Alright NFL fans, the Draft is done, the season schedule is about to be released on May 11th, and we are due to know who is playing in the London Games 2023 on May 4th.
Prior to that date of course, we like to make our own predictions on who is going to play in London, and when.
It’s an annual fun tradition for us, and in no way is meant to confuse, or claim that these are the real games.
Although we have benefited from some great press from US media personalities reporting our news as gospel. (which it ain’t!)
Much like the Pro Bowl, this is just for fun, not to be taken too seriously, and forged under the influence of alcohol.
Funny enough we have gotten a few right in the past, let’s see how we do this year.
Methodology
No, we didn’t smoke ‘meth’ to come up with these, but we did look at schedule, past London appearances, recent team changes, and potential strength of travel schedule to determine who we think will be making it to the UK in the fall.
The London games have been moving steadily towards a two-chunk set at Tottenham early in the month, and a late October Wembley game in between the time changes.
This time change is a big part of the UK games, as it represents a 4 hour time difference between the east coast, and more appetising for networks schedulers.
We also asked ChatGPT but it got all weird and porny, so we just went back to our old faithful methods.
Again, no real science behind it.
If you want to listen to our DraftOver podcast, and our NFL London picks, listen here:
London Games 2023?
Raiders vs Bills-Oct 8, 2023
First up at Tottenham stadium this year will be the Buffalo Bills hosting the Las Vegas Raiders on Oct 8, 2023 at 2:30pm. There are no tickets, because this is a guess.
The Bills are set to host the following teams in 2023, with their previous London visits in brackets:
Broncos (’22), Jaguars (’22), Giants (’22), Cowboys (’14), Bucs (’22*), Raiders (’19), Jets, Dolphins, Patriots.
Given the toughness and ticket sales of the AFC East this season, it is very unlikely that NFL would schedule a divisional game abroad in 2023.
Each one of these games is going to be very important, and not one they want to lose out on big rivalry matches.
Given that the Broncos & Bucs were in Europe recently, that leaves the Jags, Raiders and Cowboys as top targets. The league could surprise us by having the Jags play twice in London this year, but it feels like a bit of an odd bunching.
With Jerry Jones and America’s team commanding such presence, it would seem unlikely that they would travel from Texas to London as visitors. Jones has a lot of pull with the league, and he would probably poo-poo this quickly.
It would seem likely then, that the struggling Las Vegas Raiders would be the most likely candidate to play the Buffalo Bills in October 2023.
Panthers vs Titans-Oct 15, 2023
We know that the Titans are in a building year (again), so while this might not be a HUGE loss to Tennessee home fans, they will want to see a good game out of it.
The Titans have the following Home opponents for 2023:
Chargers (’18); Seahawks (’18); Bengals (’19); Ravens (’17); Panthers (’19); Falcons (’21); as well as the Texans, Colts and Jags.
Again, while a divisional game sounds appetising, and their division truly sucks, it would seem unlikely that owners would offer that up, as the Jags played the Texans in 2019 in a craptastic result.
The Bengals, Falcons and Seahawks will be looking to tap into their heat, and would probably push back to a Europe trip after having been here only a few short years ago.
Carolina has been making massive changes to the team, which always doesn’t translate that well into fan support, which is why we think that they will be the ones making the trek to London town in 2023.
Ravens vs Jaguars-Oct 29, 2023
The Jags ended the 2022 season quite respectably after stagnating under Urban decay. With Dougie P leading the way, and Lawrence finding his form, Jacksonville might not be a chore to trek to Wembley to.
Jacksonville has some tough teams on tap in 2023 with: Chiefs (22*); Bengals (19), 49ers, Falcons, Panthers, and their division tripe as well.
The one team that does stick out here are the Baltimore Ravens, who haven’t been to the UK since 2017.
With Lamar firmly in control, and the team now ready to rock to the playoffs, it seems tempting to think that the Ravens will be facing the Jags in north London under a harvest moon.
That’s it for our predictions for the London Games 2023.
Who do you think will be coming to the UK?
Let’s see how we do!
