Associated Press
MUNICH — The “Touchdown in Deutschland” promos featuring Tom Brady are posted in busy U-Bahn stations and plazas in Munich.
Germany is ready to host its first NFL game.
Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers hope they’re ready to regain their swagger when they face the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday at Allianz Arena.
The Bucs’ offense finally came to life on a late game-winning drive to beat the Los Angeles Rams 16-13, ending a three-game losing streak.
A mic’d-up Chris Godwin told fellow receiver Mike Evans: “This is the drive to get us back on track.
“Not just for the game, bro, for the season.”
The Seahawks (6-3) will have something to say about that. They beat Arizona 31-21 last week and arrived in Bavaria on a four-game winning streak and atop the NFC West.
“Every time we’ve played, it’s been memorable,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said Thursday about past marquee games against Brady, a seven-time Super Bowl champion. “This game ain’t over … until they shoot the final gun because we know that Tom’s out there, just like he did last week.”
The Bucs are just 4-5, but it’s good enough to be even with Atlanta atop the NFC South. They’ll need to take off their “sleep glasses” — players were given special eyewear to help adjust to the time-zone change — to be ready for resurgent QB Geno Smith and company.
The Seahawks had a light but energetic practice at the training ground of soccer club Bayern Munich. The Bucs arrived Friday.
Brady will become the first quarterback to start a regular-season game in three countries outside the U.S. He’s 3-0 abroad, having led the New England Patriots to victories in London (2009, ‘12) and Mexico City (2017). He threw for 300-plus yards each time, compiling 10 TD passes.
Germans who are not American football fans can still recognize Brady as a celebrity. Some even know him best as the former husband of Gisele Bündchen, who is particularly popular here because of her German heritage.
In fact, both Bündchen and Brady are featured in separate ads for the same luxury Swiss watchmaker in the city center near the national theater.
IMPRESSIVE STREAKS
Brady is second in the league with 2,547 yards passing this season. He has thrown for 10 TDs vs. one interception. He hasn’t been intercepted since the season opener, a streak of 373 consecutive attempts without a pick. That’s the longest such stretch of his career. Aaron Rodgers holds the NFL record with a streak of 402 consecutive attempts without an interception in 2018.
Evans is the only player in NFL history to begin a career with eight consecutive seasons with at least 1,000 yards receiving. He enters Sunday’s game needing 82 yards to join Larry Fitzgerald and Hall of Famers Jerry Rice, Calvin Johnson, Marvin Harrison and Randy Moss as the only players with at least 10,000 yards receiving and 75-plus TD receptions in the first nine years of a career.
LEARNING FROM THE PAST
Seattle thumped the Raiders 27-3 at Wembley Stadium in London in 2018. The flight is a little longer this time, but the Seahawks followed almost the exact same itinerary and schedule, flying to Munich after Wednesday’s practice.
“We really feel like it’s an honor to have the chance to play this first game,” Carroll said Thursday. “It’s like a bowl game in the middle of the season. We’re going to make the most of it and have a good time, and we’ll be ready to play football come Sunday.”
KEEP ON WALK(ER)ING
Rookie RB Kenneth Walker III is proving to be a burgeoning star. He posted his second 100-yard rushing game of the season against Arizona, rushing for 107 yards and two touchdowns.
Walker has more than held his own since Rashaad Penny was lost for the season to a lower leg injury, rushing for 424 yards in his four starts. Walker has seven rushing touchdowns since Week 5, the most in the league, and can become just the second rookie in the past 10 seasons and fourth since 2000 to rush for a touchdown in six consecutive games with a TD run on Sunday. The others: J.K. Dobbins, Ryan Grant and Maurice Jones-Drew.
RUSH HOUR
The Seahawks have 19 sacks in the past four games, including five last week against Arizona’s Kyler Murray. Seattle had just eight sacks through five games, but scheme changes have helped the pass rush.
Seattle’s 27 sacks for the season ranks fourth in the league, with Uchenna Nwosu leading the way having already set a career high with seven this season. Brady has been sacked just 14 times this season.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
