Brady’s return the perfect tonic for NFL favourites, the Patriots

THE New England Patriots are a remarkable football team.

They have been without arguably the best quarterback in the game – Tom Brady – for the first four weeks of the season.

Their stand in for him, Jimmy Garoppolo, got injured in the second game of the season.

Then rookie Jacoby Brissett stepped in.

And things were remarkably flying, with three straight wins to open the season, before Brissett hit a very early rookie wall and gave up a 17-0 shut out loss to the Buffalo Bills.

But, guess what.

They are 3-1 and Brady is about to resume proceedings.

And everyone is terrified.

Trust us.

They have even said it.

Take one AFC defensive coach who spoke to Bleacher report.

“Thanks to Roger Goodell,” the coach said.

“Tom Brady is going to kill us all.”

Another defensive assistant, this time from the NFC, said: “This Tom Brady scares the s*** out of me.”

They should be scared.

Happy Tom Brady is one of the most powerful one man forces in the NFL.

Angry Tom?

Well, good luck.

The Patriots near perfect start to the season, coupled with the return of Brady, has them at +400 to go one better than last season and take the Super Bowl.

It’s little wonder.

Reports are that Brady looks tanned, toned and ready to grab this league by the scruff of the neck.

His mate Gronk cannot wait either.

“It’s just like any other week, except Tom’s back at quarterback, baby.”

Outside of the Patriots, the Pittsburgh Steelers look like their nearest challengers, rated a +700 chance with Bovada.lv, thanks to another brilliant start to the season for two-time Super Bowl champion Ben Roethlisberger.

The Seattle Seahawks are just behind at +750, then the Green Bay Packers – complete with the corpse of Aaron Rodgers – and the flying Minnesota Vikings are equal at +900. The bookies are still not taking the reigning Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos seriously, rating them at just +1000.

2017 NFL Super Bowl 51 odds:

New England Patriots +400

Pittsburgh Steelers +700

Seattle Seahawks +750

Green Bay Packers +900

Minnesota Vikings +900

Denver Broncos +1000

Philadelphia Eagles +2200

Dallas Cowboys +2200

Arizona Cardinals +2500

Carolina Panthers +2500

Cincinnati Bengals +2500

Atlanta Falcons +2500

Kansas City Chiefs +2800

Houston Texans +2800

Baltimore Ravens +3300

Oakland Raiders +3300

Los Angeles Rams +4000

New York Giants +5000

Indianapolis Colts +5000

Washington Redskins +6600

Buffalo Bills +6600

New York Jets +10000

New Orleans Saints +10000

Jacksonville Jaguars +10000

San Diego Chargers +15000

Detroit Lions +20000

Tampa Bay Buccaneers +20000

Miami Dolphins +20000

Chicago Bears +25000

San Francisco 49ers +50000

Tennessee Titans +50000

Cleveland Browns +500000

Odds provided by Bovada.lv

Warriors strike fear in opponents

The Golden State Warriors are the shortest priced NBA title favourites in history.

And if you watched their preseason opener against the Los Angeles Clippers, it would have been painfully obvious why.

If that game was anything to go by, then every other team is playing for second. The Warriors led 71-33 at half time and eventually ran out 45 point winners, 120-75.

The Clippers suited up all their stars, including Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan, but simply had no answers with Kevin Durant joining an already super powerful offence.

The Warriors are going to lay down plenty of hurt on teams this season and there is little wonder why they are a ridiculous -125 to win the title, even before a ball has been bounced in anger in the regular season.

Reigning champions Cleveland are the second favourites at +300 and the San Antonio Spurs are third at +900 and you have to go all the way back out to +1800 for the Boston Celtics.

This is going to be an interesting season… if you are a Warriors fan.

2017 NBA title odds:

Golden State Warriors -125

Cleveland Cavaliers +300

San Antonio Spurs +900

Boston Celtics +1800

Los Angeles Clippers +2500

Toronto Raptors +4000

Oklahoma City Thunder +4000

Chicago Bulls +4000

Indiana Pacers +6600

Minnesota Timberwolves +6600

New York Knicks +6600

Memphis Grizzlies +6600

Portland Trail Blazers +7500

Miami Heat +10000

Atlanta Hawks +10000

Houston Rockets +10000

New Orleans Pelicans +10000

Detroit Pistons +10000

Washington Wizards +10000

Milwaukee Bucks +10000

Utah Jazz +10000

Dallas Mavericks +20000

Los Angeles Lakers +20000

Orlando Magic +20000

Charlotte Hornets +30000

Denver Nuggets +50000

Sacramento Kings +50000

Philadelphia 76ers +50000

Phoenix Suns +50000

Brooklyn Nets +50000

Odds provided by Bovada.lv