There may be blood, but there most certainly will not be any tea parties in Boston after hearing where the New England Patriots are going to play their first confirmed road game. That's right. The Patriots will be traveling across the pond to take on London's Finest in the Jacksonville Jaguars at Wembley Stadium in London. The amount of Dunkin' empties going into the Boston Harbor will be otherworldly.
While everybody has to go across the pond at some point, although Shahid Khan seems to relish his franchise's annual pilgrimage to the United Kingdom, can you imagine the NFL trying to tell Bill Belichick that he has to go to London? This is a man who refused to have his name, image and likeness attached to EA Sports' Madden franchise. Lord only knows what he would have done here...
The good news is that it will be Jerod Mayo's first stab at traveling across the pond as the leader of his own team. Conversely, this will be the third time Doug Pederson has done it since reinventing himself as Duval Doug down in Duval. I could be totally wrong in this, but you can get your mortgage, your 401k or your first-born child's well-being on the Jaguars to win and cover in this AFC matchup.
A team from outside of Boston playing a team from Jacksonville proper in London is pure capitalism.
🇬🇧First confirmed Patriots road game: vs. Jaguars, at Wembley Stadium in London, on Oct. 20 (time: 9:30 a.m. ET).🇬🇧 https://t.co/mnU8INSTft
— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) May 15, 2024
The funniest part in all this is it will feel like a true road game for New England. London loves the Jags!
New England Patriots must travel across the pond to face Jacksonville
It will be a very different feeling for both teams when they meet at Wembley Stadium on Oct. 20. For Jacksonville, the Jaguars are hoping to bounce back after a terrible final third of the regular season. It will be year four for Trevor Lawrence out of Clemson. He must be the reason why the Jaguars are a playoff-caliber team. Anything short of that should be seen as a failure for this AFC South franchise.
As for New England, it will be all about Drake Maye's continued growth and development under center. Although I initially hated the swift hiring of Mayo, I have come to grips with it, and kind of like what the Patriots are about in this. It will be a slow, but methodical rebuild, one that could result in the team being championship-caliber by 2027 or so. For now, it will be tough sledding for the Evil Empire.
With the NFL becoming an increasingly international league, every team should expect to go to London at least once an olympiad or half-decade or so. It is good to grow the game into a global sport, but man, it is a lot to ask a rookie head coach to have his team ready to play with that kind of travel expenditures placed upon it. Teams and coaches who have done this before have a huge edge.
If the Patriots were to beat Jacksonville in London, then we can say the rebuild is coming along nicely.