NFL International Series – London 2008 photos

Bit late with this post seeing as we’ve just entered 2009 and the regular NFL season is now over but I thought I’d post it anyway! Here are my photos from the NFL International Series 2008 game between the San Diego Chargers & New Orleans Saints at Wembley, my first ever life NFL game.

I was very happy with the result of the game (in case you didn’t watch it the Saints won!) it was a great game to watch overall, plenty of high powered offense on show although it was a shame Reggie Bush couldn’t make the game due to injury. The atmosphere at the game was excellent, I was bit worried about this but I was proved wrong in the end. The view from our seats was better than I expected too, I wasn’t too sure whether we’d be able to follow the game but we could make everything out very well. It’s a completely different experience as you get to see how every part of the play develops rather than just following what the TV cameras choose. Having said that I still watched the game again when I got home in case I missed anything!

Apart from it being my first ever live NFL game It was also my first time to Wembley, although it took bloody ages to build it is a fantastic venue! Roll on 2009 and the Patriots v Buccaneers!

49ers off-season review

Time for my review of the San Francisco 49ers off-season. I suppose I’ve got to start with the fact that we’ve still got Mike Nolan at the helm AND Alex Smith at QB, at the end of last season I didn’t expect to be able to say that. I thought one or even both of them would have been moved on. With Nolan declaring an open QB competition this year it worries me that Alex Smith is no longer the QB of the future for the 49ers and we don’t seem to have a backup plan. Apart from a few glimpses when Norv Turner was the OC I’m yet to see Alex Smith play like the No. 1 overall pick he is.

However this brings me nicely onto possibly the most interesting acquisition during the off-season…. Mike Martz. He’s known as an offensive genius that was partly responsible for the “Greatest Show on Turf” in St. Louis and while the Detriot Lions didn’t make much of an impact with him at OC he did improve the production of their offense. Maybe Martz can get the best out of Alex Smith who, to be fair, has now had a fair few OC’s in his short NFL career. Hopefully Martz won’t do the same as in Detriot, improve the passing game but at the expense of the running game. Our running game has been the one bright spot of the offense the past 2 years and with the addition of Deshaun Foster we have a very capable backup/alternative to Frank Gore. I’m hoping Martz will use Gore like he did with Marshall Faulk in St. Louis as a pass catching RB, Gore definitely showed this was a part of his game last year.

We also acquired Justin Smith, the DE from Cincinnati and signed him to a big contract. I’ve not seen that much of him really so I’m hoping he lives up to the contract we’ve given him. Hopefully he’ll provide an upgrade to our pass rushing ability. The most recent addition is Takeo Spikes at LB, who seems like a good fit for us. He should hopefully take some of the pressure off Patrick Willis, last years NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year.

Last year the defense performed quite well overall, it was just the offense couldn’t produce the goods when they had the ball. I’m hoping for an an even better year from the defense with the additions we’ve made. Any improvement from the offense this year would be very welcome!

I’m not expecting a run into the playoffs this year but I’m looking for some sign the team’s moving in the right direction.

NFL International Series – London 2008

I missed out on tickets for the NFL game in London last year between the Giants & Dolphins but not this year!! I received my e-mail with the ticket PIN code in and rang around to see who wanted to go. On Thursday morning I purchased 4 tickets to this year’s NFL game between the Saints & Chargers.

I went for the £55 seats as I couldn’t justify paying £100 for seats that meant we couldn’t see what was going on in the game. We’re in Level 5 at Wembley but should be able to see more of the game from there. My bro, Dave & Jay will be coming along, just need to sort out hotel & travel arrangements now.

Oh and I’ll be cheering for the Saints in the game, I’m really a 49ers fan but as a true Brit I’ll be cheering on the underdogs going on last season.