For the second year running, the National Football League hosted a regular season game at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City. The international games are always rocky for bettors. The uncertainty surrounding “home field advantage” makes it rather difficult to confidently throw a bet down on your favorite NFL team. Despite being officially tabbed as the road team last Sunday in Mexico City, the New England Patriots managed to come away with a rather easy 33-8 victory over the Oakland Raiders.
Despite his team’s dominant effort, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick admitted that he isn’t looking forward to playing another game in Mexico City any time soon. In his weekly radio appearance on WEEI in Boston, Belichick said, “Personally, I wouldn’t be in any big rush to do it again. It’s a long way to go for a game.”
Rather than flying back to Boston after last week’s Sunday night game against the Denver Broncos, the Patriots stayed in Colorado to practice during the week. The team then flew from Denver to Mexico City on Saturday ahead of Sunday’s game.
The Patriots have made two trips to London under Belichick’s watch in the past, but the head coach said that the shorter trip to Mexico City was actually more grueling than heading overseas.
“There’s a lot to it in terms of the logistics of it,” he said. “They are not used to having an NFL team so you have to go in there and handle a lot of the logistics. It took a lot of manpower, a lot of hours, a lot of energy out of our organization to do that. This week, we’re tired. We are exhausted from the trip. It was a good trip, but it took a lot out of us I think.”
The Patriots also had to worry about playing at altitude for the second week in a row. Having to play football a mile above sea level is tough enough, but Mexico City is about 2,000 feet higher than Denver. Playing at altitude can certainly add to the exhaustion the Patriots are feeling after the lengthy trip.
The NFL announced over the weekend that it plans to have regular season games in Mexico through the 2021 season. Based on his comments, it’s safe to say that Belichick and the Patriots won’t be jumping at the opportunity to make the trip again at any point in the near future.
“I don’t think I’d necessarily be in any big rush to go back and do that again. But if that’s where the game is scheduled, sure we’ll play it there.”
While the head coach wasn’t thrilled with the Mexico experience, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady seemed to enjoy his time south of the border.
Brady said,
“To be here and play in a different country and have everyone cheer for our team, cheer for me and cheer for my teammates is incredible. Hopefully there’s many more games here. It’s a great experience. I’ve never been to Mexico City, but I’m definitely coming back.”