Dolphins are going to Europe again and I hate it.

I'm British and I agree.
I just posted something similar here:

https://www.thephins.com/threads/a-perspective-on-an-international-nfl.96271/

 

The good news is that with the 17th game being added, the league has said that all 32 teams will take their turn playing international games now. Hopefully they actually keep their word on that. They have also said that it won't be a requirement to earn hosting the Super Bowl anymore.

The trick though, is that those international games could be in Canada or Mexico too, so teams like the Patriots, Packers, Cowboys and Steelers could still stay in North America instead of heading overseas.

In the end, the Fins have gotten the shaft on this for 14 years since the program started, no question. Hopefully its better from here on out. We're doing our time this season, and hopefully that's the last of it.

 

If they're going to play in Europe maybe we can persuade the NFL to come to Gibraltar. The weather is better, it's a bit more central, we have dolphins, and it would be great to meet some of you over here!

 

No big deal as long as they're not giving up a home game.

 

The ball would be constantly punted into the sea. Or nicked by baboons!

 

I agree- it was ridiculous that they used to do that. It's still a minor disadvantage but nothing like it used to be.

 

It will be interesting to see, I don't like it cause it's a disadvantage for those teams and it's only because of money. You see it everywhere it's not really about the sport anymore it's become mostly about business, it's nice to see the exceptions though and they become rarer and rarer. That's why I like American pro sports it's a little bit fairer and the refs seem to be a little bit better, then what you've got in Europe but both systems have their flaws.

 

Monkeys, or Macaques more specifically.
And if they catch it the league won't be getting it back, so they should bring plenty of spares.

 

Well at least we didn't give up a home game this time. I hate playing in London all the time but I especially hate when we give up a home game for our trouble.

 

I like that we open at New England- that feels like a really winnable game since I don't think they'll be ready for our secondary at that point.

I don't love that we have the Bills at home for week 2. Hate to face them that early. At Tampa for week 5 isn't an exciting prospect either, and Jax should have a good showing week 6 in London. In the 2nd half of the schedule, @Buffalo is always trouble but at least it won't be cold. We play the Ravens...'nuff said about that. Then the Titans in week 17 is not ideal either.

If we sweep the Jets, sweep the Pats and split w/ Buffalo, I could see 11 or 12 wins. It's not a super tough schedule, but teams like the Raiders, Colts and Falcons could be better this year. It all comes down to Tua really.

 

My concern is us prepping for a NE team with so many new players especially on their defense.

 

The season seems to break down into three parts for me:

-Tough first five games (Pats away, Bills, Raiders away, Colts, Bucs away).

-Easier middle part of the Schedule - starting in London and ending with the Jets game after the bye week (Jets x2, Jags, Falcons, Texans, Bills, Ravens, Panthers, Giants) - includes the worst four teams from last season.

-Tricky final three games (Saints away, Titans away, Pats)

I could see us getting 10 or 11 wins, but we're going to need to start well. Being say 1-3 and heading to the reigning SB champs in Week 5 would be far from ideal.

 

I completely agree. If we look at it from a worst-case scenario, we could start the season 1-4 with 5 challenging games. The team has to start hot this season and take control early.

 

I lived in Gibraltar for 2 1/2 years when I was young (8-10) as my dad was in the Navy and stationed there. At that age, I took it for granted, but in hindsight it was a great place to live. Sun, sea and beaches almost year round. The border with Spain was closed when I was there though, so we didn't get much fresh food - no fresh eggs or milk for instance! I still fondly remember trips up the rock to visit the monkeys, and we even had a couple of day trips over to Tangiers which were a great experience for my young self.

 

Which is why they'd have to keep the footballs safe and sound!

 

Living somewhere where there are actually monkeys in the wild seems so surreal and fantastical to me. American wildlife is really boring by comparrison! I guess the closest thing we have are raccoons, lol.

 

Exactly. We had a tougher schedule last year and managed 10 wins. We have an easier schedule and the team should be much better this year. As long as Tua makes a real step forward this year 11 or 12 wins is a real possibility. It all hinges on Tua.

 

It really depends. Last year's team caught a bunch of breaks and made a lot of unrepeatable plays. They could have very easily only won five or six games. If this year's team legitimately wins ten games without those kinds of things happening, I see it as a really big jump.

 

Sounds cool. I've been to Gibraltar quite a few times over the years, as my parents live in Marbella. Great place to take visitors - although I suspect that the border will now be a nightmare post-Brexit

 

It's fine actually. Haven't seen a major queue in a while. Covid was more of an issue with Spanish travel restrictions but they're lifting those now.

 

It's certainly unique! But in terms of variety the USA out matches Gibraltar, which goes without saying really. Gib is tiny, a few square miles.

The lack of space is my main issue here but I regularly snorkel to get away.

 

Yeah, it blew my mind when I learned how small it was. I grew up in the smallest county of one of the least populous states in the US. You can drive all the way across in 20 minutes, and be in three different states in that time. But its still 50X as large as Gibraltar, and with roughly the same population.

 

While that is true I see it more as a byproduct of our opportunistic scheme. And while you cant count on that all the time they will generate breaks. I still say it is all going to come down to Tua. We have like the 4th or 5th "Easiest" schedules this year and we are catching a majority of the tougher games at home and dont have any real cold weather games. It really is setup for us this year. I've never seen us get any breaks like this before.

 

Great part of the world. I often head up the coast to Tarifa - love it there

 

I love to use this as an excuse to travel to London - throw in a day or 2 in Paris for the wife.
done it twice already - problem is we are 0-2 in that span

 

I hadn't even considered that angle yet. Dolphins players will be off for the final week of the regular season in FF this year.

 

Hi guys. Tickets for the Jags game in London go on sale next week. Expect it to sell out which means circa 62,000. Fins up from the UK.

 

Is there a cheap way to get priority on these tickets? I've always ended up missing out when they've come on general sale with the exception of the Raiders game (I think the only time we've won during this revived international series).

 

Dolphins played Saints in one of the Wembley games a few years back.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/oct/01/new-orleans-miam-dolphins-wembley-match-report

 

The issue is that they haven't lost home games in the process. That's been the biggest unfair aspects.

 

Exactly...there's no way a playoff contender volunteers for that and knowingly throws off their schedule. The Patriots did play in Mexico a few seasons back but that's obviously a much shorter trip.

 

NE have also played in the UK but don't know if that was a home game - KC also did and they were defo the home team, as I still have the flag at home

 

To this point, none of the Patriots overseas games have resulted in the loss of a home game.

 

Got my ticket for the London game this morning. Bit of a faff, logging in at 0830 to get access at 0930, then getting access, only to discover I was number 40,378 in the queue..!!! Nearly two hours later and I'm in, scampering about trying to find the best ticket available within the price bracket that I was happy with. In the end, I bought two, as a saw a better seat after I'd purchased the first.

 

I hope you get to watch them destroy the Jags!