Giants - Packers Game First Time NFL Has Sent Two Winning Teams to London at Same Time
It's been 15 years since the New York Giants took on the Miami Dolphins in the first-ever regular season NFL game played outside America. The Giants were 6-2 at the time and headed to the biggest upset in Super Bowl history, but the Dolphins were 0-8 in the midst of a one-win season. It was a boring game that the Giants won 13-10.
If that seems like the norm for London games, that's not inaccurate. There have been 31 games shipped across the pond to London so far and none of them have ever featured two teams with winning records. This Sunday's Packers - Giants game will be the first time two winning teams have met in London.
Packers vs. Giants is the 32nd NFL game in London, but it's the first between two teams winning records (both at 3-1).
— Rob Demovsky (@RobDemovsky) October 3, 2022
The only other international game between teams winning records was Raiders (7-2) vs. Texans (6-3) in Mexico City in 2016.
The first time out of 32 games 🤯 pic.twitter.com/jdMANxTfL4
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) October 5, 2022
This is bleak. And even this matchup is misleading. The Giants are 3-1, but they're averaging 19 points a game and the Packers are scoring 18.8 points a game. That's a combined average of 37.8 points a game, just bit more than the Detroit Lions are scoring each week (35 ppg).
Giants quarterback Daniel Jones, who is throwing for 157.8 yards per game and has just three touchdown passes and two interceptions in four starts, is injured and trying to get healthy enough to play. Aaron Rodgers is healthy, but isn't exactly setting the field on fire with his young receivers.
So London technically gets their first game between winning teams. And maybe it will be a decent game, but it will be interesting to look back in a few months and see if the matchup was really that noteworthy.