Update it appears I managed to blurt out some half written draft of this post late last night – sorry for those who were eagerly awaiting my game analysis.
On Sunday I headed down with a whole bunch of people (roughly 81,000 other people) to Wembley to witness the first regular season NFL game in the UK.
Overall it was a good day out, although I have nothing to compare it too since this was my first NFL regular season game (previously went to the Steelers – Bears 97 preseason game in Dublin). I’m not sure what the teams made of it, as most of us were just happy to be there, and the Dolphins didn’t get much of a home atmosphere – no deafening roar when the Giants O had the ball, etc. In fact in the second half the Giants D realised that the crowd would respond to either team, and were able to get the crowd to create some noise for them.
It was a shame it rained all day, and that the powers that be decided not to close the roof at Wembley, although opinions are divided as to whether Wembley’s roof is closable (I thought that was the point of the new design and part of the reason it cost so much?). Also, given how badly the pitch held up, I wonder if there are different types of grass and preparations for Football, the beautiful game, and Football, the collision sport (or even Rugby – perhaps if they are ever to do this again Twickenham would be a better venue?). Still, at least it wasn’t a part time baseball diamond like the Colesium.
The Dolphins weren’t as bad as I had expected. In particular on offense Jesse Chatman is filling in admirably for Ronnie Brown and the TE Peele seemed pretty useful (if only they could find some receivers to help him out). Cleo Lemon was accurate enough for short and intermediate throws but lacked accuracy on the deep balls – he had guys open deep a couple times and would generally underthrow them. Ted Ginn Jr didn’t seem to have any interest or capacity to block anyone, however it was clear the Giants were scared of him on punt return – they didn’t kick to him once. He did score the Dolphins only TD, when Cam Cameron finally gave him a pattern other than a fly (a pointless pattern to run when Cleo Lemon doesn’t have a cannon).
On D, the Dolphins appeared solid (although the Giants were doing their best to help). Channing Crowder, Cameron Worrell, and Jason Allen all stood out for me – heck even Joey Porter was making plays (he even made two plays in one drive!). It was noticeable that the Giants were running at Jason Taylor where ever he lined up, and he struggled sometimes stopping the straight ahead run.
The Giants O moving the ball OK, but didn’t seem able to get over the weather and put it in the endzone – if you would have told me that Eli Manning would have only 59 yards passing but 25 yards on the ground including a 10 yard TD scamper I’d have laughed you out of the stadium.
Jeremy Shockey seems to have about the worst body language of any football player I’ve ever seen. Always the last into the huddle, always slow off the field, in terms of body language, always seemed to be pouting (sadly our seats weren’t quite close enough to see if he was actually pouting).
Either Plexico’s ankle didn’t react well to the travel or he reverted to his old ways that used to annoy me when he was with the Steelers – when DB’s get physical and can run with him, he disappears from the game.
Amani Toomer must have had an uncomfortable plane ride home, stuck in Coughlin’s doghouse. He had at least 4 dumb penalties through the game, as did many of his colleages, and dropped a couple of catchable balls.
To sum up; as a fan a great experience and well worth it. Whether is was worth it for the NFL, the teams, or the development of the sport in the UK? That is a question for another time.
“Also, given how badly the pitch held up, I wonder if there are different types of grass and preparations for Football, the beautiful game, and Football, the collision sport (or even Rugby – perhaps if they are ever to do this again Twickenham would be a better venue?)”
As the commentators on the U.S. broadcast mentioned, soccer players tend to weigh 150-200lbs, while on most plays in a football game, there’ll be eight to ten guys on the field who weigh close to or more than 300lbs. Also, soccer players don’t tend to clump together in the center of the pitch all the time, and they don’t do so much stop-start running, it’s more continuous movement. Totally different type of load on the pitch.
— Adam Williamson Nov 2, 07:00 pm #