NFL in London

National Football League in London

London NFL 2022

August Headlines

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It’s official, there will be NFL games played this month.
Sure, they will be preseason, but football is back baby!

It wouldn’t be an off-season, without a bit of drama-and boy did the 2022 soft months provide a lot of entertainment!

Let’s take a look at some of the big news in our August Headlines!

Deshaun

The league has finally laid down it’s iron-fist ruling in the NFL vs Deshaun Watson, and the league has ruled…6 games!

Six? Only six Why not more? What not less? What about Calvin Ridley? What if he blew pot smoke in their faces instead? Would be get a season?

The judge ruled that Watson wasn’t violent, but did still must miss 6 games in penance for his groping actions.

It’s been a long road for Watson, the League, fans and of course all of the women who have made the accusations.
Let’s not forget it all started with Watson demanding a trade from the Texans, and the owner and many fans reminding Deshaun not to ‘mess with Texas’.

You wrestle the bull, you get the horns.

No one will be happy with this outcome because it’s been such a stain over the past year.

Hopefully we can all get on with some football, and the Browns can get back doing what they do best…disappoint their fans.

London Tickets

Tickets for the London games went on sale and flew off the digital shelves.

Did you get tickets, or were you beaten to the punch by digital ticket touts?

While we have heard some truly horrific ticketing stories, experience teaches us it all works out in the end.

With a few months to go until the London games, there will likely be more tickets released, as well as circumstances in which fans can’t make it, making their tickets available.

Be patient, watch the Facebook pages and fan groups, and don’t buy from scalpers. You will definitely be sad if you do.

Fantasy 2022

It’s time for another NFL Fantasy season, which means it’s time to start doing your research.

Some fans like to do their NFL Fantasy Draft now, which makes you quite the silly sausage.

Sure, it’s exciting to be able to start making up your line-ups, but preseason hasn’t even begin yet!
There is still plenty of time for injuries, insight and idiocy to see players burn and turn themselves out of the season before it even begins.

Be patient young grasshopper, the season is long.

Buc’ing Knee

Sad news for the TB Bucs, as starting centre for Ryan Jensen blew out his knee in epic preseason form, making Tommy B vulnerable to start the 2022 season.

As mentioned above (preseason injuries) can wreck havoc on a lockeroom, as the guys you thought would be your pillars, are instead relegated to the bench.

Robert Hainsey will try to jump into the role despite only being in his second year.

Will the Bucs be using bondo and duct tape to make a 2023 playoff run?

It’s starting to look that way.

Pay Deebo

Despite being used in a utility role by the 49ers last season, Deebo wasn’t paid for his jack of all trades-ness.

After complaining to San Fran that he wanted to get paid, and not crippled-they 49ers threw a load of cash at Deebo in a 3 year deal with $58 mil guaranteed and up to $73m in specialness.

Injuries forced San Fran to use Deebo in a more ‘help us’ role last season as the team got snaked by injuries, will they be looking to use him in this capacity this year?

Not if they want to keep him alive.

There’s lots of cash being thrown around the league at speedsters teams hope will lead their teams. Is Deebo going to be too much cash to splash?

Boz Man

Chris Boswell put it through the uprights this week, inking a massive 4 year, $20.5m deal that will see him guaranteed $12.5m, and tying him with Justin Tucker as the highest paid kicker in the NFL.

It’s a far cry from 2015, when Boswell had already been cut by the Steelers three times, and was slotted as fourth on Pittsburgh’s kicking roster.

The 31 year old Boswell has ‘no pressure’ on him this year.

Would you rather have Boswell or Tucker on your fantasy team?
Exactly.

Watch this space, as we will have some NFL Fantasy news for you to make your season fun!

 

 

London 2022 Games

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Smell that in the air?
That’s freedom…a bit of petrol…and the return of the NFL.
It’s coming back to London again soon, and boy are we tickled.

So here are our predictions for the London 2022 Games.

Draft Days

The NFL Draft is now done and dusted, as teams watch the offseason to witness which one of these prospects burns and turns their own future after Las Vegas, making bad lifestyle choices that ultimately leads to leaving the game.

Or…they have a bright and lustrous future, without any incidents.
That’s the hope anyway.

The NFL Draft also heralds the beginning of the international adventure, as the league announces who will be headed across the shores to bring the beautiful game to hungry global audiences.

London gets 3 games, Germany gets one, as does Mexico.

So how does it all play out?

London Schedule

The NFL announced that they will be releasing the full international schedule on May 4th, 2022 (evening).

We will then get to know who will be making a passport application for the first time, so that they come visit us at either Tottenham or Wembley stadium(s) for an autumn jaunt.

Who will it be?
Well, we make our yearly predictions prior to the NFL officially announcing the REAL teams that will be visiting.
It’s a fun little exercise that helps build hope to those of us who haven’t seen our teams hit the UK in years.

And so without further adieu, we present our predictions for the 2022 London International Games.

Baltimore Ravens vs Jacksonville Jaguars

Sunday September 25th-Week 3
Wembley Stadium

Jacksonville is back (again), as they shed their Urban skin, and have returned with fresh faces and feelings as the Trevor Lawrence era has finally sputtered out of the gate.

As for the Jags home opponents this season, they face the following: Colts, Texans, Titans, Broncos, Raiders, Ravens, Cowboys, Giants.

Given that many of these teams have been here in the past few years, the most obvious team to come would be the New York Giants, who haven’t played in London since they beat the Rams in 2016.

The Ravens however last played in London in 2017, where they took a 44-7 blowout to the face.

There are rumblings and rumours out of Poe-town, that the dirty birds would once again be flocking our way.
We’ll jump on this rumour!

Minnesota Vikings vs New Orleans Saints

Sunday October 2, 2022-Week 4
Tottenham Stadium

Of all the rumours that have been circling as to who would most likely be playing, this game is the most solid to bet on.

Minnesota and New Orleans are scheduled to play each other this year, and reports out of Minneapolis point to the fact that the team is preparing for an international adventure for the 2022 season.

The miracle moments between these two teams are many, and it seems to be the most likely scenario for both teams.

As per the date, Week 4 has been persistent in both reports from New Orleans and the Vikes, so we will also double down on the intel we are getting stateside.

This will be a great game for fans of both teams, who last appeared on our shores in 2017, beating the Dolphins and Browns respectively.

We’re quite confident in this one.

Tennessee Titans vs Green Bay Packers

Sunday October 9th-Week 5
Tottenham Stadium

The Pack is finally making a trek to London, as British fans finally get a whiff of the mane of Aaron Rodgers and company.

Green Bay is the ONLY team to have NEVER made the trip to London, so this will be a massive game for all the cheeseheads here who have missed out on NFL action in the past.

As for the Packers home opponents, they have the Bears, Lions, Vikings, Cowboys, Giants, Patriots, Jets, Titans, & Rams.

While the LA Rams are rumoured to be another team playing in an international game, they are more likely to play the Arizona Cardinals in the Mexico City contest.

Bill Belichick and the Patriots are also an interesting possibility for Rodgers and the boys to play-since they haven’t been here since 2012, but the Titan in the room keeps popping up its head.

We like Tannehill and Tennessee as they combatant in the Packers contest, making their way to north London for week 5, in an exciting match.

Considerations

There are some other factors that we looked at in determining not only the teams, but the dates of the London games.

Ukraine is most likely still going to be burning in the autumn of 2022, and many Americans are not likely to travel as they believe that anywhere in Europe is a war zone.

London & European visitors dropped by 8% during the Gulf War, and plummeted after the terror attacks here.  As long as Russia keeps acting like dicks, the situation in the area will be tenuous.

The World Cup will also play a factor in the scheduling of NFL games, as the league will want to avoid any clashes with ‘soccer’ for the end of the year.

Kicking off on November 21st in Qatar, the World Cup will overlap much of the NFL schedule, as many major games are happening on NFL Sundays.
Spain faces Germany on Sunday Nov 27th at 7pm GMT-running smack into the NFL for many fans who will be looking to catch the games.

Caveat

Once again, these are only guesses by our team.

We will all know the true teams heading our way when the NFL officially announces it next week.

 

 

 

Shower of Memes

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April showers bring May flowers as the old expression goes, but it seems that the shower of NFL activity is what is really blooming this offseason.

What the heck is going on in the league?
Is Baker gone?
What about AB?
Is my fantasy team ready to play?

All of these silly questions and more can be answered in our April Shower of Memes.

Memery

Memes are just bloody awesome.

Not only do they surmise the whole situation with a picture and a few words, any loser int heir basement can make them!

Brilliant!

We’ve selected a group of some of the latest ‘feels’ going around the league like Covid-herpes, which will be only a matter of time before those bad boys team up!

Enjoy the memes!

 

Dwayne Haskins

Terrible news about Dwayne Haskins, and a big thanks to Adam Schefter for piling on the pain.

The mental health struggles of these young men should serve as a sign to the league that it needs to do more to address these issues.

Thoughts and hugs to his family, friends and loved ones.

 

Scoff Season

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Well, that’s it for the 2021 NFL season.
Did it go as you expected?

Congrats once again to the LA Rams, and to our man Wade for picking them to win at the start of the season!
Great payoff!

Now that the NFL is done for the next 6 months, what the heck do we do now?

Well, there’s the USFL coming our way in April, a war in Ukraine, and whatever the heck the Raiders have planned for the offseason (probably more deaths than in Ukraine).

Wade & Ryan are back in action for our latest podcast, where they talk about this Scoff Season.

Among some of the things that the guys discuss in this episode includes:

London Games

Hooray! More games for us!

The NFL announced that the following teams will be hosting games in London in 2022. The New Orleans Saints, the Jacksonville Jaguars, and the Green Bay Packers.

For those of you counting, that’s the first trip across the pond for the cheese-heads, and should tickle the marbles of any Wisconsinite this side of Illinois.

While we don’t know who these will be playing (you can see our picks in another article), we do have our guesses.

Regardless, the UK will be A-ok in 2022 with 6 teams coming to visit us.

Rodgers That

What the heck does the dastardly Aaron Rodgers have planned for the 2022 season?

More vaxy lies for us?

This wannabe $50 million dollar man has been coy about his plans for this season, and his said that he will give us the goods in the next few weeks to not draw us out over the summer (thanks).

The Packers will need to pony up $75M for both players, which is about a 1/3 of their total salary cap.

All that just to choke out in the NFC playoffs?

TB22

Tom Brady is retired…or is he?

Tommy Boy left the Bucs after getting dumped out by Matt Stafford and the champion Rams.

But does he still have some gas left in the tank for another run?

He is a SoCal boy, so maybe the 49ers will come calling.

We will have more NFL news about the London games, as well as all the fun things to do in the capital once you’re here!
Watch this space.

 

 

London NFL 2022

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Well if that wasn’t a nice surprise, as the NFL announced some of the teams that we can expect in London in 2022.

The New Orleans Saints will come marching back this fall, the Jaguars will once again host a London game, and the Green Bay Packers finally make a much awaited visit to Blighty in 2022.

When and where do all of these games take place?
No idea.
But we do have some ideas, so let’s break them down.

International Games

We know that every team will have to play at least once every 8 years in an international home game either in the UK, Germany, Mexico or Canada.

While the exact number of games each year is up in the air, we know that in 2022 England will get 3 games, Germany 1, Mexico 1, and Canada can suck it.

We also know that the general rule is that AFC teams will be playing NFC teams, so that the games don’t affect their divisional standings as much.

Mexico

Who can forget the Mexico City game a few years back when thousands of laser pointers found Tom Brady’s eyes in Patriots beat down.

This time fans will struggle with their pointers, as the QB coming this year is the diminutive Kyler Murray.

Fresh off a disappointing 2021 season, Kyler and the Arizona Cardinals will be saying ‘Ola’ to Mexico City in one of the shortest international trips for a team.

While no team has been submitted as the opponent of the Cards, we would like to think that it will be a garbage team with a minuscule Latino connection.

Their home opponents for 2022 include: Seahawks, 49ers, Rams, Chiefs, Chargers, Buccaneers, Saints, Eagles and Patriots. 

Given that the Patriots and Saints are already playing internationally, we are predicting their 2022 Mexico opponent will be the LA Chargers.

Germany

As the biggest NFL fanbase in Europe, Germany is finally due to host its first international game in Munich 2022.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be heading to Germany in 2022, without Tom Brady and many of the stellar stars who won the SuperBowl last year.

Despite not having the marquee line-up of years past, German fans will be in for a real treat as the Florida men make an international trek to Bavaria.

Looking at the Bucs 2022 home opponents, there are several teams that can be discounted as potential rivals.
The Packers, Saints, Rams and Bengals all seem unlikely given their own schedules, leaving a few options as to their German counterparts.

If the format does indeed favour cross-conference play, then the most likely opponent for the Bucs would be the Baltimore Ravens.

London Games

We have three big games in London for 2022!

What games will we get?

Here we make our predictions.

Jaguars

Like a faithful old dog, the Jaguars are back at our side for the 2022 season in a Wembley Stadium contest.

Fans who were hoping to get a taste of that Urban Meyer wiener will be sadly disappointed, as the Jags will once again attempt to provide us with a ‘new look.’

The Jaguars line-up of home competitors is a lack lustre as one would think, with the Giants, Broncos, Texans, Colts, and Raiders in the mix.

Given the woes of the G-Men the past several years, the New York Giants would be out pick as the Jaguars 2022 opponents.

Saints

The New Orleans Saints were last in London in 2017, when Drew Brees was the gunslinger, and the team felt like it had a chance.

With Taysom Hill under centre, and Alvin Kamara under fire, this is not the same Saints team of years past.

Looking at the Saints home opponents for 2022, including the Bucs, Bengals, Rams, and Seahawks, the one team that sticks out is the Las Vegas Raiders.

Fresh off their own hellish season in 2021, the Raiders could probably use a trip away, to get their players to start using taxis.

So at this juncture, we think that the Saints will be playing the Las Vegas Raiders.

Packers

The latest big news to hit the Uk, is that the Green Bay Packers will finally be making the trek across the pond, making them the 32nd team to do so.

With Drama Mama Aaron Rodgers still on the team, one wonders if a London trip that he would make.

Many players are quite vocal of their disdain for jaunting across the Atlantic, and Aa-Ron has never been one to mince words.

Having Green Bay come to London is obviously a HUGE boost, and will be the most sought after of all the games.

Given that the Packers have home opponents including the Bears, Rams, Lions and Patriots…the most likely of all to return to London, would be the Tennessee Titans.

The New York Jets played here last year, so they might be given a break after their years of hustling to the UK under the Woody Johnson years.

Of course it’s too early to tell, but we will let you know as we know more.

It’s going to be a great season of the NFL in London for 2022!