston Texans, did not face criminal charges and landed a five-year, $230 million contract with the Browns.

Meanwhile, the Buffalo Bills tried to dodge controversy when they waived rookie kicker Matt Araiza two days after a civil lawsuit was filed alleging he was among a trio of San Diego State University players who raped a 17-year-old girl. years. Accusations that the ‘kicker’ denies.

The immensely popular and often controversial NFL also enters the season facing a lawsuit from three black coaches, led by former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores, alleging racism in the league’s hiring practices. league.

The Rams start Thursday against a Bills team widely touted as a Super Bowl contender.

Perhaps the biggest question mark for the Rams in their bid to repeat is the physicality of their quarterback, Matthew Stafford, who played through pain last season.

However, Stafford declared himself “ready to play” and unrestricted, as the difficult start to the season loomed.

The Bills lost to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC championship game two years ago and to the Chiefs in overtime in the second round of the playoffs last season. Defeat that for quarterback Josh Allen served to strengthen the determination of the Bills.

Allen said the arrival of new offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey means the Bills’ offense will be even better this year. They hope the changes will take them all the way to Super Bowl 57 in Phoenix, Arizona on February 12.

The season will also feature five international games, including Brady and the Bucs against the Seattle Seahawks in Munich on Nov. 13, the first game of the regular season in Germany.

Mexico City will host one game, while three games in London include Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers taking on the New York Giants in October.

Rodgers, a four-year, $200 million extension, earned his second straight NFL MVP award last season, the fourth of his career, but the Packers have folded early in the playoffs the past two years.