Tag: nfl germany

Seahawks’ Week 5 loss to Giants looks even worse now

Seahawks’ Week 5 loss to Giants looks even worse now

NFL fans enjoyed an early morning dose of football in Week 10, as the Carolina Panthers took on the New York Giants in another Germany game. Although these two teams are hardly the best America can offer, football is still football, and it was a competitive game.

In the end, the Panthers outlasted the Giants 20-17 in overtime as running back Tyrone Tracy fumbled the ball at New York’s 26-yard line. Carolina recovered, and three plays later kicker Eddie Pineiro kicked the game-winning field goal. The Panthers improved (if you can call it that) to 3-7 on the year. Meanwhile, New York fell to an astonishingly terrible 2-8, which is now, at the moment, the worst record in football.

Carolina has been widely considered the worst team in the league, and they just beat the Giants. Of course, after watching this debacle, there is only one thought coming to mind:

Holy moly, how did the Seahawks lose at home to this New York team?

Seattle is 4-5 on the year and in dead last place in the NFC West. But it’s their Week 5 loss to the Giants that is really killing them right now. Not the butt-kicking’s they got from Detroit and Buffalo, not losing to San Francisco or Los Angeles who own the Hawks right now. No, it’s the fact the Seahawks were bullied by what is now arguably the worst team in the league.

I mentioned it in Week 5 and I will mention it now: there are no “gimmies” in the NFL, but certain games are more winnable than others. It may be an “any given Sunday” kind of league, but facing this Giants squad at home was a game the Hawks should have won, and with each passing week it looks worse and worse.

Had Seattle won, they would be 5-4 instead of 4-5. At 5-4, they would…

  • Be tied with the Arizona Cardinals for first place
  • Be ahead of the 4-4 Los Angeles Rams
  • Be ahead of the 4-4 San Francisco 49ers, at least for a bit, as they will play today in Tampa Bay

Instead, the Seahawks are the sole-occupants of the NFC West’s basement.

Wins are all too important in this league since there are so few opportunities to bank them in a 17-game season. The Seahawks squandered an opportunity in Week 5, and it’s only becoming more evident the further we get into the season.

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Broncos won’t play an international game in 2024

The Broncos won’t have an international game in 2024. Denver will host eight games and the Broncos will play nine road games stateside.

We already know the Denver Broncos’ upcoming opponents, and we’ll find out the team’s full 2024 schedule with dates and times in May.

We also know that the Broncos will not play abroad this fall.

The NFL has announced the “home” teams for the five international games in 2024 and none of them are set to host Denver next season.

The Philadelphia Eagles (Brazil), Chicago Bears (England), Minnesota Vikings (England), Jacksonville Jaguars (England) and Carolina Panthers (Germany) will “host” games outside the United States this fall.

The Broncos do have the Panthers on their list of 2024 opponents, but that game will be played at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver. So the Broncos won’t have an international game during the 2024 season.

Denver last played abroad in 2022 when they defeated the Jaguars 21-17 at Wembley Stadium in London. Each NFL team is required to play at least one international game every eight years. Beginning in 2025, up to eight international games will be scheduled each season. That would involve 16 teams, giving half the league an international game each year.

So the Broncos will likely have another international game in the not-too-distant future, and Mexico is the most likely location. The NFL won’t play in Mexico in 2024 due to construction at Estadio Azteca. Once those renovations are complete, Denver will be a strong candidate to play in Mexico. This year, though, all of the team’s games will be played in the USA.

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Seahawks vs. Buccaneers: Broadcast info for Week 10 matchup in Munich

Next, they’ll get to take their feel-good story global this weekend.

The Seahawks are easily the most-pleasant surprise in the NFL this season. Next, they’ll get to take their feel-good story global this weekend. Next up on the schedule are the Buccaneers, who are the “home team” for Sunday’s early-morning game at Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany.

Here’s all the info about how to watch.

Seahawks (6-3) vs. Buccaneers (4-5) Week 10 info

The game will be broadcast nationally on NFL Network Sunday morning at 6:30 am Pacific Time, 9:30 Eastern.

You can find the usual TV maps for this week’s other games here.

Broadcasters: Rich Eisen, Kurt Warner, Steve Mariucci, Michael Irvin

Streaming: FuboTV (try it for free)

Odds: According to Tipico Sportsbook, the Bucs are favored by 2.5 points.

Gannett may earn revenue from Tipico for audience referrals to betting services. Tipico has no influence over nor are any such revenues in any way dependent on or linked to the newsrooms or news coverage. See Tipico.com for Terms and Conditions. 21+ only. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ), 1-800-522-4700 (CO), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA).

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Tom Brady excited for ‘epic game’ against Seahawks in Germany

Needless to say, this history-making matchup is a pretty big deal.

The Seahawks are playing what may be their most-anticipated game of the year this week. They’ll be facing Tom Brady and the Buccaneers in the NFL’s first game ever in Germany. The interest in this matchup is off the charts in a country where Seattle is the second-most popular team in the league. (Brady’s former team is first).

Needless to say, this history-making matchup is a pretty big deal. In an appearance on the Let’s Go! podcast on Monday, Brady said he’s super excited to face the Seahawks in what he expects to be an epic game, per NFL.com.

“We’re playing a great team in Seattle… They’re first place in their division. We’re tied for first place in ours and it’s a big challenge because, you know, to fly across the ocean like that, new time zone, it’s a 9:30 [a.m.] eastern kickoff… And look, I mean the chance to go across to another country, play a sport that I love, I have heard there’s 3 million ticket requests for 67,000 seats. So the place is gonna be rocking and if it’s anything like what I see in those German Bundesliga games this is gonna be one of the epic games that we’ve ever played in. So I’m super excited.”

Seattle is the only NFL team with a winning record (2-1) against Brady in his career. Odds are they would trade that in for Brady’s victory with the Patriots in Super Bowl 49, though.

Despite having a 4-5 record, Tampa is favored over Seattle by 2.5 points.

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Why the NFL playing games in Germany makes too much sense for the league

The NFL’s upcoming Germany games are a nod to the sport’s ambitious past.

The NFL International Series is expanding its base. From 2022 to 2025, it will make annual visits to the home country of the Frankfurt Galaxy.

The league announced plans to send regular season games to Germany over the next four seasons, starting in Munich and expanding out to Frankfurt. Next year’s game in Deutschland will be one of five played outside the United States, including three in the United Kingdom and one in Mexico.

“We are very pleased to welcome Munich and Frankfurt to the NFL family and are excited to reward our fans in Germany for their passion by bringing them the spectacle of regular-season NFL football,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. “We look forward to staging our first game in Germany at FC Bayern Munich’s fantastic stadium later this year and to exploring areas of broader collaboration with the Bundesliga.”

What that statement ignored, however, was the groundwork that laid the foundation for American football to grow in Germany. That was the World League of American Football (WLAF), which later became NFL Europe.

The WLAF began life in 1991 as a typical failure of a spring football league, backed by the NFL itself as a potential feeder to the big stage. Its hook, however, was a global expansion of the game. It settled down in standard ports for disinterested warm weather gridiron fans — Birmingham, AL, Orlando, and San Antonio foremost among them — and countries that only knew football from late-night Super Bowl broadcasts. There were three teams spaced across Europe:

  • Frankfurt Galaxy
  • Barcelona Dragons
  • London Monarchs

The WLAF was roughly as successful as the Canadian Football League’s expansion into America. It lasted only two seasons in its original form. By 1993 it was on hiatus. It wouldn’t return until 1995 — and even then without any teams stateside. The Germans got a second team in Dusseldorf. Amsterdam and Edinburgh also earned franchises. By 1998, the entire league was known as NFL Europe.

It wasn’t a success. The UK-based clubs alternated between home fields repeatedly and failed to garner a stable fan base. The Monarchs closed up shop after ’98. The Dragons made it until 2003.

However, the concept of minor league football worked in Germany, the country with the highest concentration of American military personnel in the continent. By 2005, five of the league’s six franchises hailed from the nation that gave the world Oktoberfest. Between them, they averaged more than 21,000 fans per game. The Galaxy, with more than 30k in the stands every home game, led the way.

All 12 of the World Bowls played after 1992 to crown a WLAF/NFL Europe/NFL Europa champion involved at least one team from Germany. The final World Bowl, between Frankfurt and the Hamburg Sea Devils, drew nearly 50,000 spectators.

The feeder league shut down after the 2007 season. It’s legend coursed through Germany like the Baltimore Colts’ marching band waiting fervently for pro football to return. Fans in Frankfurt founded the Universe; a fifth-tier club that eventually won its way up to the highest-level German Football League and was runner-up in the 2018 German Bowl.

The European League of Football, a 2021 12-team start-up in which seven clubs are based in Germany, has carried the banner as well. Through a licensing agreement with the NFL, they’ve restored the names and imagery of the Galaxy, Sea Devils, Rhein Fire, Berlin Thunder, Cologne Centurions, and even the Barcelona Dragons. Even though the league shut down 15 years ago, NFL Europe has retained its presence in the middle of the continent.

Now the league is rewarding that faith with a regular season game that typically pits two bottom feeding teams against each other. It’s a smart bet.

The NFL once drew 48,000 fans to a German soccer pitch to watch Casey Bramlet throw passes against JT O’Sullivan. Fans there will go wild for Zach Wilson and Justin Fields.

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