NFL in London

National Football League in London

Philadelphia Eagles

Week 3 Preview

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Week 3 is upon us and what an injury prone season it has been thus far! Wade McElwain & Ryan Cull are here in the latest podcast to chat about the week that was in two, as well as they look ahead to all the games in week 3. Sure, we don’t know who will be fully or half back from injuries, but at least he have a steer on the teams as a whole. Our lines might change leading up to kickoff, so watch this space.
The boys also talk about:

London Viewings

Can we watch the games? Can we watch half a game? How many people can we watch with?
No idea here. The rules keep changing, but as it stands you can only watch in the UK until 10pm.
Given that the Premier League games now go until 8:40pm, it is unlikely many bars will show the NFL in entirety.

Injuries

5 teams took a lickin’ from a chicken in week 2, with the 49ers being gaslighted, trash bagged, and Cleveland steamed all in one. The Giants lost big with Saquon being out, and the Colts took a big D loss as well. If this trend keeps coming, there will be a lot of teams missing key personal by week 5. Heck by week 10, it might all be practice squad players.

Week 3 Picks

Rams (2-0) vs Bills (2-0)
Bills -2.5 +47.5

Buffalo faces a feisty Rams squad at home after a narrow victory over Fitzmagic and the fins. The Rams are on good form with Goff finding his rhythm of 2 years ago. This will be a fantastic battle of D’s, and both QBs will need to impress to find the W in this one. Josh Allen is the scramble king, using his legs and quick vision to spread it around the field. He’s going to face the toughest defence thus far, so the score should be fairly tight.
Ryan likes his Bills to barely cover the Rams, while Wade sees them winning by a nudge more.
Ryan-Bills 27 Rams 24
Wade-Bills 27 Rams 23

Titans (2-0) vs Vikings (0-2)
Titans -2.5 +47.5

The Titans are rolling at 2-0, but one of those came at a lucky break against the Jaguars. The Vikings are a woeful oh and poo, and they haven’t really shown any signs of life after being pummelled by both the Packers and Colts.
Ryan likes Tannehill and Henry to roll over the Vikings in a hometown beat down.
Wade is fond of the Vikings finally getting their shit together and putting together a victory.
Ryan-Titans 31 Vikings 13
Wade-Vikings 30 Titans 27

Bengals (0-2) vs Eagles (0-2)
Eagles -6 +46.5

Sure the Bengals are bad, but 6 points against Philly bad? This game will be a stinker, but Burrow and his footwork should make this one exciting enough. Philly has looked limp and lame, & will need to get their running game going full speed. The Bengals need to keep Joey alive, as they offer less protection than a homemade condom.
Ryan sees the Eagles getting a tough victory, while Wade has the Bengals taking their first win.
Ryan-Eagles 23 Bengals 20
Wade-Bengals 28 Eagles 26

Want all of our picks without listening to the podcast? Then get in touch & we can set you up with a season long picks package for £20!

Also thanks to these guys who compiled a list of the top 100 NFL Podcasts in the world. We came in at #90 which is nice, but also disappointing since we are way better than the others.
https://blog.feedspot.com/nfl_podcasts/

Stay in touch, stay safe and good luck for the rest of the season.

Week 1 Results

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What a topsy turvy weekend in the NFL! Some of the biggest winners lost, and some of the teams that looked to live in Loserville for a long time actually showed some spunk. It was nice to have the game back & to feel a bit of normal again.

Picking Week 1 results against the spread can often be tough given all the time off, but 2020 has made that even more difficult by trashing the preseason and the growth/ injuries that go with it.
Wade & Ryan both took a stab at week 1, with Wade hitting out a respectable 10-5-1, while Ryan managed a more modest 4-11-1.

Let’s take a look at some of the games they got right/ wrong.

Seahawks 38 vs Falcons 25

Wade got this one wrong, siding with past numbers that have Pete Carroll not usually performing well in week 1 since 2013. Of course it was Russell Wilson who performed like a champ, spreading the ball to nine different receivers and running the ball a few times himself. Atlanta didn’t help themselves, dropping balls and getting costly penalties. Atlanta showed rally, but were also very inept on D. Ryan liked the Seahawks to cover, and they were able to do just that.

Bears 27 Lions 23

Who wrote off Trubisky? Wade and other Bears fans did, so it was surprising to see him launch a 4 TD push to overcome the pesky Lions. Mitch was off in the first half, hitting guys on the numbers who should have made some easy catches. Luckily for Bears fans, the biggest drop came in the 4th when the Lions dropped a huge catch which would have been a pretty gimme TD. Wade had the Bears to win, and they came out with a big one. Trubisky played pretty good.

LA Chargers 16 Bengals 13

Wade called a Bengals upset, giving them their first win of the season at home…and it almost happened. Another bad miss from a kicker on  Week 1 (have they all gotten worse) could have sent this game to OT, but alas the football Gods had other plans. Burrow looked good, and Tyrod looked marginal in this low scoring affair. Bengals should be proud of how they played, even if this did end in betting push.

LA Rams 20 Cowboys 17

Wade was a big believer in a Rams upset in this game, and they really came out pumping all cylinders. Goff was on fire, and Robert Woods was an easy target in a game that really underscored the D problems that Dallas has going forward. If the Rams can bully them around like this, then the Cowboys are up for a tough season of potential blowouts. CeeDee Lamb had a respectable first outing, but Zeke looked a bit flat, especially after Aaron Donald picked him up to hit Dak.

Bucs 23 Saints 34

This was the game that everyone was waiting for, and both Wade & Ryan predicted a 33-30 victory for TB12 and the Bucs. In hindsight, not a good call. Tom Brady was picked off 2 times and he couldn’t muster any offence in a game that showed that he still makes some pretty blinding errors. Brees didn’t play great, but looked a lot better than his 40 something counter. New Orleans also made a lot of costly defensive pass interference plays that gouged them for 100 yards+ in penalties. Everyone learned a valuable lesson in this one. The Bucs and Saints both look to roll next week.

Make sure you listen to our podcast so you can hear Wade & Ryan make all of their weekly picks. We will also be starting to promote venues across the UK who would be up for showing NFL games this season.
We know that this new rule of 6 will make things more difficult, but it’s better than a 9pm curfew which would essentially cancel the viewings for an entire season.

Wade’s Week 1 Upsets

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Our own Wade McElwain brings us into his back garden for a sunny day of NFL picks.

Wade shows off his smoked brisket and gives you a peek at his meat.

He also blasts off some week 1 upset picks to help you find an advantage in your fantasy pool.

He likes the Falcons, Bengals, & Bucs to pull of some week 1 upsets. Who you got?

NFL..Assemble!

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Snap! The NFL is back and just in time, as this whole year has felt like Thanos has snapped us halfway back to reality.
Will the heroes of the gridiron save us from the banality of every day Covid life?
Hell yeah!

One NFL fan went the distance, using his editing skills to create superb hybrid of an NFL hype film, with an Avengers style trailer. (we don’t own any rights, just fans).

Always nice to see someone who is both an NFL Fan, and one heck of an editor.

If this doesn’t get you ripped for the season, maybe Thanos should have killed us all?

Fantasy Draft Party

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Like many at the start of September, we held our annual Fantasy Draft to commemorate the start of the season. Fantasy Draft’s are great ways to bond with fellow NFL fans to challenge each other in your game and playability knowledge of this great game. It’s also a good chance to emotionally bitch slap last year’s losers, bow to the finite rantings of last year’s winner, and plan for the future.

Our NFL in London Fantasy Pool is going on over a decade of play, with a melange of international fans who we have met in our hosting of NFL events across the city.
There are two leagues, the ‘Eh League’ which is comprised of the best of the best, and the ‘B League’, the relegation league where hopefuls can exchange a league win with that of the Eh loser. To be the best you have to beat the best.

We held this years draft at the Princess Alexandra Pub in Crouch End. It’s our lovely local run by our mate Nick Ford and his wife and 2 Alaskan Malmutes. With the crush of Covid, we opted for a nearby place that we could safely distance, as well as support an independent establishment. They have great burgers, Sunday roasts and stay open until 1am on Sundays so you can catch the second game, and be back in Kings Cross in 20 minutes.
https://princessalexandran8.co.uk/

We used the FanDraft software again this year, and cannot recommend this product enough. It is an easy and fun way to host your draft, and you can immediately export the results to input into your fantasy app. You can also make it fun with walk-on music, custom images and funny comments that I as the commissioner can input. We teamed it up with Facebook’s Messenger to create a private group that we could run for over 3 hours. Since we had folks in Dubai, New Zealand, Romania and Scotland, this was really a fun little addition.
https://fandraft.com/

It was nice to have a sense of ‘normal’ again, and hope that all of you also had a great one as well. It’s a messed up old world we live in, & a fantasy group is like a fraternity of sanity. No matter what shit people have to say about what on social media, NFL fantasy chat is all about the BS.
Let’s see what you have to say about it Monday morning.
Good luck everyone.