NFL looking at game in China
The NFL could be headed to China in a couple of years. For a regular-season game, no less.
The league is looking into playing a game in China as early as the 2018 season. A detailed analysis of how much interest there would be in such a game in the world’s most populous country is under way, and is being discussed this week at the owners’ meetings in Boca Raton, Fla. But few details, including which Chinese city the league will target, have been settled.
Quietly, several teams have expressed a willingness to be involved in a game in China, though the logistics would be more challenging than participating in annual regular-season series in London. For one, heading to China after playing a Sunday game and then suiting up again the following Sunday could be problematic considering the hefty time difference and travel involved.
This year, the NFL will stage three games in London and return to Mexico for a regular-season game in November. The London matches will feature Washington against Cincinnati and Indianapolis facing Jacksonville at Wembley Stadium, the usual venue for NFL games, with the Bengals and Jaguars as hosts. The Giants face the Rams at Twickenham Stadium, a rugby ground being used for the first time, with the Rams as host.
On Nov. 21, Oakland will host Houston at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, the first NFL game there since 2005, when Arizona beat San Francisco 31-14 before 103,467 fans.
The NFL had planned to play a preseason game in China once before, in 2007 in Beijing, but it was canceled.
A trip to China would be the longest for the NFL, which has staged exhibition games in Japan and Australia.
Germany also has expressed interest in hosting an NFL regular-season game.
Patriots want ‘Deflategate’ draft picks back: New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft has asked the NFL to reinstate the draft picks the team lost in the deflated footballs investigation stemming from the 2014 AFC title game.
Kraft said Monday at the owners’ meetings that he sent a letter to commissioner Roger Goodell more than a month ago seeking a return of the two picks – a first-rounder this year and a fourth-rounder in 2017. He did not say if Goodell responded.
But Kraft didn’t sound optimistic that the picks would be returned, or that quarterback Tom Brady’s four-game suspension would be rescinded should an appeals court rule in favor of the league in the saga dubbed “Deflategate.” Brady had the suspension overturned in an earlier court case before the NFL appealed.
In his letter, Kraft cited new evidence uncovered since the NFL investigation ended.
“I personally believe that when the league made their decision, they did not factor in the ideal gas law,” Kraft said. “They admitted that publicly. They had a full year of being able to observe Tom Brady play with all the rules of whatever the NFL was, and make any judgments there. We have laid it out pretty straightforward. And now it’s up for them to decide.
“They did their own testing; they have results, and for whatever reason, they haven’t shared them with any of us. We actually requested at the beginning of the season that they test every game throughout the league, but they chose to do it their way.”
The NFL randomly tested the air in footballs before games last season but hasn’t released the information.
Jets want Fitzpatrick to return: New York Jets owner Woody Johnson has a message for his free agent quarterback.
“Come back to the Jets,” Johnson said Monday when asked about the team’s negotiations with Ryan Fitzpatrick.
Fitzpatrick comes off the best season of his 11-year career, one in which he led the Jets to a 10-6 record even though he was brought in last offseason to back up Geno Smith. Fitzpatrick got the starting job in training camp when Smith’s jaw was broken by a teammate’s punch, and he performed so well that he nearly got New York back into the playoffs.
His timing was exquisite: Fitzpatrick is in line for a huge payday.
The problem for the Jets is they haven’t found the number of dollar signs to satisfy the 33-year-old Fitzpatrick. And while there’s no longer a big market for him after all the QB movement this month, he is, after all, a veteran passer coming off a strong performance.
The prospect of allowing Fitzpatrick to leave is not a pleasant one to Jets fans who saw him throw for 3,905 yards and 31 touchdowns. With the enigmatic Smith and unproven second-year player Bryce Petty the other current quarterbacks on the roster, Fitzpatrick certainly seems like the best option.
But he also has never led a team to the playoffs, and the Jets haven’t made the postseason since 2010.