NFL in London

National Football League in London

2022 Bucs Germany

Week 17 Review

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What a sad way to end a competitive Sunday-when Buffalo’s Damar Hamlin went down with cardiac issues in a solemn silence to football, as we look at all in our Week 17 Review.

It was a topsy turvy and exciting week in the NFL, with questions of injury attentiveness, fantasy finals, and playoff implications became a little deeper, even a little durper as the Washington FC and Ron Rivera didn’t even realise that their loss knocked them out of playoff contention.
So much for having math guys on the squad.

Damar Hamlin

Football fans and humans alike reacted with shock and pause on Sunday when Buffalo Bills defensive player Damar Hamlin tackled Bengals WR Tee Higgins triggering a cardiac arrest on the field.
The shock to the heart of the 24 year old and the world itself was felt with every passing palpitation on the field beckoning ‘please, get up’ ‘please be okay.’

As of  Jan 4th, Hamlin is still in critical condition, after being resuscitated twice in an effort to save his life and give pause to the game and the way we handle these situations themselves.

We love you Damar Hamlin! Fight this! You’re young, strong, and the Bills Mafia, and the NFL fans of the world got you!

More critical now is the response that the NFL ‘may’ have had on Sunday night.
Indications from the league that the game should ‘go on’ was passed on to several parties, but it was the teams themselves that led the charge to end the game.
The Bengals crossed to Buffalo to offer condolences and to do this another time, which was agreed.
The NFL is family, and we got hurt. Bad.

It was over an hour before the league gave an official response, which begs the question as to whether there should be an emergency playbook for when a real crisis hits the field.
A game sponsored by so much loving military support could tap into its own triage capabilities.

Thoughts, prayers, hugs kisses and more are appreciated.

Donate to the Damar Hamlin GoFundMe Toy Fund here.

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Command Blow

Just when the Washington football club had a chance to qualify for the playoffs, they blew it, and they didn’t even knew it.

Deshaun Watson and the Browns gave glimpses of hope for the 2023 season as he rubbed and tugged himself all over the Washington D.

Carson Wentz became a wordplay of himself as he ‘Wentzed’ himself in a ‘Wentzing’ debacle that made us want to ‘Wentz’.
For a guy who has had to deal with cancer in his life, it’s surprising he hasn’t cut that Wentz out already.

Lions Roar

It was Bears versus Lions in a divisional rematch of the ages, but in this case the dome home Detroiters’ did the deed.

The Bears lost more O linemen to injury as Justin Fields was forced to tap-dance his way to a potential concussion or worse with no protection or viable receivers.
He did have to take a tent trip which is potentially sending less and less pleasurable for youth of the day.
Chicago is looking like the worst of the blurst-so it’s all about that draft pick, or trading it.

Lions roared in the dome, with a commanding display over Chicagos inept defence.
It got a little silly at times, as Detroit ran all over da Bears and Goff started to look like a big QB in a fantasy fiesta for fans in a lopsided 41-10 victory.

Detroit has the Packers at home who are riding high in Rodgers in South America.

Green Goths

The slovenly Packer faithful have emerged from the dours of the earlier season to see Aaron Rodgers good-thumb his way to a sling of victories, after a slap down of the Vikings in Week 17.

From ‘we won’t make the playoffs’ to ‘he’s back’, the cheeseheads have finally ripened after a bit of malaise mould.
With the Lions on the horizon the Pack faithful that they can get get lucky like Daft Punk one more time, as it’s been safety and D scoring the majority of the points.

If the Packers do make the playoffs, they will limp in against a slew of top teams who will be looking to feast on the soft cheese O line, receivers, and melt Aaron Rodgers to the crisp point of brown-there are no more buses to throw people under.

Russ Cooks

The Chiefs took a chin ride from Russ and the Denver D as they irked out a win and gave a menu of how to tomahawk the Kansas defence when push comes to neigh.

When the memes, jibes and jibber jabber comes to play-Russ is cooking as of late, and making the haters eat some words.

Still a loss, but a ten point diss was shaken.

What the Jets

Mike White was white-faced as the New York Jets just seemed to stymie and stall in a must win game.
From a team that was putting dumby scores with a tandem of run and pass, they looked flat against a mediocre Seattle D.

Couldn’t score, didn’t care, didn’t want to be there.
Seattle gets a much needed win to give them a 23.5% chance to make the playoffs, and the Jets got eliminated.
Another rebuilding year then eh?
How many is that?

Thanks for following, reading, listening, and we welcome your input.
Please feel to reach out to us and look forward to a great 2023 season.

 

Week 13 Picks Podcast

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It’s December you snowflakes, as we bring you our Week 13 Picks Podcast.

Wade & Ryan have been busy in the toy shed making their predictions for this next slate of games as the ground starts to harden in the league and around us all.

To say it’s been a bizarre season would be an understatement, as legends have faltered, new heroes have emerged, and the Eagles are 10-1. Who would have thunk?

With that in mind, the boys look at the more interesting matchups for Week 13 in the 2022 NFL season, with fun anticipation that anything can happen.

Here’s the link so that you can get the full Week 13 Picks Podcast.

 

Jets (7-4) vs -1.5 Vikings (9-2)  +44.5

The Jets and Vikings have surprised us all with their stellar start to the 2022 season.
Despite being Zach Wilson’d with a solid core, New York has found their way with a flash of Mike White.
Minnesota is shining bright under the light of one Justin Jefferson, while Cousins still shirks like a vampire in the shine of primetime.

New York has brought back Mike to lead the way after a beatdown of the Bears worthy of an Aaron Rodgers belt.
It’s the Jets D that has really kept them in games, and with 7 wins and the Patriots taking one on the chin from the Bills, a W here could start to set some separation.

No one believes in the Vikings, as if their wins are somehow as mythical in tally.
Kirk Cousins can still make some bonehead moves, but with a offence like his, he can pretty much fail to win.

Ryan likes Minnesota to swing their Viking hammer at home, knocking back the White-ness to reality with a display of scoring. He believes that the hype will be enough to beat the Jets.

Wade is backing the Jets here to upstart the shaky Minnesota miracles. The D will shake up the cousin flicking festival, and use their running game to keep themselves competitive.

Ryan- Vikings 29 Jets 24
Wade- Jets 30 Vikings 28

-1 Jaguars (4-8) vs Lions (4-7)  57.5

With a game boasting a 57 plus point total, Las Vegas knows that this match is gone to be a slugfest.
Both teams lack the D to deliver, and they’re both on an upward ascent of winning time.

Trevor Lawrence finally looked like an NFL star, leading his team down the field like a real leader.
Finally. It’s been along time coming, but can he sling together a series of wins after too many years of rebuilding?

Detroit has been hard-knocking their way back to the wins, as Dan Campbell has got his Lions ready to roar in this battle of the big cats.

Ryan likes Detroit here to upset the Jaguars at home, and bite out a chunk from the Jacksonville junkies.

Wade is also big on the Lions, betting that the running game and speedy receiver match-ups will be a sure source of fantasy picks.

Ryan- Lions 30 Jaguars 27
Wade- Lions 33 Jaguars 26

-5.5 Browns (4-7) vs Texans (1-9-1)  +47.5

Let’s talk about the Deshaun in the room shall we?

Buried beneath the big games, the NFL snuck us back the return of disgraced quarterback Deshaun Watson to face the team we wanted to leave.
You don’t mess with Texas.

Whatever the boo’s or shenanigans organised to shame this young man, it’s still an NFL game so show some respect.

Respect is something the Browns don’t have for themselves as they have blundered their way through some pretty easy picks and opportunities over the past few years.
Watson has a chance to at least hobble together a team that has Amari Cooper, and an underused running duo in Chubb and Hunt.

No respect at all for the Texans. Only Rodney Dangerfield could run a team with no respect all the way down.  Davis Mills is gone, so its on Pearce to run the ball up the line.

Ryan likes the Browns to get through the boo’s and get the win, although he thinks that the hometown Texas faithful will rally them to cover.

Wade has the Browns coming together to support Watson, and Cleveland getting a win to save some face.

Ryan- Browns 24 Texans 22
Wade- Browns 27 Texans 21 

Make sure that you check us out on all our social media, and listen to our podcast.

 

 

Week 11 Picks

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We’re over halfway through the NFL season as the league hosts its final international game in Mexico, the World Cup is almost here, and the Green Bay Packers eat another ‘L’.
It’s time for our Week 11 Picks!

Wade and Ryan are back again, using their medium sized brains to crank out their nuggets of wisdom as we make our way to Thanksgiving.

Ryan had a bit of turkey in week 10, going 5-8 in his picks, while Wade had a bit more stuffing with a 9-4 record ATS.
How will the boys do this week?

The show is all snow in Buffalo, the Patriots tee up the Jets for another potential beating, the Bears are underdogs to Mariota, and the Rams well and truly suck this year.

Who do the guys have for Week 11?

You can listen to the whole podcast here, and get all of the Picks you’re looking for!

Here are some of the betting picks the guys are looking at for Week 11.

Browns (3-6) vs -8 Bills (6-3) +50.5

As much as we laud Buffalo for staying strong during their snowy winters, when you look at the white covered city, you can see why it had to be moved to Detroit.
The Bills and Browns are both in the dome, in a game that could signal the beginning of the Deshaun era, and Josh Allen looking to shake off recent picks.

Buffalo is starting to lose grip on the top spot in the AFC east, with the rise of the Jets Dolphins and Patriots to playoff potential.
Josh Allen’s last minute picks have put the Bills in a tricky spot, after taking that sore L from the Vikings.

The Browns have limped their way into this season, hoping that Watson will rub out the past deeds, and tug them into a brighter future.
The running game and ascent of Peoples-Jones could help the Browns keep this one closer than the line Vegas has provided.

Ryan likes his Bills to win, but doesn’t like that 8 point spread.
He thinks that the Browns will keep in closer than that.

Wade agrees, and thinks that the tight week, and with Buffalo due to play in 4 days for Gobble Gobble, they might not be focused on laying a beating.

Ryan-Bills 27  Browns 20
Wade Bills 28 Browns 21

-6.5 Eagles (8-1) vs Colts (4-5-1) +43.5

The Eagles have gotten that first loss out of the way, now it’s time to focus!
Philly not only made a load of mistakes against Washington in week 10, they also got gashed by the running game, something that future teams will look to as a template.

Indy is shaking off the hangover, and trying to string something together after the Matt Ryan awkwardness of a few weeks ago. Is he back? Does Jim still like him?
Whatever it is, they still have Jonathan Taylor, who like Stella-seems to have finally gotten his groove back.

Ryan likes the Eagles to continue to dominate, learning from their Week 10 loss, and ready to rebound all over the faces of Jeff Saturday and his boys.

Wade thinks the Colts are on the rise, and this could potentially be another chance to draw blood and put themselves on the playoffs path. The could win, but should cover.

Ryan-Eagles 30 Colts 17
Wade-Eagles 28 Colts 22

Bears (3-7) vs -3 Falcons (4-6)  +49

It only took 5 weeks, but the Bears have finally figured out what to do with Fields and a weak Bears O-line.
Justin has been on fire, ripping up Fantasy numbers, and having Bears worry that he could get broken with the amount he’s running, leaving them with no toys at all.

How is Marcus Mariota still a starting QB?
His passes are as awkward as an asexual at a porn awards, and he’s often putting the Falcons under pressure than leading them to victory.
So how are the Falcons 3 point faves? Is it all home field?

Ryan thinks that the Falcons are in the right, and that spotty Bears D will be open enough for Atlanta’s running game to create some opportunities.

Wade is all over his Bears, with the team averaging 28 points in the past 4 weeks, they will continue to score against a hapless Falcons D.

Ryan-Falcons 27 Bears 24
Wade-Bears 30 Falcons 24

That’s it for our Week 11 Picks, who do you have?

Make sure you follow us on social media and play along on DraftKings every week of all the fun!

 

Bears in London

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The NFL tickled us with a treat this week, as Chicago took advantage of the new international marketing areas to host the Bears in London on Sunday.

What a fun night of action, and thanks for hosting us!

Home Marketing

With the NFL going fully international this year, the league announced last year that they would allow certain teams to market directly to global fans.

The United Kingdom had six teams granted rights to perform this, with the Jaguars, Vikings, Dolphins, Jets, 49ers and Bears getting the royal treatment here.

This was the Bears first attempt at hosting one of these parties, and they did a lot of things right.

Flat Iron Party

The Bears opted to host the party in London’s Flat Iron area, just round the corner from London Bridge station.

While the area was popular when the NFL was in town, it did seem like a rather odd location given how quickly the area empties on a Sunday, as well as being hosted underneath the train tracks.

The hype was obvious at entry, as cheery marketing folk handed out raffle tickets, and encouraged fans to participate in some of the many trivia and cheer games they had prepared.
Some of the games were funny, some cheesy, and there were times fans just wanted the game back on as they battled the Lions, but the good nature of the event and £7 pints had Bears fans rollicking.

Bringing in the Bears hype man to host the event did bring a deep dish authenticity to the event, and he was genuinely surprised at just how damn knowledgeable UK Bears fans are at trivia.
The only wrong answers seemed to be displayed in the Bears game play.

The Game

Heading into the game, the Bears were a three point favourite over a Lions team bolstered by a win over the Packers last weekend.

The awkward tension was palatable in the room, as the Lions erased the Bears lead, despite the gutsy and emotional play of Justin Fields.

Despite the loss, UK Bears fans were playful to the few Lions fans who snuck in, possibly bouyed by beers, Bears and Bears swag.

Speaking of swag, while it looked like they brought plenty, it didn’t seem like it reached many of the fans, as Bears loyals were seen packing branded, paper drinks coasters into their pockets for a little bit of take home legacy.

Or maybe people just didn’t want to be reminded of a one point loss.

Bear Down Future

Scrolling the Bears forums, the main complaints from fans around the event stemmed from it being last minutes, and in London, alienating many UK Bears fans who either can’t travel on Sunday nights, or can’t afford London prices.

Rumours from the Bears marketing staff on hand is that there could be more of these viewing events across the UK in the coming months.

Make sure to watch this space, and we will let you know where and when you can Beardown this NFL season.

All in all, it was a fun night of football, and a good sign of things to come.

 

Week 10 Picks

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Another wild week of the NFL is behind us, as we head into the final European NFL game of the season.
If TB12 is wearing lederhosen, then it’s time for Week 10 Picks.

Wade & Ryan did ok in another tough week 9 of NFL picks, so hopefully they have some great picks for you this week.

If you want to hear ALL of their Week 10 Picks, then make sure that you check out the podcast here, or wherever else you find your podcasts!

 

Bears in London

As part of the home network initiative this season, the Chicago Bears have the rights to put on events and promote the team across the UK.

For Week 10, the Bears are hosting a viewing party in London’s Flat Iron Square, near London Bridge station. For all information, and to see if you can get tickets, just click here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/official-chicago-bears-vs-detroit-lions-watch-party-tickets-452816013887?aff=ebdssbcategorybrowse&keep_tld=1

Amons some of the things on tap for this event includes a wicked viewing party as the Bears host the Detroit Lions at 6pm GMT.

Not only will fans have a chance to win prizes, and Bears goodies, they will also be giving away a trip to Chicago to watch a Bears game courtesy of United airlines.

Not only that, Bears alumni Ruben Brown will be on hand to take pictures, and potentially table slam any Bills mafia who want to talk to him.

Should be a fun event, but expect London prices.

As far as some of the games this week, here are Wade and Ryan’s picks.

Seahawks (6-3) vs -3 Bucs (4-5)  +44.5

The division leading Bucs have 4 ugly wins, so it seems odd that a hobbled TB12 squad would be favoured over a surging Geno Smith and company.
The NFL didn’t do any favours to the Seahawks by having them fly a crazy length on a short week.
Will the Seahawks be too tired to even dip their pretzels on Sunday?

The Seahawks have the advantage when it comes to health and wealth. Their running game is solid, and the O line is finally giving them enough time for Geno to find Lockett and Metcalf.
They have 6 wins when many people figured that this would be a Seattle building year.

The Bucs suck. They have limped through games, struggled to get the run together, but at least Tommy boy isn’t smashing tablets any more.
Why the Bucs are favoured is a big surprise? Who is going to score of them?

Ryan doesn’t like the Seahawks disrespect, and is tipping them to upset the Bucs in their German home game.

Wade agrees, and thinks that Geno and Kenneth Walker will pip Tampa Bay in a close, low-scoring game.

Ryan-Seahawks 24 Bucs 20
Wade-Seahawks 23 Bucs 20

Lions (2-6) vs -3 Bears (3-5)  +48.5

The Lions are fresh off a win, after beating Aaron Rodgers and the slumping Packers at home.
While Hard Knocks may have excited fans at their prospect at the start of the season, woes are starting to pile up on Dan Campbell and Detroit.

The Bears are coming off an exciting loss, which sounds weird. Yes, they lost to the Cowboys last week, but Bears fans saw something they haven’t seen in a while…points be scored.
Justin Fields lit up the grass, setting QB records Chicago hasn’t seen in ages.

Ryan is Bearing down on Chicago in this one, as he doesn’t see the Lions being able to shoot out against Fields.

Bears fan Wade is happy that they are favoured over the divisional Lions, but still thinks that Detroit has the tools to keep it close at Soldier Field.

Ryan-Bears 27 Lions 20
Wade-Bears 24 Lions 23

Vikings (7-1) vs -3.5 Bills (6-2)  +44

Finally a match-up between two winning teams, but will they have their rosters in tack to make this one a shootout?

The Vikings are fresh off a win, and bolstered by trading TJ Hockenson in to help them with some muscle and yardage. Dalvin Cook continues to be a threat, while Kirk Cousins is feeling fine as his team cruises to an unchallenged domination of the NFC North.

Hello Josh? Are you there? Bills fans saw worry last week as Josh Allen went down to injury, as the Bills took one on the chin from the Jets.
Can the Bills rally at home to get a big W, and stop a two game losing skid?

Ryan likes his Bills to win in a tight one. The crowd could be the deciding factor here, as it looks to be a blustery one in Buffalo.

Wade too likes the Bills, but will be watching the injury status. He thinks that Case Keenum can also get the job done, and might be a sneaky fantasy add.

Ryan-Bills 23 Vikings 20
Wade-Bills 27 Vikings 23

That’s it for our week 10 picks! Hope you make some money this weekend.