NFL in London

National Football League in London

New England Patriots

Brady Bunches

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The world is going to hell and a hand basket. Still don’t know what that expression fully means, but if there were any hand baskets left on the shelves, I would happily hoard them.

As we all face a global lockdown, the NFL has been pumping at a fevered pace. Trades galore have been shuttling through social media and it can be pretty hard to keep up with what really has been happening.
The one thing that has happened is that Tom Brady is no longer a Patriot.

It’s hard to fully digest that information with what is happening in the world, especially the idea of TB12 moving to Florida & the NFC.
Sure, it makes sense for the oldest guy to retire in Florida-that’s what everybody does.

Now Tom is a member of the Tampa Bucs, and it sends a shockwave of change across the whole league.
The dominance of the Patriots has come to an end…or has it?
Will Belichick give up that easily? Or will he lick his wounds, soft out on the season to draft a QB in 2021?

Brady to the NFC brings with it a whole host of new rivalries. Brees suddenly has to face Tom twice a year at least, and the Bucs have enough speedy receivers for Tom to under throw.

Then there’s the whole Jameis Winston situation, who must be looking at self-isolation as more of a pity party than anything. Will he end up on the Chargers, or will they look to take Cam or Dalton?
There are still many ‘what-if’s in this situation, and too many possibilities to count at this moment.

They best way to deal with this new situation?
Madden.
Trade Tommy to the Bucs, and settle in for a full season.
What are the chances he makes the Super Bowl this year?

 

 

Free Agent Fiesta

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Tom Brady, make up your dang mind! Is what most teams are thinking as TB12 employs his reality tv skills to keep us on the edge of our seats.

Once the Tommy domino falls, loads of other players fall into place. So where do we think some of the top free agent QBs go? Here we go!

Tom Brady

He loves to be a tease! At the end of the day, Tommy’s a company man through & through & it’s doubtful he will piss off Boston fans, as much as the rest of us would revel in it. He’s too much of a Patriot to leave the team like that. Wouldn’t be surprised if he’s only taking meetings so he can plant cameras in their offices.

Andy Dalton

The ginger bear is done with the Bengals, & many teams are looking to court him. He’s got an arm on him…but it sometimes just finds the D. The Bears rode the D all last year, & need to embrace the stark realities of the Mitch years. It’s like being diagnosed with an STD, & they need clean junk. Bengals will draft Joe, & the Bears should get Dalton for a good, short deal.

Marcus Mariota

Must have been tough to be Mariota last year. Watching the team you helped build go a long way on the back of Tannehill. The amount of locker room conversations with abrupt, silent endings must have been endless. He needs to go, but where? He’s going to need to pull a Tannehill & back that thing up, but where? If Cam is certainly back, how healthy will he be? They will need someone with legs & arms, which Mariota has, but for how long?

Phillip Rivers

Cry me a Phillip River, where does he go? All signs point to Indy, as Andrew Luck is outta time. Rivers would get an injection of hope in this role, & could easily lead this team back to contender status. The tools are there…for him to stuff it down the Chargers throats.

Jameis Winston

Jameis threw a bucketload of INTs last season, as well as a whack of TDs, so where does it all go? Brucey baby will probably bring him back for another shot given his new eye surgery. The players like him, the fans tolerate him, & they can probably get him for a steal.

Teddy Bridgewater

Teddy is done with sainthood & ready to christen the field once again. He’s a starter, & should be given the chance to do so. The Chargers offer the perfect home for this to happen. It’s also easy for him, since no one will be watching the games anyway.

Those are our predictions. What do we know though?

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Brady Bowl

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Tom Brady is a hot piece of ass this offseason, as teams try to gauge whether the GOAT is going to stay the course in Beantown, or head for greener, richer pastures.
Brady turns 93 this year, so will he still be too old to compete against a new league of speed and youth?
Probably.

Tommy Boy has showed signs of ageing as of late, but one wonders if that is truly down to age, or an anemic offensive unit, or just plain old Billy Belichick.
What has trill been on display is Tom’s fierce competitive spirit, that’s something that you can’t replicate. Every week, Tom comes to play with a fierce intensity, and he is still one of the few you fear when he has the ball with 2 minutes left on the clock.
So IF Tom Brady decides to leave, where will he go?
Let’s look at the obvious choices.

Patriots (-250)

Is Tom being a dick tease? ‘Cause it sure looks like he is gussying up his bussom to look attractive and make New England jelly.
The odds are stacked that Brady will return to New England after they come to their senses and back up that money truck.
Brady is a classy guy, and has displayed this throughout his career, allowing others to earn while he took less. He has brought the city of Boston 6 SuperBowl rings, and developed into an icon.
So why would they want to let that go?
Remember that hometown booing at Tommy this season after losing a game, many fans were quick to interject ‘what they hell are you doing? You have nothing to boo over!’
Robert Kraft needs to rub his wallet and tug out some cash, so that Brady gets his own happy ending.
He will most likely be returning to Foxboro in 2020.

Las Vegas Raiders (+300)

What happens in Vegas, will most likely suck. Gruden was able to turn some of the team around last year, but they seemed to be stuck in freefall after the AB debacle shook the whole team.
BowlCut Davis and the rest of his organisation have left on their odyssey through the desert, but will it be all sunshine and sand dunes?
Historically, any team that moves to Vegas has a rough ride. The NHL Golden Knights captured the hearts of the city, but as soon as they started to suck the following year, attendance was back down again.
Brady would be a feather in their cap, but a big plume to catch he would be.
While Las Vegas might have the funds and draft picks to be able to finagle a deal to land TB12, it would mean leveraging their future for one potential shot at it.
Would you want to risk all of that to get 10 years of an empty stadium?
Highly doubtful.

LA Chargers (+400)

Phillip Rivers and family have left LA, changing the population of the city, and the future of the Chargers.
Chargers fans have been pretty screwed over since they left San Diego, and the team and the league have down very little to heal the massive rift that developed in the process.
The city of LA has adopted the Chargers like they were a ginger stepchild with coronavirus, so there isn’t a lot of love there to begin with.
The Chargers need a win, in more ways than one-but replacing an ageing QB with an even older QB is not a step in the right direction.
LAC might be looking at making some bold moves this year, but that will probably involve gutting the team, drafting young, and putting some new faces into the mix.
TB12 will not be one of them.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (+700)

Jameis Winston finally got his eyes fixed, but will that have an affect on his 2020 season? Hopefully.
Will they look to replace JW with TB?
Doubtful.
Tampa is a huge step backwards for Tom, the team has some speedy assets, but would he be willing to drop to a lower tier team with attendance issues?
Even if Tom were to come over to the Bucs, they are still a few seasons away from challenging for the title.
The D needs help, their running game needs to be tightened, and their offence needs a new identity.
Tom would not want to step into that mess, even with Brucey running the team around him.
Jameis will be back in 2020.

Here are some of the other teams in the mix for Tom Brady, although these ones are even further afield.

Colts (+900)

Andrew is out of Luck and Jacoby doesn’t give off starter vibes. They have space to chase Tom, but they wouldn’t be willing to risk it all for a man of his age.

Browns (+1200)

Oh Cleveland you delicious mess! What will you do to implode your season this year. Baker was ok, but the team as a whole was an ego of disappointment. No way that Tom wants to sum on that hornets nest of idiocy.

Saints (+1400)

Ditch Brees for Brady? No way Jose. While it is nice to have him in the mix, there is no way that the Saints move on from DB. They will give him everything for another shot at it.

Bears (+1600)

Now this one is interesting. Trubisky has crapped the bed so much, they don’t even bother to change the sheets anymore. Would the team be willing to go after Tom to give the rest of the team a shot? Mitch certainly wasted a few games last season, but they may not want to spend a fortune to finish below the Packers again this year.
Nice to think about, but no

So our consensus on this is…Brady stays with the Patriots.
They kiss, they make up, they inflate each other a bit, slap each other on the butts, then head to the strip mall for some ‘Kraft Dinner.’

It looks to be a great season ahead.

Hail to the Chiefs!

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They bloody well went & did it, didn’t they? The Chiefs are the 2019-2020 SuperBowl Champions in a wild game that ended out a decade of Patriots domination.
Patrick Mahomes was a beast, spear-heading a Chiefs comeback of 3 touchdowns in 3 minutes to stymie the 49ers and win the big cup.
So what were the big factors that led to this victory?

Patrick Mahomes

This kid is the real deal. Patience under pressure, pocket poise, and a great field of vision to spread the ball to his top receivers. Let’s not forget those wheels too.
Mahomes was a true leader when his team needed it.
He led the charge and was able to take Andy Reid’s walrus voice in his ear to stab San Francisco relentlessly in the last savage minutes of the game.
He had a couple of INTs that were BAD, but he was able to salvage them, and rely on his defense to defuse any comeback attempts of the 49ers.
It’s hard to say if this is the beginning of a dynasty, or whether he will one-off this like Russell Wilson or Cam, but this team looks good to repeat next season as returning champs .

Chiefs Defense

They were lamented numerous times prior to the match, but shut up all of their critics with a savage attack on the 49ers. They looked like they played their guts on on every play, and fought tough for any down that the 49ers went for. Where they really shined was in that final 3 minutes, bashing the run, choking off Jimmy and holding tight when the game was on the line.
They picked off Jimmy G several times, and made them earn every hard down.
Credit to them for keeping it a 10 point game, as there were a few chances that they might have gone down even further.
Well fought chaps.

Andy Reid

‘Ugly Kid’ Shanahan was ready to rap-battle his way through this hizzle, but Andy stayed firm like a beached walrus to keep the game in check.
He called smart plays, and relied on the wits of Mahomes to improvise when he needed to.
Andy must have a real zen about him, because all of his guys stayed calm, cool and collected during the whole game.
Reid finally brought in the bowl to the fine folks of Kansas City after a 50 year drought, and it was  a noble effort for all of those involved.

The Refs

It was a relatively painless ref game despite a season of controversy and contention.
Aside from a blatant pass interference call against the 49ers in the fourth quarter that allowed the Chiefs to score, there weren’t too many blind calls or needless delays.
That PI penalty was bogus, and some might say that it capitulated San Francisco after that, but losers will always whine.
There will need to be some serious internal talks with the league and officials next year, to get over the technical hiccups from the 2019 season, but this was a clean game all in all.

The NFL

Another flawless and exciting SuperBowl from the NFL and hats off to them. Despite the talk of saggy ratings, the NFL put on a powerhouse fiesta of fun and NFL action.
Sure, it would have been nicer to have Tony Romo in the box instead of Troy, but no one really listens to them any way.
The only real blight was the halftime show. Like what the heck was that about?
Why focus on some ageing singer/models who haven’t been relevant in decades, when there are loads of great an exciting acts on the musical landscape.
They could have taken the chance to showcase 30 new artists who could use the fame, tap into influencers or even gone back to the standard ‘Up with People’.
Whatever happened to them.

We had a great night at the Long Acre, and will have loads of news for you in the off season. We are poised for a bigger, better 2020, so join us in the fun.