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Week 8 Picks

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Holy moly, we’re already almost halfway through the season, as we hit you up with our Week 8 Picks.

Ryan and Wade have another belter of picks podcast, so do yourself a favour and have a listen, share it with your friends, give us a 5 star rating, and like it.
We would really appreciate it as we head towards 300 episodes!

Week 8 Picks

Week 7 was a suckity-doo kind of week when it came to getting it right, although there were a few gems that made some paper if you knew what you were doing.
Ryan is sitting at a success rate of 43% ATS so far this season, while Wade is slightly ahead at 56% ATS.
Still many more games to go, so let’s kick it off with some of our top Week 8 picks to look at.

-3 Texans (3-3) vs Panthers (0-6)  +43

Let’s start it out by bringing out the trash shall we?
The Texans have been boosted by the heroics of young CJ Stroud this season, who has been able to light up an equally talented little group of receivers. Houston’s D has been able to keep them in some contests people didn’t think they should be in, and their 3-3 record seems solid, compared to the Panthers.
Oh Carolina! Call 80s’ Shaggy, because things are getting all kinds of ‘oh’ in the teal and black.
Bryce Young has been small in stature and results in his NFL rookie season, of course it doesn’t help that they traded away quality receivers to leave them with old man Thielen.
The only real hope for the Panthers is the Canadian Chuba Hubbard, and the scraps left of the D.
It should also be noted that the weather forecast for Sunday in Charlotte is supposed to be nasty, with heavy rain and wind predicted.
Ryan thinks that this game is horrible, but has one shining prediction in this one…the Panthers get their first win! He likes Carolina to grind it out against a Texans team that might just be imitators.
Wade thinks the weather wins this one, and the best bets here are to take Chuba and CJ in DraftKings, and bet the under. Texans will get gashed by Hubbard, but equally the return of Tank Dell could see some yards. And lots of dropped balls. Bet on fumbles.
(Texans -3 +43)
Ryan-Panthers 24 Texans 20
Wade-Texans 23 Panthers 16

Patriots (2-5) vs -9.5 Dolphins (5-2)  +47

It’s another wet forecast for this one, as Bill Belichick grumbles his way back to Miami, a city that has habit of flustering his knickers in the past.
Will a statement win over the Bills last week give them the motivation to take down the high flying Tua, or will Mac Jones once again implode when he’s down?
The Dolphins are also coming off a humbling loss, after the Eagles and their pals the refs combined for a whack load of penalties against them. The fish might not be totally focused, as they have an AFC slugfest with the Chiefs next week in Frankfurt, and some of them might be getting travel ready.
Miami also has a slew of players who are listed as questionable, and didn’t practise on Wednesday.
Was this to save them up for Germany, or just use them partially early Sunday?
Ryan thinks that Bill and Mac & the cheese will be able to cover the 9.5 point spread, and force the Fins into making mistakes. He thinks that the Pats could win this one, but will lose by a point.
Wade too thinks that Miami will be looking ahead, but no so much that they won’t bust some offensive ass on the Pats secondary at home. He likes the Dolphins to win, but can see the Patriots making this to close for comfort in the rain.
Dolphins -9.5 +47
Ryan- Dolphins 24 Patriots 23
Wade- Dolphins 27 Patriots 23

Other Games

Here are a few other picks the guys throw in for this episode.

Ryan

  • Giants 17 Jets 14
  • Bengals 27 49ers 26
  • Falcons 27 Titans 18

Wade

  • Cowboys 26 Rams 20
  • Jets 18 Giants 10
  • Ravens 26 Cardinals 19
That’s it for the Week 8 Picks, make sure you listen to the podcast on all cool platforms.
Have a great Week 8!

London 2020 Games

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Damn you Covid 19 for taking away the London NFL games for 2020. Imagine, we could be basking in the glow of having these four games played on our soil right now. But alas, that damn virus has other plans.

The NFL will be back. We can’t guarantee this, but with the amount that the NFL has invested in the UK, coupled with the huge appetite for NFL tickets, it seems pretty dang likely.
Tottenham literally changed its stadium to accommodate the game, and tied in sponsors and partners to make the game happen here, so all signs point to the NFL returning to London, and potentially other places in the UK.
Liverpool and Manchester have all signalled moves that they would like to adapt their stadiums to host NFL games in the future.
The only real question is when.

Earlier in 2020, when everything was rosy and had the potential for an amazing year, we took a stab at which teams would be coming to London for the 4 games split at Tottenham and Wembley equally.
We used some maths, insider tips and our own gumption to determine which teams MIGHT be coming to the UK for this year.
We have no idea if they were right or wrong, but we did use some logical inference based on previous years.
Here are the games we THOUGHT would happen.

Broncos vs Falcons
Week 3-Sept 27/ 20
Tottenham Stadium

Arthur Blank had confirmed that the Falcons were going to be hosting a home game in London, although he didn’t know who they would be facing. Given that the Jags usually host the last 2 games of the London series, we assumed that Atlanta would be one of the first games up.
London gets very busy in the autumn, and their are traditional events like Diwali that are big draws in the centre of town.
The NFLUK usually dresses Oxford Circus in NFL garb at the beginning of the season to get the UK crowd hyped for the start of the season.
We looked at other events scheduled, keeping in mind the London games signify the start of bye weeks, to give teams a chance to rest when they get home.
Given all of this information, and prospecting on the Falcons schedule, we chose an AFC/ NFC matchup between the Falcons and Denver Broncos.
Were we right? We’ll never know

Patriots vs Dolphins
Week 4-Oct 4/ 20
Tottenham Stadium

Part of what determines who comes to London is home attendance. If your team is struggling to draw home fans, then the league will move you up to chuck across the pond. The Dolphins have seen attendance dwindle in recent years, so they would be at the top of the queue to come over. Add to this the mercurial hurricane weather in Florida up til November, and Miami made sense.
You also have to look at which teams HAVEN’T been here in a while, and the Patriots are a prime candidate. The Brady-less Pats and a scorned Robert Kraft might not have the gumption to say no to the league, so this AFC East matchup would make sense.
We also had an inside tip from Boston that this was on the cards, so we went with our gut.
Again, we will never know if we were right.

Colts vs Jaguars
Week 7-Oct 25
Wembley Stadium

One of the takeaways from previous NFL in London games, is that the NFLUK generally likes to schedule games around the time change. This makes the difference between the east coast only 4 hours, as the US time changes happen on different weekends. They have also made an effort to finish the UK games before America gets hit with November holidays.
Jacksonville Jaguars were due to play 2 games at Wembley, with a division rival being one of the prime targets. Since Indy hadn’t been to the UK in ages, and Phillip Rivers was at the helm, we assumed that this would be a logical bet.
Too bad, because this would have been a heck of a game.

Lions vs Jaguars
Week 8-November 1/20
Wembley Stadium

Detroit Lions were another team we were secretly told was on the chopping block for a trip to Blighty.
Their home attendance was at Covid levels even before the virus was discovered, and they hadn’t been to London in a few years.
These dates also branch over the time change, so week 7 and week 8 were the Jaguars weeks here we assumed with a great deal of certainty.
Ending the UK games by November 1st also allowed the teams to return to the chaotic November schedule, and the start of the REALLY rainy season in the UK.
Did we get this one right? We’ll never know.

Optimism is rampant for the 2021 games, as the MLB has confirmed that their 2020 games will be moved to 2021 in London. Will the NFLUK follow suit?
Hopefully, but it’s too hard to say at this point.
This damn virus is showing no signs of weakness, and adapts more than the Terminator.

Make sure you LIKE our Facebook page, as we often use this as a point of communication with our fans.
https://www.facebook.com/nflinlondon

 

 

 

Sports Bed

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Sports bars look to be done & dusted for the foreseeable future, so it looks like the home is where the game is.

Even if games do resume, there have been numerous discussions around how these will be played for safety of players & fans alike. Spaced seating, higher prices, limited food & no alcohol all loom in the future. We all know how disgusting stadium washrooms are & they are a hotbed if viruses to begin with.

Can you really enjoy the NFL on Zoom with your mates? You’re going to have to. Sports bars will be staggered as the season starts, & fans will be hard pressed to want to go out to watch Sunday games. It was a hard enough sell for many bars to show NFL games before, that slope just got steeper.

Here’s the ideal situation for NFL viewing in the age of Corona. A bigass bed with seats, buckets, & room galore. This is the new NFL.

Week 15-Princess Alex

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Holy crap it’s Week 15 already! There are only 3 weeks left in the rest of the season, so make your plans for a great Sunday.

Head to leafy Crouch End, a scant 20 minute direct trip from Oxford Circus. Hit Finsbury Park then the W7 bus to the pub.

It’s one of the few places in London open until 1am, so you can party late & still get home in time.

Get there before 8pm so that you can grab a Sunday roast. Wings, burgers & cold beers.

They show the Sky game & also Redzone for you NFL fantasy fans.

See you Sunday!

Ryan’s Midseason Awards

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Ryan Cull is a comedian, writer, husband & Buffalo Bills fan.
All of these things are hard to be
Here are his nominations for the half-way awards.
An awards season for being almost there.

NFL in London Mid Season Awards

MVP – Christian McCaffrey

No one has dominated the NFL and fantasy like Christian McCaffrey. When you see him line up against you during a matchup you might as well go to IKEA because there’s no point watching football this week. With over 800 yards, 10 TD’s and 40 rec he’s on his way to a LaDanian Tomlinson type season. There hasn’t been a white running back producing like this since John Riggins. If he can do it then maybe one day, a white guy can win the 100m in the Olympics.

LVP – Baker Mayfield

The one good thing about living in the UK is that I wasn’t forced to sit through Baker Mayfield commercials all off-season. They are just as awful as the Go Compere Guy I bet. Freddie Kitchens aside, Baker has been a turnover machine, quick tempered with the media, and not getting the ball to Odell. And we all know that a productive Odell is a happy Odell. If Baker doesn’t pick it up in the second half there’s going to be more drama in Cleveland then a Logan Roy Family Thanksgiving.

Rookie of the Year – Josh Jacobs

Member the Daniel Jones hype! I member! That was a fun time, when he was the second coming of Brady and the sure fire ROY. Now having regressed almost weekly, he has opened the door for the most consistent rookie Josh Jacobs. Now 7th in the NFL in rushing with 6 TDS, Josh Jacobs makes Jon Gruden look like a genius, and he needs it after the Clelin Ferrell pick which is looking like a disaster. Jacobs has kept the Raiders relevant in a season where everyone expected them to fall on their face. After the AB debacle and keeping the Raiders at 4-4, maybe Gruden hasn’t lost it!

Fantasy Player of the Year – Lamar Jackson

We will witness another shift in fantasy football next year and it will involve whether you draft Lamar Jackson number 1 overall. It’s now an official debate. A QB who can also run for 1,000 yards is like having a RB who throws 20 TDs. (Now that’s the future of the NFL!) Either way, we should all enjoy Lamar while we can because that reckless playing has never worked long term. But then again, we say Brady can’t keep doing it and look at him! Look at your master and bow down to him!……shit, sorry that was weird. The computer started typing on its own. Let’s move on.

Other Awards

Best Moustache (Or known as the Canadian Mullet) – Gardner Minshew

First Coach Fired Award – Dan Quinn – sorry Mr. Clean, it’s time to get your stain off the Falcons

Biggest Disappointment – The AFC – Get it together guys, it’s embarrassing out there. You are like the East in the NBA. Unwatchable.

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