NFL in London

National Football League in London

kansas city chiefs

Week 1 Picks

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Praise to the NFL Gods! We’re back with the 2020 season, and Wade & Ryan couldn’t be happier.
This whole year has felt like a Cowboys vs Patriots Super Bowl, with screaming idiocy everywhere, but at least we can find comfort in the start of another year of football.
The guys might not be able to predict what the bloody hell is going to happen in the next 6 months, but at least they will steer you right in their NFL picks.

The first week of the NFL is always tricky to handicap, as there are so many unknown factors and new dynamics rolling off of training camp. 2020 is an even tougher year to predict, as the lack of preseason and physical preparation are all going to factor into some wild and crazy scores. Injuries will also be a major issue, as the lack of a preseason means some of these guys might be soft and brittle the first time someone plows into them.

Wade McElwain and Ryan Cull have done the research, looked at the tape, read a few fantasy magazines and are ready to prognosticate. Wade had a whopping 64% correct against the spread last season, while Ryan came in with 57% correct. Will Wade be able to repeat his wizardry this year? Let’s find out with some of their top picks.

TNF-Texans vs Chiefs (-9) +54.5

The reigning Super Bowl champs kick off the season at home against a foe they face early on in the playoffs last year. Despite trailing 24-0 to Deshaun and the Texans, Mahomes was able to rally his team to go all the way. So how much is changed the season?
Hopkins is gone, Cooks is in and the running game now rests in the hands of Duke Johnson.
The Chiefs have much of their magic back, although some of the blocking on the O line is weaker due to some trades and opt outs.
Both Wade & Ryan like the Chiefs to win here, although Ryan sees the Texans keeping this game closer, while Wade predicts a blowout in from of a smaller Chiefs crowd.
Wade-Chiefs 31 Texans 20
Ryan-Chiefs 31 Texans 28

Dolphins vs Patriots (-6.5) +43

This is the first time we see Bill Belichick without his Tommy Boy, so how will he react to his new NFL normal? He’ll be fine, as BB is known for his meticulous planning for any opponent. Cam will add a nice healthy dose of dip and dash to the offence, and old man Edelman will prove his worth in some quick cuts and short routes. Fitzmagic will need to find his magic wand, as many of his tools have either been traded or regressed in the offseason. Fitz will have some success, but the Patriots D is still one to be feared in the league. Ryan likes the Dolphins to cover, whereas Wade sees this as another beatdown.
Wade-Patriots 30 Dolphins 17
Ryan-Patriots 24 Dolphins 20

Seahawks (-2) vs Falcons +49

The Seahawks are out for a title this year, and many believe that this could be ‘their year’, but first they have to get through some tough competition. The Falcons have struggled with great talent and bad injuries in the past few years, and one wonders if Matt Ryan will ever make a trip back to the Super Bowl in his career. The dome might be lacking in fans, but there will be a lot of eyes on new acquisition Todd Gurley and whether he can stay healthy.
Ryan likes the Seahawks to rough up the Falcons, with Russell Wilson having an impressive day hitting Tyler Lockett.
Wade on the other hand is quick to point out the traditional slow start of the Seahawks, and Pete Carroll not covering the spread on Week 1 since 2014. He has Atlanta in an upset.
Wade-Falcons 30 Seahawks 28
Ryan-Seahawks 31 Falcons 21

For the rest of the predictions, have a listen to our podcast for all the games and scores.
How will the boys do this week?
Make sure you join us one weekend for an NFL event once all of this malarky is behind us.
Stay safe, stay sane, let’s go NFL!

Fantasy Draft Party

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Like many at the start of September, we held our annual Fantasy Draft to commemorate the start of the season. Fantasy Draft’s are great ways to bond with fellow NFL fans to challenge each other in your game and playability knowledge of this great game. It’s also a good chance to emotionally bitch slap last year’s losers, bow to the finite rantings of last year’s winner, and plan for the future.

Our NFL in London Fantasy Pool is going on over a decade of play, with a melange of international fans who we have met in our hosting of NFL events across the city.
There are two leagues, the ‘Eh League’ which is comprised of the best of the best, and the ‘B League’, the relegation league where hopefuls can exchange a league win with that of the Eh loser. To be the best you have to beat the best.

We held this years draft at the Princess Alexandra Pub in Crouch End. It’s our lovely local run by our mate Nick Ford and his wife and 2 Alaskan Malmutes. With the crush of Covid, we opted for a nearby place that we could safely distance, as well as support an independent establishment. They have great burgers, Sunday roasts and stay open until 1am on Sundays so you can catch the second game, and be back in Kings Cross in 20 minutes.
https://princessalexandran8.co.uk/

We used the FanDraft software again this year, and cannot recommend this product enough. It is an easy and fun way to host your draft, and you can immediately export the results to input into your fantasy app. You can also make it fun with walk-on music, custom images and funny comments that I as the commissioner can input. We teamed it up with Facebook’s Messenger to create a private group that we could run for over 3 hours. Since we had folks in Dubai, New Zealand, Romania and Scotland, this was really a fun little addition.
https://fandraft.com/

It was nice to have a sense of ‘normal’ again, and hope that all of you also had a great one as well. It’s a messed up old world we live in, & a fantasy group is like a fraternity of sanity. No matter what shit people have to say about what on social media, NFL fantasy chat is all about the BS.
Let’s see what you have to say about it Monday morning.
Good luck everyone.

 

AFC-Division Preview

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Everybody is an NFL pundit, so why not listen to the blathering on of some NFL experts?
Wade McElwain and Ryan Cull are ready with their divisional picks to make your life either easier, or more complicated.
Those are the kind of choices you get in a Covid world.

When it comes to NFL picks, Wade & Ryan are quite good at picking NFL winners. Wade was able to hit a whopping 64% correct against the spread in 2019, putting him right up there with Vegas Tipsters.
Ryan was able to hit 56%, which is better than grandma or an octopus can pick. So you’re in good hands.

So who do the boys like for this season? Let’s find out. Or you can listen to the latest podcast where they explain it all.

AFC East

Ryan is a Buffalo Bills fan, so expect a bit of a bias in his picks. He believes that the Bills will finally see their year, outperforming the New England Patriots and taking the division title with an 11-5 record. He has the Pats slightly behind at 9-7, with the lowly Jets and Dolphins finishing up at 6-10.
Wade also likes the Bills, but not so much. This is a tough division, which means that they will probably beat the crap out of each other to .500 records. He has the Bills at a respectable 9-7, with Bill Belichick’s coaching nipping on the heels of the Bills at 8-8. As for the other dumpster fires, the Dolphins will either start strong or finish strong, but they will deffo suck in the middle. Adam Gase will do what he does, and turn Jets fans a fiery red.

AFC North

Can the Baltimore Ravens repeat their Lamar-a-rific performance like they did last year? Ryan says yes, Wade says no. Ryan likes the Ravens have what it takes to take the division, pipping the Browns with the Steelers trailing in third. The Bengals of course are his fourth place,  as are most peoples’.
Wade is hot on Pittsburgh this season as the drama is behind them, and Tomlin is focused on a title run. Their D is incredible and their offence is finally healthy enough to challenge. Wade has Baltimore trailing with a respectable 11-5 record. He isn’t as bullish on the Browns however, as the high profile players will once again implode with a 6-10 season. He too thinks that the Bengals will stink worse than 2020, if that’s at all possible.

AFC South

The Titans rose as giants in their division last year, but will the brilliance of Bill O’Brien save the Texans? Not according to the boys. Ryan likes the pep of Phillip Rivers to take the Colts and their wicked O-line to a 10-6 record and the division title. He has both the Titans &  Texans slightly behind, with the Jaguars playing so bad, they should just be called ‘Florida’.
Wade on the other hand sees ties in the future, in fact a 3 way tie. He has the Titans, Colts and Texans all chunking out 9-7 records with the Jaguars getting shot in the jungle with a lowly 1-15 record.
The south will definitely not rise again.

AFC West

Damn this is one tough division. Not only do you have the Super Bowl champions looking to repeat, but a few other plucky teams who are ready to challenge.
Ryan is all aboard the Chiefs wagon, looking at them to win a whopping 14 games, and smoking the opposition. He has the Broncos in 2nd, Raiders in 3rd, and has the Chargers limping in at 4th place.
Wade is not as convinced on the Chiefs, as many teams experience a Super Bowl hangover, especially young teams with not enough focus. He still has them to win the division, but with only 10 wins, and 1 more than the Broncos. He also thinks that the Chargers will be a surprise this year, as the heat is off, Rivers is gone, and a whole new dynamic enters the locker room. If any team tests positive for Covid, Wade thinks it will be the Raiders, as you can catch anything in Vegas.

Who do you like? Who do you have to win it all?

Get in touch, follow us, and make sure you come to one of our events once this season gets kicking.

Sleeveless Bill

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Hold on sports fans, we have a new category to lump Bill Belichick in…actor!
Sure, he’s done a bit of acting when he pretended not to know about Aaron Hernandez, or that he didn’t think that Tom Brady was leaving, or even acting when it came to knowing nothing about Robert Kraft and his mayo-laden massage sessions, but this time he is in a real ad.

Subway has taken over from Papa John’s as the food of the NFL, and has chosen Patriots coach Bill Belichick as their frontman.
He’s the first guy to jump into the role since Jared got busted for trying to punch his 6 inch card at local high schools and Subway had to take a commercial break for a few years.

Can Bill act? Hell no.
Is it as painful to watch as Tom Brady sliding head first into a tackle? Yes.
Do you think that Bill actually eats at Subway? Hells no.

At any rate, it is nice to kick off the NFL again, and those tummy jitters that come with the start of an impending season.
The Patriots are kind of like a sub…they have a white bread bottom, lots of flavour on offence, a smothering sauce of a defence, and Cam Newton is like the pineapple and jalapeño you throw on just to make it yours. It might be gross to taste this season, but that’s the way they made it.

What’s your favourite NFL food?

 

FanDraft your Draft

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Holy crap! The NFL is finally here in an eerie new way. Sure there’s a global pandemic wrecking havoc on our way of life, but football is back, so screw you Covid.

As the pumpkin spice springs back to life on the shelves, so do the Fantasy Football magazines, beckoning us to buy them to flip through those crispy pages on extended toilet breaks. Maybe magazines are old school, but there’s nothing like the nostalgia of dipping through the stats as you’re dropping the kids off at the pool.

Having run numerous drafts, the worst thing is the paperwork. And the alcohol. If you’re going to be a commish, make sure you don’t get too wasted or you’ll have a bugger of a next day trying to remember who had who and in what order.

Good thing there’s FanDraft, a wicked piece of NFL Drafting software that makes your draft simple and fun. With the pandemic blowing out the fun of a Draft Day outing, you can use FanDraft to virtually pump up your party, teaming it with streaming software for a fun few hours of bonding.

Here are some of the key features that makes FanDraft so wicked easy cool.

Draft Boards

Remember the days of the big old draft boards on cardboard that had sticky names on them? There was always one guy who had to build them, order the name tags, or worse-having to write them out manually. With FanDraft the board is a big screen of all the names, ordered in whichever way you like. The commish can switch between the DraftBoard, as well as top players by category and a précis of whatever guys you have drafted thus far. If you make a mistake or a glitch, the commish can simply fix it and the draft is paused until it’s ready to go. The players are also ordered by colour for position, so you can easily see what positions you still have to fill on your roster.

Draft Reports

In the olde days, the draft was written in a notebook, and some schmuck had to enter all the data into a document that would then be shared to the group. Some of you still do that? Damn! With FanDraft as soon as your draft is done you can export the results into an series of documents for the league and each player. This data is just a  copy & paste into whichever app you’re using. The process for a whole league can take less than 5 minutes and you’re ready to go.

Remote Drafting

Like any remote engagement, it all depends on the connection of the devices to really get one going. FanDraft has used an online method previously with increasing success each year. With the new platform for drafting, this is a fun way for everyone to play along in real time. Again your connection speed is going to be the key wherever you are, so run a few dry runs to see how it goes. Careful, some guys get pissed when they see what ‘could have been.’

Music & Pictures

It’s nice to have some tunes when you’re drafting, and FanDraft allows each player to choose 3 songs for their walk-ons. It’s a fun little addition, especially if you like to burn one of your fellow players. There has to be a loser every year, and why not rub it in with some cheesy songs to remind them of their loss? You can also add images, which are pretty handy when you want to see who’s on the clock.

Clock Management

There’s always one person who takes so bloody long, even in the early rounds. Make them pay by changing the selection clock to a shorter length. If you can get the draft down to 60 seconds per choice, you can get a good round down to under an hour. Some people might like the pause of a long and chatty draft, & other people have shit to do.

Conclusion

FanDraft is totally worth it. If you want to run an easy and efficient draft, this program will help you help you in so many ways. We love it so much, we want to give you 15% off the pro version with our promo code ‘FANDRAFTUK‘.
Just go here, sign up and start drafting. You can do as many drafts as you like, so have some fun.

https://fandraft.com/

Here’s a video that will help you run through how it works.