Both teams are now in Munich. The Lions landed on Friday morning after an overnight flight from Detroit, and within a few hours Dan Campbell had opened his first press conference in Germany in German, promised to drink a German beer before he leaves and warned that his team would be “sick to our stomachs” going home without a win. Across town, three Bayern Munich players dropped in on the Patriots’ last full practice at the club’s training ground, and the Lions’ Fan Fest opened at Odeonsplatz with a set from the Detroit techno pioneer Kevin Saunderson.
Patriots vs. Lions kicks off on Sunday, November 15, at 3:30 p.m. in Munich, which is 9:30 a.m. ET and 4:30 p.m. in Cairo, at the Allianz Arena. Detroit is the home team. Thursday’s news, including the three Lions starters who stayed home, is in Munich game week, day four.
The Lions land
Detroit practiced in Allen Park on Thursday, flew overnight and touched down at Munich airport on Friday morning, about 48 hours before kickoff. The team’s video of the arrival shows the players coming off the plane, through the terminal and onto the buses with their bags. Campbell said the short ride into the city was enough to win him over. “Just landing, man, and even driving from the airport over and to be able to meet some people and just kind of feel the local environment and see. Man, it’s beautiful. It really is,” he said. “And there’s something special about it.”
The Lions arrive in Munich on Friday morning. Video by the Lions.
Campbell: “Sick to our stomachs” without a win
Campbell met reporters at FC Bayern’s youth campus, where the Lions are practicing this week, in front of a packed room of German, international and Detroit media. He started with a few words of German. He said he had tried to learn how to say his “spread your wings” line in German for a team meeting, and that Amon-Ra St. Brown had been teaching him the German curse words and how to use them correctly. He also said the team expects Sunday to feel like a home game because of St. Brown, whose news conference later that afternoon is in our St. Brown story.
Then he got to the point. “Look, it is special,” Campbell said about playing abroad. “I think what’s kind of cool is you have got to keep focused on what the game is and what we’re trying to do here. Because as great as this experience could be, if we don’t win this game, we’ll be sick to our stomachs going home. So, we have got to make sure we’re totally focused on this opponent and we’re ready to go.” He added: “To be able to come out with our guys and do this, I think it’s one of those, you want to always remember this and make it special that way.”
Campbell said Friday, the day after the flight, would be the hardest of the trip, and that the team would be fine by game day: “By the time we hit Sunday morning, we’re gonna be ready to go.” Asked about the chest injury that put Jared Goff on the report earlier in the week, he joked that it would not affect his quarterback’s blocking. Goff practiced fully on Thursday and Friday and has no game status. And asked whether there was anything he wanted to try in Germany, Campbell had his answer ready. “Well, you don’t come to Germany without getting a German beer. I know that. So, I will definitely have a beer before I leave, that’s for sure. I don’t know which one or what, but I’m getting one.”
Dan Campbell on what football means to him, from his Friday press conference in Munich. Video by the Lions.
A walk-through at the Bayern campus
The Lions held a walk-through at the FC Bayern Campus, the club’s youth academy in the north of the city, at about 3:30 p.m. local time. As at the Patriots’ site, the club took down the soccer goals on one pitch, put up goalposts and painted yard lines on the grass. Afterward, the captains took questions in the campus clubhouse. Goff told the German media he loves playing FIFA and, of course, plays as Bayern. Asked how he has grown since losing Super Bowl LIII to the Patriots, he said: “You grow, you learn, you overcome, you persevere, you get better, and I’m happy that I was able to push through a lot of those hard times after that.”
Penei Sewell said a fan who asked him for a photo on Friday got a question back about the local food. “He said, ‘Pork belly and a schnitzel.’ So yeah, those two are on my list,” Sewell said. Aidan Hutchinson talked about the Swiss flag on his helmet for his great-grandfather. St. Brown said he is planning a German-themed touchdown celebration, and that he has custom cleats in the colors of the German flag, though he may not wear them because he likes to break his shoes in first.
The Lions’ Friday walk-through at the FC Bayern Campus. Photos by the Lions.
Two playgrounds and a flag clinic
Lions president Rich Haddad used the day to announce the club’s community projects in Germany. Detroit will build two playgrounds in the country, an extension of its community work in Detroit, and is hosting a community food event with Mom’s Spaghetti, the Detroit restaurant that also has a food truck at the Fan Fest. “We saw this as an incredible opportunity to bring Detroit to the world, to bring our brand to this global stage,” Haddad said, adding that having St. Brown, who speaks fluent German and has family in the country, “just accentuates the efforts that we’re making.” Later, a group of Lions players stopped by a youth flag football clinic in Munich.
The Lions announce two playgrounds in Germany. Post by the Lions.
Lions players at a youth flag clinic in Munich. Video by the Lions.
Gnabry, Díaz and Saibari visit the Patriots
The Patriots had their last full practice at Säbener Straße, Bayern’s first-team training ground, at 12:30 p.m. local time under partly cloudy skies, with temperatures in the low 40s Fahrenheit. Before the session, Bayern’s Serge Gnabry, Luis Díaz and Ismael Saibari came out to meet Drake Maye, A.J. Brown, Christian Gonzalez and Kyle Williams. The two groups swapped jerseys, Gnabry and Díaz pulled on Patriots tops, and Saibari traded his No. 34 shirt for a No. 10 Maye jersey.
Bayern players meet the Patriots at Säbener Straße. Video by the Patriots.
All eyes were on the two banged-up starters. A.J. Brown arrived with the team and worked during the open part of practice. Rhamondre Stevenson was there but not in uniform at the start, though the Patriots still listed him as limited on their final report. Both are questionable, along with seven other Patriots; the full Friday reports for both teams are in our Friday injury updates. Mike Vrabel said before practice that he felt “pretty good” about both of them, and he praised Stevenson’s push to play through the knee injury. “I think we’re just always looking for guys that are looking for ways in as opposed to ways out,” Vrabel said. Of TreVeyon Henderson, who is out again with an illness, he said: “Just like everybody else that’s not available, he’s working hard to get back.”
The Patriots’ Friday practice at FC Bayern’s training ground. Photos by the Patriots.
Fan Fest opens, and the Patriots Haus too
The Lions’ Fan Fest opened at 11 a.m. at Odeonsplatz, below the Feldherrnhalle, with the club billing it as “Ford Field on the Road.” Lions legends, the cheerleaders and the mascots Roary and Leo made appearances in the afternoon, and Saunderson, one of the founders of Detroit techno, closed the first day with an hour-long set from 5 p.m., joined on stage by the Lions cheerleaders. Detroit fans have been the louder group in the city all week. One Patriots beat writer said he had seen a lot more Lions fans than Patriots fans in Munich in the first days of the trip.
Lions fans at the Fan Fest on Odeonsplatz. Photo by Brad Galli.
New England’s base, the Patriots Haus at the Paulaner tavern in the Tal, opened at the same time, with all six Super Bowl rings on show and a program with Sebastian Vollmer, Stephen Gostkowski, Brian Hoyer and Troy Brown in the evening. On Sunday it hosts a watch party for the game. Barry Sanders, who tapped the keg at the Hofbräuhaus on Thursday, will wear custom shoes on game day made by the Detroit shoe artist Christopher Atwater.
Saturday in Munich
| Event | Munich | ET | Cairo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lions Fan Fest, Odeonsplatz | 11:00 a.m.–5:30 p.m. | 5:00–11:30 a.m. | noon–6:30 p.m. |
| Patriots Haus, Tal 12 | 11:00 a.m.–1:00 a.m. | 5:00 a.m.–7:00 p.m. | noon–2:00 a.m. |
| Troy Brown meet-and-greet, GALERIA Marienplatz | 1:00 p.m. | 7:00 a.m. | 2:00 p.m. |
| Brian Hoyer meet-and-greet, Kaufingerstraße 9 | 2:00 p.m. | 8:00 a.m. | 3:00 p.m. |
| Boston in Bavaria, Augustiner Stammhaus (main program) | 4:00–6:30 p.m. | 10:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m. | 5:00–7:30 p.m. |
| Big Sean at the Fan Fest | 5:00–5:30 p.m. | 11:00–11:30 a.m. | 6:00–6:30 p.m. |
| Patriots Haus program with the legends | 10:00–11:00 p.m. | 4:00–5:00 p.m. | 11:00 p.m.–midnight |
| Patriots vs. Lions, Allianz Arena (Sunday) | 3:30 p.m. | 9:30 a.m. | 4:30 p.m. |
Saturday is the last day before the game. The Patriots and Meet Boston, the city’s tourism office, take over the Augustiner Stammhaus for “Boston in Bavaria,” a free party for up to 1,500 fans with a keg tapping and Bavarian contests, and Big Sean closes the Fan Fest. The full list of the week’s fan events is in our Munich “Novemberfest” fan map.
The Lions, 6–2 and winners of four straight, are playing their first international game since 2015. Their last win abroad came in 2014, 22–21 over the Falcons at Wembley. The Patriots are 5–4, hold the AFC’s No. 7 seed and have their bye after Munich.
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