Tag: London games

Jared Allen apart of inagural London Games Ring of Honor inductees

One of them, Jared Allen, who hopes to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this year, is getting a different type of honor.

The Minnesota Vikings have had several talented defensive players in their long history. One of them, Jared Allen, who hopes to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this year, is getting a different type of honor.

It was announced on Monday that Jared Allen and Osi Umenyiora will be honored by the league as inaugural inductees of the London Games Ring of Honor.

Allen expressed his excitement, saying, “Being recognized in the first-ever International Ring of Honour ceremony is an exciting moment, and I’m looking forward to being back in the U.K. at the first of three 2024 NFL London Games this season.”

Allen played just one game in London in 2013 against the Pittsburgh Steelers. In that game, he sacked Ben Roethlisberger two and a half times. Those are just some of the 136 sacks he accumulated over the years.

The Vikings and Jets will play in London in Week 5.

Jets LB C.J. Mosley has advice for London football fans: Download Madden

Jets LB C.J. Mosley thinks playing Madden is the best way for those in London to familiarize themselves with American football.

The NFL started the London Games in 2007 to broaden its horizons and appeal to its fans across the pond. The league has played nearly 30 games overseas since, with the Jets and the Falcons becoming the 29th matchup on Sunday.

Even with the NFL’s best efforts, there are still a good amount of football fans in London who are still relatively unfamiliar with the ins and outs of the sport. Most fans know enough about American football to enjoy the game whenever two teams come to the country, but aren’t up to speed on the nuances that make football arguably the most popular sport in the United States.

C.J. Mosley offered advice to fans who don’t quite understand American football on Friday, emploring them to pick up a copy of Madden to learn the game.

“I guess it depends how much they know about football,” Mosley said. “You have to know the rules a little bit to understand what’s going on. When I first learned about [soccer] here, it was through FIFA. I didn’t know the rules of soccer until I started playing the video game. That’s how I kind of got into it.

“My advice for the people who don’t know it: download Madden. Go play Madden and figure it out on the fly.”

Madden has long helped American fans of all ages fall in love with football, making Mosley’s suggestion a good one. Maybe it can have the same effect on fans in London before the Jets’ march into Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

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Jets, Falcons continue trend of losing London participants

The Jets and the Falcons will continue the trend of losing teams taking part in the NFL London Games when they meet in Week 5.

The NFL has long been focused on establishing an avid fanbase across the pond in London. The league is set to host its 29th game there over the weekend, but it has yet to schedule a matchup of two elite teams for fans to enjoy.

That continues this weekend, as the 1-3 Jets and 1-3 Falcons take the field on Sunday. New York’s matchup with Atlanta is the 10th London game to feature two teams with losing records. The other 20 London games have included one team with a winning or .500 record, but never two teams with a winning record.

The NFL has sent bad teams to London in the past because they don’t draw well at home. Sometimes, the league has bad luck and one team that was supposed to be good underperforms leading up to the game. The Jets and Falcons don’t fall into either category, as both teams routinely fill their stadium and neither squad was expected to be good in 2021.

Nonetheless, New York and Atlanta travel to London hoping to put on a show for the fans overseas. Both teams enter fresh off their first win of the season. If Week 4 was a sign of things to come, their Week 5 meeting should be a competitive one.

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