Veterans are ready to rumble

THE NFL season is here – and without a pre-season it’s a little bit different for everyone.

Without pre-season your big worry is for the young guys. How fast can they get caught up?

We’re going to see more coaches lean on veterans as they know how to get ready without a lot of reps and a lot of time.

The early part of the season is going to be a lot about injuries, especially soft tissue injuries.

That said, in the first game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Houston Texans on Thursday night, they showed they’re professionals.

The game ran pretty smoothly, we didn’t see loads of mistakes.

One thing we saw was the few fans Kansas City had in their stadium still had an impact.

Players feed off the fans, they’re part of the game but we’re still going to perform in any circumstances.

The teams that don’t have them will look to the sideline for fuel as we play for each other.

The Chiefs look really good, and I’d say in the

AFC it’s them or Baltimore. I also like the Patriots because I love their match-up with Cam Newton (right).

In the NFC, I’m high on the Saints, the 49ers and on the Cowboys also. I think

Dak Prescott has a lot of good pressure on him playing for this big deal with some great weapons around him to be successful for the Cowboys.

There are other teams, I like Tennessee and the Texans but it’s going to be a tough match-up for them in the NFC South.

Continuity is key and these teams I like all have a great, dynamic running game.

That’s important as it doesn’t take the timing like the passing game does and these teams can all run the ball effectively against defences that haven’t had to tackle a lot in pre-season.