Brady, Rodgers, Wilson to take aim abroad
The NFL’s 2022 international series will feature plenty of quarterback star power.
The five-game slate includes Tom Brady’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers traveling to Germany, Russell Wilson’s Denver Broncos playing in London and Aaron Rodgers’ Green Bay Packers taking part in an international game for the first time.
The full slate: h Oct. 2, 9:30 a.m. ET: Minnesota Vikings (road) vs. New Orleans Saints (home), London (Tottenham Hotspur Stadium), NFL Network.
h Oct. 9, 9:30 a.m. ET: New York Giants (road) vs. Green Bay Packers (home), London (Tottenham Hotspur Stadium), NFL Network.
h Oct. 30, 9:30 a.m. ET: Denver Broncos (road) vs. Jacksonville Jaguars (home), London (Wembley Stadium), ESPN Plus.
h Nov. 13, 9:30 a.m. ET: Seattle Seahawks (road) vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (home), Munich, Germany (Allianz Arena), NFL Network.
h Nov. 21, 8:15 p.m. ET: San Francisco 49ers (road) vs. Arizona Cardinals (home), Mexico City (Estadio Azteca), ESPN.
The five “home” teams had already been set by the NFL earlier in the spring, but the matchups for the league’s biggest international slate so far were announced Wednesday morning.
Brady, who announced his retirement earlier this offseason and then decided to return for a third season with Tampa Bay and 23rd overall, is the clear centerpiece of the NFL’s first-ever regular-season game held in Germany. Previously, all the NFL’s international games had been held in Canada, London or Mexico City.
None of them, however, had included the Packers. That will change in October against the Giants.
Wilson’s new team, meanwhile, is not a particularly surprising partner for Jacksonville.
At the NFL’s league meetings in late March, Denver President and CEO Joe Ellis told reporters he would “love” if the franchise traveled to London to play against the Jaguars.
“I’ve expressed interest on behalf of the team,” he said then. “(Head coach Nathaniel) Hackett is bullish on it, (general manager George Paton) is bullish on it, Russell Wilson is bullish on it. We’re lobbying as hard as we can.”
Denver was supposed to play Atlanta in the country in 2020, but that game was moved stateside due to the COVID19 pandemic.
The Broncos traveled to London in October 2010 and lost 24-16 to the 49ers at Wembley Stadium, the same venue it will play in 12 years later.
“It’s good for the organization. It’s good for branding purposes, but it’s also good for the team,” Ellis said in March. “It brings the team together. I think the period of time where they kind of have a mini training camp, gather, be together, have all the meals together, socialize together, practice, get ready for a game. It’s a good experience for teams.
“Everybody that’s gone over has liked it.”
On NFL Network’s “Good Morning Football” on Wednesday, Wilson likened the experience to “playing in the international Super Bowl.”
The Cardinals and 49ers will close the international series with a Week 11 divisional matchup on “Monday Night Football.”
The NFL announced one game last week – the Los Angeles Chargers at the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday, Sept. 15 on Amazon Prime – and is set to unveil select games early next week ahead of the full schedule release May 12.