The finalists for the 2025 Salute to Service Award have been named, with Minnesota Vikings running back Aaron Jones Sr, San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey and Dallas Cowboys tight end Jake Ferguson the three players in line for the prize. The players are recognised for their exceptional efforts to honour and support members of the military community, as …
Christmas Day football and Netflix is fast becoming a new NFL tradition, and this year is no different, with a festive double-header on the streaming platform. NFL Christmas Gameday returns to Netflix in 2025 with Dallas Cowboys playing the Washington Commanders at 1pm ET, followed by the Detroit Lions visiting the Minnesota Vikings — complete with a holiday party featuring …
Veteran wide receiver Adam Thielen has asked to be released from his second stint with the Minnesota Vikings in order to see out his playing career with more time on the field. The Vikings fan favourite has started only four of 11 games since returning to Minnesota from Carolina, and has just eight receptions from 18 targets, culminating in a …
A Season Served With All the Trimmings For American fans, the holidays aren’t measured in days off, they’re measured in downs. Sure, Thanksgiving carves the turkey, but it also carves out a day-long buffet of football, family and fierce rivalries. Then, before the leftovers are gone, December rolls in with its own frosty spectacle; snow swirling over end zones, playoff …
What’s the greatest comeback in the history of the National Football League? Well, the Eagles fan in me would point towards both iterations of the ‘Miracle of the Meadowlands’, but it’s hard to argue against a Super Bowl victory so famous that any fan of the gridiron knows what I’m talking about when I say ‘28-3’. In terms of sheer …
Deciding which games to feature in this column is often simple. Every once in a while, the narratives leaving a weekend coalesce in front of your eyes; sometimes there’s a paucity of interesting storylines to sink your teeth into. Sometimes, there’s simply too many games to cover off. This week was one of them. So, here’s a few of the …
Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell said that there had been a ‘secret sauce’ to his side’s ability to not only overcome defeat to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Dublin but also the length of their European sojourn to head home with victory in London under their belts. Speaking after the last-gasp 21-17 win over the Cleveland Browns at Tottenham Hotspur …
Carson Wentz extended the Minnesota Vikings’ unbeaten streak in London with a late victory over the Cleveland Browns, but insisted that his makeshift O-line were the ones to thank. Coming into their second NFL International Series game in as many weekends, having hopped from Dublin to London, the Vikings looked bare on the offensive front, with multiple new faces, including …
The Cleveland Browns came with 30 seconds of upsetting another NFC North side as they conceded a late touchdown to the Minnesota Vikings in London. The Browns, whose only win of 2025 came at the expense of the Green Bay Packers in Week 3, appeared to have the upper hand over Minnesota, forcing two fumbles and only losing the points …
When the Minnesota Vikings take the field at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to face the Cleveland Browns this weekend, the NFL International Series will chalk off another milestone as London hosts its 40th regular season game. The phrase ‘from small acorns’ seems a particularly apt British idiom to describe the growth of the International Series initiative which, this year, extends its …
It’s been a special start for the 2025 season, with close games aplenty and much to celebrate on the oft-forgotten third phase of football. There have been 11 special teams touchdowns, the most at this point in 13 years, and the 3,624 kickoff return yards amassed last week is the most in a single week in NFL history. Week 5 …
Week 4 of the 2025 season saw the NFL’s first regular season game in Ireland. This is the best time of the year for fans on this side of the Atlantic, as we look ahead to the three London games, the league’s entry into Spain and a match-up in Berlin. It’s also when narratives become believable. The 2025 season has …
Justin Jefferson put in one of his best performances of this young 2025 season, hauling in 10 of 11 targets for 126 yards, but there would be no special Irish edition of the “O’Griddy” for the full house at Dublin’s Croke Park. The Minnesota Vikings wideout had a chance of a score in the third quarter but slipped on the …
Midway through the second quarter of the first-ever NFL regular season game in Ireland, House of Pain’s Jump Around blasted through Croke Park. Carson Wentz had just been picked off by Pittsburgh strong safety DeShon Elliott in what had been a painful half to that point for the Vikings quarterback. The Steelers were in his face all day long, racking …
Kevin O’Connell joined a handful of his Minnesota Vikings players to face the media following Friday’s practice session, and revealed that he reveres his opposite number in Sunday’s International Series game in Dublin more than most. Mike Tomlin, as most will already be aware, has never had a losing season as head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. He has come …
With just over a couple of hundred yards to his name through three weeks of the new NFL season, Justin Jefferson appears the least threatening he has been in years, but insists that he can’t be far from a breakout game. Away from the craziness of Ireland’s Temple Bar touristy city centre neighbourhood, and nestled in a low-profile corner of …
When the Pittsburgh Steelers and Minnesota Vikings kick off the European leg of the 2025 NFL International Series at Croke Park on Sunday 28th September, it will mark the addition of a fifth country to the annual roster — and fulfill a long-held ambition of the Rooney family. The Steelers owners can trace their lineage to various counties in the …
In the old days, we could talk about Week 4 as the quarter pole of an NFL season. Since the move to 17 games, the maths gets a little trickier — but the excitement continues regardless, as the NFL seems to have become a league of tight finishes. The first three weeks of the 2025 season has seen 15 match-ups …
In Italian soccer, there is a commonly held belief that ‘August is a liar’. As undercooked players and newly formed teams build towards mid-season, spectacular results or terrible performances cannot be seen as a blueprint for future performance. A similar train of thought has taken root in the NFL. September is often seen as an extension of preseason football. With …
Week 1 of a new season can always be a strange one, with new coaches and players just feeling their way into the campaign, leading to weird and wonderful outcomes. Last week was no exception, with a number of close contests including12 games decided by one score, tying the record for the most such results on an opening week. While …
And we are back! The 106th season of the NFL is finally here, with the road to Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara beginning in Philadelphia on Thursday night. The opening slate of games features eight divisional match-ups, starting with the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles against the Dallas Cowboys, marking the fifth season since 2002 with as many …
The NFL has announced that it is suspending Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Jordan Addison for the first three games of the 2025 season for violating the league’s substance abuse policy. This follows Addison’s arrest in July 2024 for DUI, during which he was found asleep at the wheel and blocking a lane on the highway in his white Rolls-Royce. Amid …
More than a year after the road traffic accident that brought Rashee Rice headlines of a different sort, the Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver has been sentenced to a combination of prison and probation. Rice was initially charged with aggravated assault, plus one count of collision involving serious injury and six additional counts of a collision involving injury, having admitted …
The Minnesota Vikings have agreed a multiyear contract extension with general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah The GM was entering the final year of a four-year contract signed upon his hiring in January 2022, and is now locked up — along with head coach Kevin O’Connell — for the foreseeable future. Minnesota’s regular-season win percentage of .667 under Adofo-Mensah and O’Connell ranks …
