NFL in London

National Football League in London

2021 Fantasy NFL

Week 1 Picks

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That sweet taste of autumn brings with it another NFL season, which means it’s time to start making predictions, we bring you all off that in our Week 1 Picks podcast.

Week 1 is always a bag of snakes, because we never really how these new teams will face off, plus loads of rookies are now going to face real men for the first time and this can skew a game real fast.

With that in mind Wade  Ryan make their predictions for week 1 in our latest podcast. Have a listen, and make sure you share with your friends and foes alike. Some of our picks might be so bad (Ryan’s), that you can get payback.

Actually, looking at last season Ryan Cull came out with a respectable 48.8% against the spread. Not bad considering his season before.

Wade McElwain had a better season with an average of 55.4%, a far cry from his 63% season in 2019.

Of course, this year is completely different, and so are the teams. Except of course the Bucs, they’re better, but different.

Steelers (0-0) vs Bills (0-0) -6.5 +48

Ryan is saying Bills, Bills, Bills, & he is ripping to go. Josh Allen will be on fire, the whole wide receiver corps will spread the love, and screw the running back, who needs one.
It’s hard not to like Buffalo at home in this one, as the tables and end zone looks to be smashed in this AFC big boys game.

Ryan likes Buffalo to win big at home, stealing a win from the Steelers.

Wade too is bullish on the blue boys at home, knowing that blue collar love and two years worth of foldable table frustrated fans awaits the Pittsburgh black and gold when they take the field.

It will be interesting to see if Harris is worth the hype, and if he can gash that tough Bills D in his first NFL game.

The Steelers had an easy start last season, but not this one.

Prediction

Ryan
Bills 20 Steelers 20

Wade
Bills 33 Steelers 24

Cardinals(0-0) vs Titans(0-0) -3 +52.5

The hype is here and it’s backed by a Watt as Kyler Murray and the Cardinals look to fly in the land of the giants.

Ryan Tannehill is locked and loaded with a new set of trusty in hands in JJ as the Titans hope to squash the pest birds and their scooty QB.

Ryan (our Ryan) thinks that the other Ryan is under rated, and picks him to have a hell of a game. He also is rooting for the legs of Derek Henry to gash the weak parts of the Arizona D all day.
Ryan also hates Cliff Kinsbury and everything he touches and hopes the Cardinals lose big.

Wade on the other hand is big and the birds, and the fantasy points in this game alone. Pairing Hopkins with Murray with a sniff of AJ Green is bound to get you points in a contest.
Adding to that is a weak Tennessee back field that will struggle more in this shooting contest of a game.
Birds for the upset.

Prediction

Ryan
Titans 27 Cardinals 23

Wade
Cardinals 35 Titans 30

Eagles (0-0) Falcons (0-0) -3 +48.5

More birds in this 6pm (UK) game in a very important starting match for both teams.

The Eagles have a lot to prove this year, after a bunch of speedsters on receiver, and plugging some holes in their D will help them not lose as many games as they did last year.
It’s Jalen’s team now. He can run and pass, but can he complete?

Atlanta has another Ryan that has been struggling as of late, but his name is Matt.
Like door-Matt, because the lack of offensive line protecting him has made the past few years tough.
Their D was very bad, and there hasn’t been much effort to really fix the back end of that.
Plus there were the salty comebacks, more than you can find on Pornhub.

Ryan believes in Ryan and has the home field Falcons swooping down on the inept Hurts to begin the season with a wicked ass win.

Wade on the other hand is rooting for an upset, calling for the Eagles to put an impressive first game together to net the Falcons and their weak secondary.
Philly likes to bust out a big one in days of olde, and it feels like Jalen Hurts is going to have a nutter of a great Sunday.

Prediction

Ryan
Falcons 27 Eagles 20

Wade
Eagles 31 Falcons 28

If you want all the picks, make sure you listen to the podcast, where you can hear our picks on every game.

Thanks for listening, and continuing to push our listeners up the charts!

 

 

2022 Super Bowl Picks

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With the start of the NFL season, comes flurry of football speculation.
How will the extra games affect the season? Will injuries continue to dominate the league? Which team has the gumption to win it all?

Wade McElwain & Ryan Cull break it down with their Super Bowl picks for the 2022 game.

Yes, it is WAY to early to make such a bold prediction this early in the season, but that’s the fun in the NFL.
Take a punt based on some scraps of knowledge, stats, and mix it in with intuition and a dash of American network garble, and you have some half baked picks.

With LA being the host city for the February game, there is always a desire for one of the two Los Angeles teams to make it in front of the home crowd.
Sure, most of the crowd is made up of bloated execs and ass kissers, but there’s always those 10000 die hard fans allowed in to rally up the Chargers/ Rams.

Ryan’s Pick

Ryan is very cagey in his predictions thus far due to the potential implications of future ridicule from fantasy football chums.

One thing is clear though, is that this kid from Brantford, Ontario is sauced and baked in Buffalo Bills pride, and he believes this is the year that they make it to the Super Bowl.

Josh Allen is a ‘beast’, they have a ‘solid’ wide receiver group, and his praise is muted enough not to curse the potential gauntlet of AFC adversaries they need to overcome to get there.

Ryan has the Buffalo Bills win win the AFC Championship and move on to the Super Bowl.

Meeting them in the big show will be…the Los Angeles Rams.

That’s right, Ryan has drank the Matt Staffy Juice and thinks that the Rams with their bright new rocket, speedy sets of WR hands, and monster D will be the champs of the division atop the other imitators.

Prediction

Buffalo Bills vs LA Rams

Wade’s Pick

The AFC will be a blood bath, and with a relatively healthy group of teams ready to roar, it’s easy to pick a few contenders that have the stones to make it through a long season.

The Bills, Browns, Ravens, Steelers, Titans and Raiders all have the potential to rip it to the finish, but they don’t have the sustainability to endure themselves.

Kansas City has the team, the vision, the drive and the positioning to repeat as Super Bowl visitors, and that’s the pick for the AFC.

The LA Chargers will be plucky and fun to watch, and should be a great team to potentially make it all the way. Sadly, Justin and the team need another year in the grow room before they’re ready to bud.

As far as the NFC goes…it’s the Rams!

Yes, it’s a Los Angeles double set with the same lame pick as Ryan.

The Bucs are good, and they’ll be hot, but everyone will be gunning for them. That gets tedious after a while, just ask Captain America.

Green Bay’s Dream Machine will break down on the side of the road when they realise you can’t power a team on personal ambition and nostalgia.

The Bears will do great. People will be surprised. Justin Fields is a new messiah.

Prediction

Kansas City Chiefs vs LA Rams 

That’s it for our 2022 Super Bowl Picks, hope you can use them.

Sadly, there is no betting sites that are good in the UK to allow us to make those picks, but we thought we would throw those out there.

Who do you have winning it all? Let us know.

 

Hey Fantasy!

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With the NFL officially less than a week away, fans will be assembling their fantasy teams for the 2021 football season.

To celebrate this annual last rite of summer, we offer you our ‘Hey Fantasy’ podcast, a look at some of the biggest fantasy news, picks and avoids for this year.

Wade McElwain and Ryan Cull flip through all the fancy NFL magazines from across the pond to compile their basic knowledge to offer you top tips for your draft, what to look at at each position selecting, as well as some basic draft psychology.

Among some of the things the guys talk about in this episode includes:

Strategy

Where you pick in the draft reflects the kinds of choices that you will need to make to be successful in this years’ draft.

Choosing early will get you those tempting top picks, but you’ll have to wait until it swings around again until you get 2 more picks.
Given that you will be picking in chunks, you need to adjust your picks so that you are still able to get top talent, but also to grab enough RBs and WRs to fill out a solid roster.

Middle picking in the draft seems like it would suck, but you actually get to a choice of players at a fast and furious pace.
Being mid-pick in the draft means that you really need to pay attention.
You can get really good value in the middle, as you can make those bold picks while carving away at the desperation of folks on the end who have to make two quick picks in a row.

Draft Dunces

There is always going to be that person who takes WAY too long to draft their team.
You COULD tell them that the draft is on another day, and that they ‘missed’ your draft do to some scheduling snafu (you need the other draftees in on it), but that’s a poor way to start out the season.

When it comes to Draft deadbeats, you need to be clear as to the outcomes.
2 minutes is more than generous these days for a player window thanks to digital drafting.
If it takes a person more than 2 minutes to make their pick, you are more than free to put up penalties and deductions for delating the draft.

Unless this person absolutely slaughters everyone in your draft, they shouldn’t be taking that long to hump down a roster.
Give them the parameters ahead of time, and make it get all nervy with 30 seconds left to pick.

Bad drafters are like bad dogs, you have to get that behaviour out before the draft even starts.

Flee Agents

Cam Newton couldn’t learn a playbook?
Maybe his big ass hat was in the way?

With Cam now looking to ride the season long bench, there are plenty of opportunities for teams to snag some value players moving forward.

AP, Mitchell Schwartz, Geno Atkins, Le’Veon Bell, Todd Gurley and the gales Frank Gore are all now without an NFL home for this season.

Sure, some of these guys are old, but with the way injuries gut-punched the league last year, it’s safe to say that a lot of these guys will be back in a new uniform at some point this season.

Cam? Might be a hard stretch to get behind him as a starter.

Empire Fantasy Football League

Why is it so hard to find good , season long, fantasy football?

Well the team at Empire Fantasy Football League are here, and they have a fun new product to help you play season long NFL.

With no manager limit, Empire Fantasy football will allow thousands of us from around the world to compete against each other every week.

Just like DFS, you choose your team by balancing out an NFL fantasy roster.
Unlike DFS, there’s no daily, so that you can play and compete against other players from around the globe every week.

Make changes and tweaks to your roster each week, and you could be on your way to winning $1000 USD just for playing!

It’s FREE to play and the game is in beta mode, which means there are some features that haven’t been added yet.

Try Empire Fantasy Football League now, and take us on every week!

https://www.empireff.com/main

Clapham

Do you live in Clapham?
Well we’re showing NFL every Sunday in Clapham at the Sports Bar and Grill!

Get in touch with us and we can make sure that you get to watch EVERY NFL game that you want to see.
South London is now rocking the NFL!

Enjoy the latest podcast, we have more to come this week!

London Hotels

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The NFL games in London are almost here, and many of you will be looking to book your London-staycation to watch the games.
If you have never been to London, then we have a little advice to help you on your search for hotel rooms.

Tottenham

The Tottenham Hotspurs stadium is located in North East London, a little further afield than Wembley-if that’s where you are use to going.
The area around the stadium is ‘up and coming’, which translates as a bit nasty after dark.
We would NOT recommend staying in the area, as not only does it not have much of an atmosphere (yet), it will be dead as a door knob after the game.
That being said, it is easily accessible via numerous tube, train and bus routes.
We should note that Sundays are notoriously bad for transit in London, as this is when service is often reduced.
Travel around London is usually impacted.

North London

There are loads of great neighbourhoods close to Tottenham stadium to consider for the October Sunday games.

Archway

Archway is on the Northern Line, and has numerous links to the stadium via bus, train, and is under £15 for an Uber.
As of this article, there were numerous rooms at the Premier Inn (Archway) for £35 per night.
Archway is close to most London hubs, and has a vibrant and safe atmosphere at night.
Book via the website https://www.premierinn.com/gb/en/home.html

Wood Green

You can literally walk to the Tottenham Stadium from Wood Green.
This area is up and coming, and has added some funky new bars and pubs as of late.
There are plenty of sports bars on the main drag, and ‘The Mall’ is always worth a look.
Rooms were currently at £122 per night, but some sleuthing should be able to get you a good deal on rooms.

Kings Cross

Centrally located and boasting more transit connections than any other area of London, Kings Cross is the ‘hub’ for accessibility.
There are plenty of hotels around the KC junction, and you should be able to score a great deal on a hotel if you want to book.
The area has plenty of hotels and a thriving nightlife.
A word of caution that in some areas of KC get quite sketchy at night, so stick to the main drags and avoid any ‘heroin looking’ folks.

Crouch End

More of a local neighbourhood than a tourist destination, this leafy ‘village’ is a quick bus ride (or 30 min walk) to the stadium.
Known as the place where celebrities live, Crouch End has some NFL plans for the London games.
We work with the Princess Alexandra pub, which will be open until 4AM on both Sunday nights.
It’s a great place to eat, drink, watch the games…and you never know which cast member of Harry Potter will be sitting at the table next to you.

 

Old Street

Old Street is one of the hippest locations for your London stay.
20 minutes by transit to the stadium and on the edge of Shoreditch, staying in this area is hip, safe, and bound to offer plenty of adventures.
We are working with the Sports Bar and Grill Old Street, so you can pop in before and after the game for a wicked party until 4am.
Home of the famous Silicon Roundabout, the area is full of bars and cool restaurants.
There are LOADS of hotels there, and we have already found a few for cheap.
The hipster CitizenM has rooms for under £120 per night.

Areas to Avoid

Like any major city, there are places that might not be the best for your London or NFL experience.
Some of these areas include:

West London

Chiswick, Richmond and Chelsea are all wonderful places to visit…just not stay if you’re hitting Tottenham. Notoriously far away and difficult to access on gameday.

Leicester Square

A steady decline in recent years have made this place a shady place to be at night.
Post COVID the Leicester Square area has become very dark at night, and loads of news stories of robberies, assaults, and even worse are increasing.
It’s ok to be there in the daytime, but we would NOT recommend walking around the Leicester Square/ Oxford Circus streets at night time unless you have a stab vest.

Wembley

Wembley stadium is a far toss from Tottenham, and a huge pain in the butt to get to from Tottenham.
Sundays are not fundays for transit to this hub, so you will deffo need Ubers (which will be busy) on a Sunday night.

South of the River

Unless you’re ‘living in a van by the river’, anything south of the Thames will be a ball ache to get from on a Sunday.
Be prepared for a long journey.

We will keep you updated on all the travel and hotel issues we see as they arise!

 

Early SuperBowl Picks

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The 2021-2022 NFL season has yet to begin, but the excitement and anticipation is palpable.
COVID is starting to put itself in the rearview mirror, and all eyes are on the big prize as to who will hoist the Lombardy Trophy next.
To kick off the speculation and potential big bets, we have made some of our Early SuperBowl Picks.

Making early Super Bowl predictions can either make you look like a genius, or a flipping fool, but if you don’t take a chance on the wager, you’ll never know.

Betting

One would think that the big betting companies would have oodles of options and betting possibilities for wagering on who will be in the big game in February 2022…no dice.
Despite NFL fans wanting to start spending their cash, and testing their luck, there aren’t any betting sites where you can input two teams, and find out what the odds of those two teams meeting in LA next year.
Instead, if you want to make a bet on this, you’ll just have to find a friend who is willing to take the odds you give them.
Get it together betting industry!!!

SuperBowl LVI

The big game takes place on Sunday February 13th at the punchy Sofi Stadium in Los Angeles.
Los Angeles hasn’t hosted a Superbowl since 1973, so this will be a truly glam slam thank you ma’am kind of affair.
Teams who host the SuperBowl have the motivation to make it to the big game and thrive under the spotlight of the home fans, just like the Bucs were able to bask under last year.

Tampa Bay Bucs vs Kansas City Chiefs

Repeat! Repeat!
Despite the overwhelming odds of an unlikely return to the Bowl of the Bucs and Chiefs, both teams are heavily favoured to return to the big game at the end of the season.
The Chiefs (+500) and Bucs (+950) are poised for big things this year again, but will they both have the mustard to be able to make it to the big show after an extra week of regular games.
Injuries were the reigning star of the 2020 season, so it figures that this will have a massive affect on the closing records of both teams.
The Bucs are geared and steered towards a repeat, while the Chiefs will be hungry to avenge the beating that they took in front of the world.
Our odds on this: +2300

Buffalo Bills vs Green Bay Packers

Josh Allen and the Bills are the soft faves of many NFL fans around the world.
Their plucky play, snowy disposition and insane fans make Sundays even more Fundays.
The Bills mafia have put their team at +1200 to make it to Cali in February, which is respectable given their top 4 placing last season.
The Packers (+1200) have one last shot before the franchise goes into hibernation in 2022.
Aaron Rodgers has made it no secret that this is his last year in GB, and the team better do something to make him happy.
There is an even better chance that the soft egos in Lambeau implode before they actually make it to the playoffs, but some fans are wishing and hoping that A-A-Ron can help the fans answer all of their questions ‘Jeopardy-Style’.
Our odds on this one: +3800

Indianapolis Colts vs San Francisco 49ers

The Colts  have Good King Wentz-CilAss  straight trippin’ this year, as Indy fans try to recover from a trip down Philip Rivers last season.
Indianapolis (+2900) has been popping up on computer models in great frequency as of late, due to an impressive D, O-line, and solid running play from Jonathan Taylor.
If the computer says ‘yes’ to them being good this season, why not take a punt on them.
San Francisco (+1400) is another nugget that the computers have been pinging for a post season run.
Whether it’s Jimmy G, or Trey Lance the 49ers are post season faves thanks to a ridiculous defence and solid coaching.
The 49ers have been injury plagued for the past few years, so maybe this is the year where they are able to be healthy enough to make a run.
Indy vs San Fran? Could be a good game.
Our odds on this: +5500

Chicago Bears vs Cleveland Browns

It’s the battle of the working class, as the Brownies look for a chance to make the playoffs, and the Bears hope to be able to win a playoff game.
Chicago (+6000) is on the low, low end of the playoff spectrum, thanks to iffy play over the past few seasons of Mitch Trubisky.
Pace and Nagy bought the farm with Justin Fields, so all hope will rest on the young Buckeyes phenom.
The NFC North is a tough division, but a post season run is not impossible.
Cleveland (+2000) has been putting all the pieces together over the past few seasons, but have yet to get close to solving the puzzle.
The Browns have a serious chance of pushing through their division and potentially taking advantage of injuries from teams like the Chiefs and Bills.
Sure, this is a fan hopeful game, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t a far gone conclusion.
Our odds on this game: +9300

LA Chargers vs LA Rams

The Battle for Los Angeles sounds like some sort of post apocalyptic nightmare, or a great title for the upcoming Super Bowl.
The Chargers (+3000) got a hefty dollop of Herbert last year, and NFL fans were treated to a fantasy stud that has all the makings of a quality, career QB.
Despite horrible coaching and injury gaps a plenty, the Chargers looked quite respectable in his debut.
LA Rams (+1300) on the other hand were missing one key piece in their puzzle, that being former Lion tamer Matthew Stafford.
Aaron Donald is a beast of a freak, and should return to causing panic and mayhem on O lines.
With Cam Akers out for the season with injury (don’t draft him) the Rams will need to get a running back if they have any hope of making the post season, but luckily we’re early in in the season.
An LA vs LA Super Bowl in LA?
Damn, that would be one heck of a game!
Our odds on this game: (+4500)

We will be throwing wicked Super Bowl parties this year, so hopefully you can join us for the big game.

Who do you have in the show?

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