Watch the Kansas City Chiefs take on the Miami Dolphins from Frankfurt live on Sky Sports NFL this Sunday, with build-up from 1.30pm ahead of kick-off at 2.30pm; the Baltimore Ravens then face the Seattle Seahawks from 6pm before the Philadelphia Eagles against the Dallas Cowboys
Sunday 5 November 2023 10:06, UK
Guten Tag from Germany. As the NFL arrives back in Europe, we guide you through the latest news lines and build-up to a bumper Sunday in Week Nine of the season...
Touchdown, Frankfurt! Where the German city's famed Mainhatten skyline tingles with footballing nostalgia as a lasting beacon of NFL Europe and its catalyst legacy for the league's international explosion. It has the feel of long-distance relatives reunited. A real home from home.
The city has been waiting. Waiting for the NFL's return. That time has come, 16 years on since the Hamburg Sea Devils beat the Frankfurt Galaxy 37-28 in front of 48,000 fans at the Waldstadion in the last ever NFL Europe World Bowl on June 23 2007.
The NFL sets up camp in mainland Europe for the second year running, having staged the first regular season game in Germany last November when Tom Brady guided the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to victory over the Seattle Seahawks in Munich. This year, it comes bearing the gift of a potential AFC Championship Game preview as Patrick Mahomes and the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs - greeted by a Chiefs-decorated boat docked on the Main River - arrive to face Mike McDaniel's prone-to-pyrotechnics Miami Dolphins. Frankfurt did not just get a game. They got a game-of-the-season contender.
Footballing roots run deep in this corner of the world. Frankfurt Galaxy represented Europe's most successful team during the existence of the World League of American Football/NFL Europe between 1991 and 2007, collecting four World Bowl titles out of eight visits to the Championship game as one of five German-based teams alongside the Sea Devils, Rhein Fire, Berlin Thunder and Cologne Centurions.
Former Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck famously followed the Galaxy while spending his childhood in Frankfurt during his father's time as president of the World League of American Football, donning the jersey of his favourite receiver Mario Bailey, the all-time reception leader in NFL Europe history. Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, meanwhile, served as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach of the Galaxy in 1998.
Added poignance comes with Frankfurt having served as the European headquarters of the American Forces Network radio station (AFN) from 1945, broadcasting to American soldiers after World War II and notably providing NFL commentary across the continent. Sky Sports NFL statistician Benedict Bermange recalls a fuzzy wave resulting in a Spanish Opera station interfering at crucial moments of a game.
In 1991 the London Monarchs took on the Galaxy in the inaugural game of the NFL-driven World League of American Football at the Waldstadion. For many across Europe, this weekend marks a special throwback to where their NFL fandom began.
A trip to Frankfurt kicks off a mammoth quadruple-header on Sky Sports, continuing with a meeting between divisional leaders in the Baltimore Ravens and Seattle Seahawks followed by NFC East foes in the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles. Damar Hamlin and the Buffalo Bills then make an emotional return to Cincinnati to play the Bengals for the first time since the defensive back suffered a cardiac arrest on the field during last season's contest.
Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel's opening remarks to international media in Frankfurt: "I know what you guys are thinking. I'm bigger in person, you're right."
Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill when asked about being in the MVP race: "No. we have a player on this team that's better than me and means more to this team than me. And his name is (fullback) Alec Ingold."
Interim Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce: "I was born a Raider. I was born with the Raiders rolling in the Coliseum in LA. I was rolling with NWA talking Straight Out of Compton, rocking Raider hats. So, when an opportunity came to work with Josh (McDaniels), (defensive coordinator) Pat Graham and Dave (Ziegler), I jumped on it. So, that's what set me up for this. I was born this way."
Montez Sweat on the possibility of a contract extension in Chicago, just days after his trade to the Bears: "I just want to consider everything around me before I make a decision."
Rasul Douglas on the moment he found out he had been traded to the Buffalo Bills: "At first, Gutey (Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst) called me, I thought it was like a joke. He's like 'we're trading you', it was over, I just hung up. And I'm sitting there, and then (Packers president) Mark Murphy called me. And he got a voice like, it was not a joke. 'We're trading you to the Bills, I appreciate you for everything'. I was like 'oh, ok'."
Raiders wide receiver Davante Adams on this week's firings in Las Vegas: "I think it was time one way or the other, it was time for some sort of change. Just to bring a little juice in and revitalize the team a little bit."
The Sky Sports NFL team are on the road as Neil Reynolds, Jason Bell and Dante Hall head to Frankfurt to bring you live coverage of the Chiefs (6-2) against the Dolphins (6-2), with build-up under way from 1.30pm ahead of kick-off at 2.30pm.
We then take you back to the studio in London, where Hannah Wilkes and Phoebe Schecter are on hand to guide you through the Seattle Seahawks (5-2) against the Baltimore Ravens (6-2), followed by an all-NFC East clash between the Dallas Cowboys (5-2) and Philadelphia Eagles (7-2). Contenders then collide as the Buffalo Bills (5-3) visit the Cincinnati Bengals (4-3) in Sunday Night Football from 1.20am in the early hours of Monday.
In this week's edition of Inside the Huddle, Neil Reynolds and Jeff Reinebold give their reaction to the NFL trade deadline and the firing of McDaniels, while looking ahead to a blockbuster match-up in Germany.
Tyreek Hill is on course for a historic season in Miami - at what point is he recognised among the best wide receivers of all time in the NFL?
Sky Sports NFL editor Cam Hogwood discusses Miami's star man...
"You get that ball to CMC and he is like those old school lawnmowers where you had to pull the tether to get it going. He's got so many different skills and you can utilise them in so many different ways, and he's only gotten better."
"The New Orleans Saints wide receiver has emerged from undrafted obscurity to become the NFL definition of chopping the top off a defense, his track talents making for some of the league's most exhilarating offensive optics."
Love speed? Love the NFL? Sky Sports NFL editor Cam Hogwood looks at Saints flyer Rashid Shaheed...
Olivia Harlan Dekker joins Hannah Wilkes and Phoebe Schecter to discuss her career path and following in family footsteps by working on the NFL.
Watch the Kansas City Chiefs take on the Miami Dolphins from Frankfurt live on Sky Sports NFL this Sunday, with build-up from 1.30pm ahead of kick-off at 2.30pm; the Baltimore Ravens then face the Seattle Seahawks from 6pm.