NFL In London: Patriots at Buccaneers

Coming back to Wembley for the third time was a strange experience. For the first time, the weather conditions were almost perfect, not too hot, not too cold and not a rain cloud in the sky. The PA system worked perfectly, getting into the stadium was easy—if you ignore the somewhat overzealous frisking that some of the crowd were getting—and even the food was well above the usual standard served up in such places.

There were still the odd little niggles. The pre-match entertainment was, as usual, abysmal, they once again dragged in two singers who thought their jobs were to murder the national anthems rather than sing them, and the concept of honorary captains still seems to baffle everyone, including the captains themselves.

The real bonus, though, was the curious anomaly that means that the cheapest seats in the house have some of the best views. Being perched in the top tier might not be ideal at every stadium, but at Wembley it provides an opportunity to see practically every hand movement, every cut, every block, in a way that you just can't from the (supposedly) better seats.

From such a viewpoint it was easy to see that, for example, Tom Brady's two interceptions both came on plays where, had he elected to run rather than pass, he would've made significant yardage downfield. All of which leads me to wonder if he is quite as confident about that knee as he makes out.

It also meant that, for the Pats second touchdown, it was perfectly clear how the play was going to develop—clear enough that you have to wonder how the Buc's defense didn't pick up on it.

In fact, the one thing that really stood out during the game was not that the Patriots had vastly better players, because they didn't. The Buccaneers, arguably, were stronger both wide out and in the backfield. The difference was in the play calling and the play design, which was much more inventive in all respects. Add this to the seeming unwillingness, let alone inability, of the Bucs to stop Welker doing pretty much whatever he wanted around the field and you have the basic reason why the Bucs lost.

Yes, Josh Johnson played like a man paralyzed by the fear of failure and, yes, neither he nor replacement Josh Freeman were given much to work with in the first place.  But against this, Brady threw almost as many interceptions and the Patriots offensive line seemed to be trying to set a record for the greatest number of penalties conceded by a winning team.

This may have been a one-sided game, but it was fascinating nonetheless. The only thing that the NFL now needs to do is to become a little more British, if only for this one game. In all three matches, boos have rung around the stadium at the end of the game. Taking a knee might be the gentlemanly thing to do back home, but to a British audience brought up on soccer and rugby it is anathema. They expect to see every game played to the death, every play to be an attempt to break into the opponent's secondary and score. The British have embraced the NFL, might the NFL now take this step towards embracing the British?