MIAMI DOLPHINS' last visit to London helped set the Greenock-born kicker Lawrence Tynes on the road to his first Super Bowl ring with New York Giants.
The Dolphins take on Oakland Raiders, who have lost all three of the games they have played this season, at Wembley tomorrow in what will be the ninth NFL regular-season game to be played in England.
In October 2007, the struggling Dolphins lost an ugly game against Giants 13-10 at a soggy Wembley, Tynes having the distinction of kicking the first meaningful points at the stadium. It sparked a turnaround in the Giants' season and they went on to beat New England Patriots in that season's Super Bowl in Phoenix. Tynes memorably kicked the overtime field goal at Green Bay Packers that stamped the ticket to the title game. Tynes is not involved in the NFL this term, a free agent after sitting out last season with a toe infection picked up at training camp with Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
He has always said he is convinced there will be an NFL franchise in London in the future while Roger Goodell, the NFL Commissioner, has said he expects a team to be in the city before the end of the decade. The signs have certainly been encouraging.
Tomorrow's game is sold out (as have the previous eight in London) and there are two more matches to be played at Wembley before Christmas - Atlanta Falcons v Detroit Lions on October 26 and Jacksonville Jaguars v Dallas Cowboys on November 9).
The significance of tomorrow's match will not be lost on the Dolphins or the Raiders. In every previous year, the team that has lost has ended up having a losing season, so the stakes are high.
The Dolphins at least have a win under their belts after an opening-day victory over the Patriots that made the rest of the NFL sit up and take note. But since then the question marks have returned.
There was an unnecessary distraction this week when their head coach Joe Philbin did not confirm Ryan Tannehill as his starting quarterback. Tannehill then indicated in a media conference that he would be starting. The coach has been backtracking since and accepted that with all the distractions that can happen with a team playing on the road in a foreign country, the Dolphins did not need another.
"Let me just say this: one of the functions of the head coach is to create an atmosphere free from distractions," Philbin said. "That falls on me. It's my responsibility. Certainly, I accept that responsibility as the head coach. Really that's all I have to say on that."
If Tannehill can step up, then it just might be the spark the Dolphins need to make a run at qualifying for the post-season.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article