The New England Patriots have Tom Brady back in the fold. That may have convinced the experts to side with the defending champs as they kick off the 2015 regular season against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Steelers vs. Patriots 2015 picks and predictions: Clean sweep for New England
The experts believe that Tom Brady and the Patriots will start the year 1-0.
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Despite the drama surrounding DeflateGate (and the renewed attention as the result of Tuesday's Spygate revisited report), the Patriots enter the year with a realistic shot at back-to-back titles. No team has accomplished that feat since they did during the 2003 and '04 seasons, but the Seattle Seahawks came a yard short this past Februrary. Though once suspended for the first quarter of the season, Brady has returned to lead one of the league's better offenses. Along with Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman (if healthy), the New England passing attack should challenge the Pittsburgh secondary throughout the night.
It doesn't help the Steelers' cause that the NFL suspended running back Le'Veon Bell for the first two games of the season. In addition to providing Pittsburgh with one of the best ground games in the league, Bell proved a valuable asset in the passing game as well, hauling in 83 passes for 854 yards a year ago. Though the team still has plenty of weapons on offense (chief among them All-Pro wideout Antonio Brown), the loss of Bell seems to have negatively affected the experts' view of Pittsburgh.
Over at CBS Sports, all but one of the panelists picked the Patriots to roll.
SB Nation’s team is all-in on New England, as well. Each and ever member has the Patriots taking home the W over the Steelers.
| Ryan Van Bibber | Stephen White | Joel Thorman | David Fucillo | Danny Kelly | Matt Ufford | PFT Commenter | OddsShark Computer | |
| PIT @ NE | NE | NE | NE | NE | NE | NE | NE | NE |
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