NFL fans in Germany are in for a treat this Sunday when the league sends the Seattle Seahawks and Tampa Bay Buccaneers to Munich for a Week 10 bout.
The match will be the first-ever international game featuring two teams that lead their divisions. The 6-3 Seahawks have the best record in the NFC West, while the 4-5 Bucs are ahead via a tiebreaking win over the Falcons.
Tom Brady is 3-0 in international games in his career, all played while a member of the New England Patriots. The Pats combined to win 113-22 in the three games, two in London (2009, 2012) and one in Mexico City (2017).
Brady has a 125.2 passer rating in international games, the highest in NFL history (minimum two games). As if he needs more records, TB12 needs 258 passing yards to pass Blake Bortles for the most in international games in NFL history (Brady has record for most pass TDs with 10).
On his weekly Monday spot on SiriusXM's Let's Go! podcast, Brady previewed the matchup with the division-leading Seahawks.
"We're playing a great team in Seattle," Brady said. "They're first place in their division. We're tied for first place in ours and it's a big challenge because, you know, to fly across the ocean like that, new time zone, it's a 9:30 [a.m.] eastern kickoff. It'll have its challenges. The weather's gonna be a little cool, but we're playing in this very, very cool arena (Allianz Arena) where Bayern Munich plays, kind of the country's top soccer team, and it looks amazing in pictures. And look, I mean the chance to go across to another country, play a sport that I love, I have heard there's 3 million ticket requests for 67,000 seats. So the place is gonna be rocking and if it's anything like what I see in those German Bundesliga games this is gonna be one of the epic games that we've ever played in. So I'm super excited."
It's an intriguing international matchup. The Seahawks represent the more popular team in Germany, but Brady surely has a host of supporters who will be on hand. Per NFL data (which combines NFL Shop sales, Game Pass viewership, NFL International Fan Trackers, among other data points), the Seahawks are the second-most popular NFL team in Germany, behind the Patriots. It's a good bet many of those Pats fans joined the bandwagon during Brady's 20-year run with the club.
The Bucs are coming off a thrilling come-from-behind victory against the Rams, but the first 59 minutes of that contest wasn't pretty. Now the test for Brady ratchets up against a Geno Smith-led Seahawks squad that has been playing stellar on offense with a surging defense.
Hau rein!
