NFL in London

National Football League in London

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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.

 

SuperBowl Germany

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Wo siehst du das superbowl deutschland?
The NFL is HUGE in Germany, and we love interacting and engaging with our German fans every time that they come over to the UK.

We are planning some German events in 2020, so we wanted to hit the ground running first and find out where the best places to watch the NFL are in Germany.
So we have to ask….
Where do our German friends go to watch the game?

Games are generally 5 hours ahead of America, which means that German NFL fans don’t get to watch the games for at least 6 hours late.
Traditional bars aren’t usually open that late on a Sunday (are they?), so casinos and pop-ups must be the place to go.

If any of our German fans want to share where they celebrate the NFL, we will share it with everyone!

We have seen listings for some venues showing the SuperBowl on Feb 2nd, but do you have any venues where you can watch it every week?

Look forward to hearing from all of you!

Playoff Memes

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Memes make the world go round.
Their subtle mix of a relevant image with a pithy response makes everyone happy.
So what kind of memes do we have for you this week?
Loads.
Take a look at some of the good ones here, and feel free to share with your friends.

Wade’s Picks

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Weekend Picks Against the Spread

It’s Divisional Weekend in the NFL, so I thought I would share my picks for this weekend.

There are some pretty damn tight games, as well as some pretty high spreads-which means this one will be tricky when getting the point spreads and the overs right.
I also always like to check the weather, as that will affect the over/under in most games-as it’s tough to score in snow!
Luckily it looks like a pretty placid weekend, even in Green Bay.

If you want to take my picks, head over to BetRegal-where they have some great offers for NFL divisional weekend. Take my picks and win big.

We also have a DraftKings contest on this weekend, so see if you can win big in that one as well.

So here are my picks for the weekend.

Saturday

Vikings (11-6) vs -7 49ers (13-3) +45

The Vikings and 49ers seem to be at opposite ends of the playoff spectrum. The Vikings started sluggish, then rebounded near the end of the season, while the Niners crushed everyone to start, before giving up a few suspect losses.
Yes, the Vikings do have momentum and a healthy line-up heading down to the Bay area.
The 49ers have played extremely well at home, and with that extra week off-will be anticipating the deep ball threat of the Vikes.
The big difference here is going to be the 49ers front 7 vs Kirk Cousins.
If you can get to Kirk, the offence is going to fall apart. He’s not a scrambling QB, so if they can get him on his back feet-they will score.
I like the Vikings to keep it closer than the 7 point spread, but these Niners with a week off will be too much to handle.
George Kittle will have a great game as well.
VIKINGS COVER

Titans (10-7) vs -9.5 Ravens (14-2) + 47

How do you solve a problem like Lamar Jackson? You don’t.
He is too fast, too smart, and has incredible QB IQ.
I think even Dr. Strange would need to go through multiple universe possibilities to see how the Titans can beat the Ravens.
Sure, they beat a hobbled Tom Brady and the Patriots last weekend, but the Pats averaged more yards than they did.
With a week off, and plenty of film to review the Ravens will be focused on shutting down Henry & Tannehill.
Henry will be tough, because he can pretty much through everything.
Tannehill on the other hand will be suspect to some huge pass rushes and a fierce secondary looking for loose balls meant for AJ Brown.
The Titans might be able to score on a scripted play early on, but the Ravens will pile on the pressure.
This one could be over by halftime.
RAVENS WIN

Sunday Games

Texans (11-6) vs -9.5 Chiefs (12-4) + 50.5

Looking for points? This game promises loads of them, as Patrick Mahomes heads to home field with a week off.
The Texans were able to overcome a plucky Bills team to steal a victory last week, but can they do it this week?
No way.
The Chiefs have a healthy roster back, and redemption in mind after their loss to the Texans this season.
Kansas has also improved on its D, with many healthy bodies back in the fold.
Can’t see anyway that the Texans will do anything but crumble under pressure in this game.
CHIEFS WIN

Seahawks (12-5) vs -4 Packers (13-3) +46.5

The Packers are 13-3 with a bye, but did they really whoop anyone this year?
Is anyone really scared of the Packers?
Yeas, they have home field advantage and the Seahawks have sucked at Lambeau in the past, but this game will be more than about that.
The Seahawks continue to grow in confidence, even with huge injuries to their running game.
Marshawn might be old and crusty, but he still can power run through some tough lines and is great in the redzone.
The Seahawks easily cruised through the Philly D, and there’s no reason to suspect that they won’t do the same here.
Russell Wilson should gash up yards running from the Packers D, who have trouble with QBs of his pedigree.
I originally thought that the Seahawks might be able to cover, but now I am confident that they can win.
SEAHAWKS WIN

Make sure you join us at the Long Acre pub in Covent Garden this weekend. FYI that if you are coming Saturday, you will need a ticket after 10pm as that’s when it becomes ticketed.
Why is that?
It’s central London on a Saturday-it gets nutty.

See you this weekend and good luck on your bets!