NFL 2021 Season

AndyCr15 said:
Me and my family went to most of these games too. My parents were the official video team for the Panthers (and the league asked them to film a few of the finals too)

I played a few games with the Panthers, but mainly I played for their Youth team as by the time I moved to senior football, I was living in London so played with the Mets and Cheetahs. I'm fairly sure I played against the Norwich Devils at some point.

That's the funny thing though. In the late 80's and early 90's you would maybe have a couple of thousand people at Saffron Lane to watch the Panthers. These days, it's mainly friends and family, maybe 100 people at a game...
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Small world - does explain some of your previous comments about playing.

I never did watch the Panthers but did watch the Devil's (at the showground). Will have to mention to my brother when I next see him.

I also remember the Birmingham Bulls and London Olympians being some of the other notable teams at that point. I can imagine you quickly see the same faces at the games.
 
I managed to grab two tickets for the Bears game. When I was in the queue at it was 173,000 ahead I thought I'd never get any, but luckily did.
At the time I thought I'd be up in the heavens, but when I unticked the "seats together" toggle I found two seats next to each other on a lower level, just to the side of the tunnel. Bonus!

First game I'll get to see live. The hay day of the Bears in the 80's seems such a long time ago.
 
I tried to get some again this year but ended up with nothing. Last year loads popped up on the official resale site for face value closer to the game and I grabbed a cracking pair about a week before so I'm hoping to do the same again.
 
Yeah keep your eye on the seat map. Tickets get released at really weird times, and you can snap them up when others are least expecting it. You've got to stay on it though! Fingers crossed for you mate.
 
Wanted to watch Pats vs Jags with the missus but Wembley is sold out for pairs and only has literally <100 single seats still available, should be a good event.

I've been a Giants fan since the mid-80's and Stoke's local team "The Stoke Spitfires" had a lot of well attended games until the early 90's when almost overnight it all seemed to just collapse. I still love to have a throw about with my mates kid who is Rugby mad (I played a lot myself) and I always catch the NFL channel on Youtube for highlights but obviously the time differences means its rare I get to see an actual game bar the Superbowl.
 
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ianh said:
I've been a Giants fan since the mid-80's and Stoke's local team "The Stoke Spitfires" had a lot of well attended games until the early 90's when almost overnight it all seemed to just collapse.
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Seems to relate to the same point @AndyCr15 mentioned.

Do we think it was just NFL moving to Sky from Channel 4, the Premier League starting or NFL International games? Or combination there of?
 
Timber said:
Seems to relate to the same point @AndyCr15 mentioned.

Do we think it was just NFL moving to Sky from Channel 4, the Premier League starting or NFL International games? Or combination there of?
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Sports moving to sky seems to have had a negative impact at the grass roots level on everything apart from football, it's pretty much killed cricket and rugby but they are all seduced by the money. I remember a big spike in NFL interest when I was a kid in the mid 80's quite a few 49ers, Dolphins and Bears t-shirts being worn in school and the coverage on Channel 4 and then suddenly it vanished. The sport seems to be having a similar uptick now which is good for variety the British sporting scene has become so dominated by football that it is hard to find room for breath kids are training twice a week when they are 7-8 years old with games on the weekend and the off season has disappeared as training and games seem to continue through the entire summer. Would be great to get some more variety in there and American Football has the money and 'show' to muscle in a little bit.
 
a1ex2001 said:
Sports moving to sky seems to have had a negative impact at the grass roots level on everything apart from football, it's pretty much killed cricket and rugby but they are all seduced by the money. I remember a big spike in NFL interest when I was a kid in the mid 80's quite a few 49ers, Dolphins and Bears t-shirts being worn in school and the coverage on Channel 4 and then suddenly it vanished. The sport seems to be having a similar uptick now which is good for variety the British sporting scene has become so dominated by football that it is hard to find room for breath kids are training twice a week when they are 7-8 years old with games on the weekend and the off season has disappeared as training and games seem to continue through the entire summer. Would be great to get some more variety in there and American Football has the money and 'show' to muscle in a little bit.
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Yea I think you're right, Sky probably damaged the game in the UK in the nighties.

I do think the internet is behind the revival in the 2000's. Suddenly you can watch the games live (Game Pass) and watch all the same sports shows as the US (NFL Network, ESPN etc.) without having someone explain for the umpteenth time the rules around how to get a first down. And hence behind there being a regular regular season game in London since 2007.
 
I've just watched the first two episodes of 'Hard Knocks: In Season with the New York Giants' and it's been fascinating. This one is about the off-season prep, starting mid Jan and it's working towards free agency and then the draft. Really interesting. Anyone else seen it?
 
AndyCr15 said:
I've just watched the first two episodes of 'Hard Knocks: In Season with the New York Giants' and it's been fascinating. This one is about the off-season prep, starting mid Jan and it's working towards free agency and then the draft. Really interesting. Anyone else seen it?
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I've never watched Hard Knocks tbh. Always see the fallout from them get discussed on the Rich Eisen shows etc. I am tempted this year for the Bears training camp ones.
 
AndyCr15 said:
I've just watched the first two episodes of 'Hard Knocks: In Season with the New York Giants' and it's been fascinating. This one is about the off-season prep, starting mid Jan and it's working towards free agency and then the draft. Really interesting. Anyone else seen it?
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Yeah I've been watching. I've not long finished the Dolphins one. The Giants one's been good because they're focusing on that area of off season they don't usually do, what with Saquon's contract and moving to the Eagles, and working out free agency. The other series seem to just focus on training and preseason, and I find the mid season one's a bit stale already. I really enjoyed All or Nothing when that covered NFL teams.

The rumour is that they're doing AFC North for Hard Knocks mid season this year, so hoping the Bengals get some decent coverage.
 
Thought this was worth posting; latest Rich Eisen video following the Tagovailoa/Love QB deals being announced (off the back of the recent Goff/Lawrence deals).

Of the top 8 highest paid QBs; combined post-season record 16-17, 3 Superbowl appearances with 0 SB wins.

Someone said in the comments, maybe a bit harshly; these deals mean the end of the SB windows for the Dolphins & Packers. Unless you have a Mahomes, or a rookie, these QB deals are hamstringing most teams in their chances to win the big one. Whilst I'm not sure I 100% agree the recent SB winners tend to be; Mahomes/Brady, vets on great deals or rookies. Not these expensive deals.

Given Hurts, Goff and Love play for 3 of the top-4 NFC teams this year there's a good chance they can break that record a bit but it will be interesting to see the outcome of these new deals. In a few years there may be the chance a few of these deals weren't worth it and didn't pan out as hoped.
 
First episode of NFL Hard Knocks: Bears is on Sky Sports Action at 9pm BST tonight. Apologies if known but I only worked this out yesterday. Either way hopefully useful for someone.

According to r/nfluk it also comes to DAZN Game Pass today (not sure if this is a rights issue with Sky in the UK and hence the 48hr delay from US to UK).
 
Timber said:
Hehe I'm not sure you'll get an easier first half in the remainder of the season.

That said Titans have flown under the radar given the number of vet additions they have made. Was always going to be a tricky opener.
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I'm not sure you'll get an easier second half this season!!

Hopefully Brady hates presenting and wants to get his hands dirty again....
 
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