The thump of a Sherrin at the ‘G, the roar of a capacity MCG crowd—those are the rhythms of home. But as the calendar turns and the Aussie spring approaches, another code’s narrative gears up half a world away. America’s favourite pastime, the NFL, is poised to return in the coming weeks. And while the gridiron may well belong to the Land of the Free, its monstrous reach has spread in recent years, all the way to Australia.
Viewership of American football in the Land Down Under has grown exponentially in recent years, so much so that the country’s biggest online casinos are attempting to get in on the act. Ahead of the NFL’s grand return, the popular Joe Fortune has rolled out the red carpet, delivering a slew of football-based slot games to bring supporters closer to the action than ever before.
The likes of Gridiron Glory and Golden End Zone have received rave reviews from punters in recent weeks, thanks to not only their thrilling nature, but also their accessibility – with fans able to play the games round the clock from anywhere in Australia with just a smart device and a stable internet connection. They’re a good reflection of just how popular the sport is and how many people love it, something Joe Fortune is well aware of!
But while both those games are keeping fans busy right now – and they will throughout the season – the real-life stuff is about to unfold in front of our very eyes. Here is everything you need to know about the upcoming 2025 NFL season.
The Reigning Champions
The Philadelphia Eagles head into the new campaign as the reigning Super Bowl champions. They claimed a second Lombardi Trophy in franchise history back in February when they headed to New Orleans’ SuperDome as underdogs against the history-seeking Kansas City Chiefs. Unmoved by their outsider tag, the Birds ripped up the script and utterly dismantled Patrick Mahomes and Co., sacking the mercurial quarterback six times en route to a crushing 40-22 victory.
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The champs will kick off the new season on September 4th when they welcome their archrival Dallas Cowboys to Lincoln Financial Field on September 4th. Nick Sirriani’s men are favorites for that particular contest, but they perhaps surprisingly aren’t the frontrunners to win the Super Bowl again next February.
The Contenders
Back in the 1990s, the Buffalo Bills reached four straight Super Bowls, losing them all. They haven’t reached the Big Game since, but they head into the 2025 season as the outright favorites for glory. In quarterback Josh Allen, they have the NFL’s reigning MVP, but even he wasn’t enough to get the Highmark Stadium outfit to the Super Bowl last season, as his side was beaten by the Kansas City Chiefs in the playoffs for the fourth time in five years.
The Baltimore Ravens are also considered contenders; however, they, too, have had to endure their fair share of postseason woes in recent years. Lamar Jackson is considered by many to be the best quarterback in the league thanks to his dual-threat brilliance, but his playoff record is a paltry 3-5, and he will have to rectify that if he is to lead his side to the Big Game. Both the Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs then round out the top four in the betting lists, and it would be a huge shocker if none of them reigned supreme this season.
Regular Season Schedule
Structure defines every battle. The NFL’s regular season, running from September 4th to January 4th, carves out an environment where every week is a mini-final. Seventeen games for each of the 32 teams—one single bye week for rest and recovery. Fall behind early, and the trapdoor swings open. Survive, and the path to New Year’s glory opens up. Unlike the longer AFL campaign, the NFL’s condensed fixture means a sluggish start is more often a kiss of death than in most sporting codes.
Australians have it lucky here: Sunday games land on our Monday mornings, a tactical banquet perfectly timed for work commutes or leisurely coffees. The headliners—Monday Night and Thursday Night Football—offer a mid-week fix, while late-season Saturday fixtures sneak in as the playoff storm brews. It’s a schedule with the heartbeat of prime-time drama and the reliability of, well, AFL’s Friday night blockbusters.
The Playoff Cauldron
For the uninitiated, the NFL’s finals system is a brutal marvel of simplicity and consequence. Fourteen teams reach the postseason—seven per conference. Division champions take the spoils and top seedings, while three wild cards are handed to whichever teams have the composure (and luck) to grind out the required record.
There are no double chances, no soft safety nets. Finish first in your conference and you rest the opening week, a parallel to the precious qualifying final bye in AFL. After that, one slip, one blown coverage, and you’re watching from the couch. Wild Card Weekend (January 10-12) kicks it off, sweeps into the Divisional Rounds and Conference Championships, and finally explodes on February 8th at Levi’s Stadium, Santa Clara, for Super Bowl LX—one of the world’s truly global sporting events.
Title image – Two helmets and the Lombardi Trophy – Source: Unsplash
