NFL London telecast to feature pair of Chula Vista natives on field

Tony Jefferson, Eastlake High School alumnus, NFL Baltimore Ravens. File photo by Jon Bigornia

The National Football League has striven to expose its product on the international stage in recent years. A pair of Chula Vista natives are set to enjoy some international limelight as they kick off Sunday’s NFL regular season contest in London’s famed Wembley Stadium.

Eastlake High School alumnus Tony Jefferson will don the pads for the undefeated Baltimore Ravens (2-0) while Mater Dei Catholic alumnus Jason Myers will provide place-kicking duties for the Jacksonville Jaguars (1-1) in the non-divisional matchup.

The game kicks off at 6:30 a.m. PDT and will be streamed live on the Verizon Communications network.

This will not be Myers’ first trip to London as a member of the Jaguars. He kicked three field goals and tacked on three extra-point conversions as Jacksonville defeated the Indianapolis Colts, 30-27, in a memorable game that saw the Jags pick up their first win of the 2016 season in front of 83,764 fans in Wembley Stadium.

In an equally thrilling international contest, he had four extra-point conversions in a 34-31 comeback win by the Jaguars over the Buffalo Bills in front of 84,021 fans in 2015 at Wembley.

The NFL will play four games in London this season — two in Wembley Stadium and two in Twickenham Stadium.

The New Orleans Saints and Miami Dolphins will meet in a non-conference game Oct. 1 in Wembley Stadium. The two games at Twickenham Stadium will pit the Arizona Cardinals and Los Angeles Rams in an NFC West divisional showdown Oct. 22 and the Minnesota Vikings and Cleveland Browns in a non-conference game Oct. 29.

Also as part of the NFL’s international series, the Oakland Raiders will play the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots Nov. 19 in Mexico City’s fabled Estadio Azteca.

Verizon plans to stream Sunday’s Jaguars-Ravens game on its AOL platform, its mobile video service go90 and Complex.com, and possibly on Yahoo if its acquisition of that company closes in time, according to media sources.

FOX-TV will telecast the Oct. 1 and Oct. 22 games while the NFL Network will broadcast the Oct. 29 telecast from London.

CBS-TV will handle the broadcast from Mexico City.

Games are planned in London through at least 2020.

The Ravens remained undefeated on the season with a 24-10 win over the visiting Cleveland Browns on Sept. 17.

Jefferson contributed five tackles, including four solo stops, in the win. In two games, he has accumulated 14 tackles to rank second on the Ravens behind teammate C.J. Moseley (18 stops).

Jefferson, a 2010 Eastlake graduate, remains a football icon at the east side school.

“Tony is no stranger to Eastlake High School,” current Titan head coach Dean Tropp explained. “He always stops in to say hi when he is in town. He is an inspiration to our program. He is so generous and giving. He enjoys talking to our players when he stops by. Not only is Tony a great player but he is also a great person and the players see that.”

For the second consecutive game, Baltimore capitalized on the play of its defense. The Ravens had five takeaways in Sunday’s game, including four interceptions and one fumble recovery.

Former Charger Eric Weddle had one pick and made four unassisted tackles in the win.

Lardarius Webb, Brandon Carr and Tyrus Bowser also made interceptions while Matt Judon had a fumble recovery.

QuarterbackJoe Flacco led the Baltimore offense with 217 passing yards and two touchdowns. Javorious Allen and Jeremy Maclin each caught short scoring passes while Terrance West scored on a four-yard touchdown run.

The Ravens have recorded eight interceptions and three fumble recoveries in their 2-0 start.

Myers collected four kicking points in Sunday’s 37-16 AFC South loss to the visiting Tennessee Titans.

Myers kicked a 43-yard field goal to put the Jaguars ahead 3-0 in the game but the Titans responded by ripping off six unanswered scores — three field goals and three touchdowns to take an imposing 30-3 lead.

Myers supplied the successful kick conversion on Jacksonville’s final touchdown— a seven-yard pass from quarterback Blake Bortles to Allen Hurns.

In two games to start the season, Myers has made four of five field goal attempts and converted three of four point-after-touchdown attempts for 16 kicking points.

Former University of Oregon star Marcus Mariota passed for 215 yards with one touchdown and one interception in the win. The Titans scored three rushing touchdowns — one each by Derrick Henry, Jaiston Fowler and Delanie Walker.

Henry led Tennessee (1-1) with 14 carries for 92 yards. Titan kicker Ryan Succop was perfect on three field goals and all four PAT conversions.

Hot ticket
Kansas City quarterback Alex Smith (Bonita Vista Middle School/Helix High School) rallied his team for the second consecutive week to a victory. He led the Chiefs to a pair of key fourth quarter touchdowns in a 27-20 non-conference win over the visiting Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday.

Smith finished the game with 251 passing yards; he also rushed four times for 21 yards, recording a pair of key first downs to keep drives alive.

In two games, Smith has thrown for five touchdowns without an interception, 619 yards to go with a 134.1 quarterback rating.

Smith took a pounding after being sacked four times by the Philadelphia defense but came through with an inspired performance in the second half by leading the Chiefs to a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns.

His 15-yard shovel pass to tight end Travis Kelce with 6:25 left in the game put the Chiefs in front 20-13.

Smith is averaging 309.5 yards per game and has completed 77.8 percent of his passes (49-of-63). The quarterback rating is the highest in his career and ranks second (to Minnesota’s Sam Bradford) in the NFL through two weeks.

Smith ranks fifth overall in the league in total passing yards. New England QB Tom Brady has thrown for 714 yards in two starts to lead NFL passers, followed by Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers with 654 yards.

“All week I was preparing for it,” said Smith, who is in the final year of his contract with the Chiefs. “You play enough snaps, they’re going to get home occasionally (to record a sack). It’s important not to let them rattle you, not to speed up your time clock, stay disciplined back there, trust in your fundamentals.

“They want you to speed up. They want you to make a mistake.”

Smith turned in one of the best games in his 13-year career after leading Kansas City to a dramatic 42-27 come-from-behind win over the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots in the teams’ season opener on Sept. 7.

All four of Kansas City’s losses last year came after big wins, so a let-down was perhaps not unexpected on the part of the Chiefs in their home opener against the Eagles.

Sunday’s game lacked offensive production until the game’s final stages, with the Chiefs holding onto a narrow 6-3 lead at halftime on a pair of field goals by Cairo Santos. Both teams scored a touchdown in the third quarter. The Eagles went up 10-6 before the hosts came back to take a 13-10 lead.

The Eagles tacked on a field goal to start the fourth quarter to tie the game 13-13. Smith then took over to lead his team on a pair of touchdown drives.

Kelce finished the game with eight catches for 103 yards while rookie running back Kareem Hunt followed up his record-breaking performance in the Chiefs’ season opening win by rushing for 81 yards and two touchdowns.

He scored on a 53-yard breakaway run to put the hosts back in front, 13-10, with 1:26 left in the third quarter.

His two-yard run with 2:14 to play proved to the game-winning touchdown. He has scored five touchdowns in his first two games, tied for second most in NFL history.

Despite owning a 14-point lead with little time remaining on clock, the outcome of the game came down to the final play.

Philadelphia scored when quarterback Carson Wentz hit receiver Nelson Agholor on a touchdown pass to trim the deficit to seven points with eight seconds left. The Eagles then recovered the ensuing onside kick for one final play.

Wentz threw a long pass into the end zone that was tipped into the air by a group of players. However, the ball continued its flight out of the back of the end zone to fall incomplete to end the game in the Chiefs’ favor.

Wentz finished the game 25-of-46 for 333 yards with two touchdowns and one interception.

The Kansas City defense was equally ferocious during the game, played in front of 74,971 fans at Arrowhead Stadium, with six sacks and a pair of turnovers. Justin Houston, who recently signed a $101 million contract, recorded two sacks, three tackles for a loss and a pair of quarterback hurries to lead the hosts.

Chiefs head coach Andy Reid passed around compliments after the victory.

“I think Alex did a nice job,” Reid said. “He was resilient as he went. He took some big hits there. He rebounded and kept the guys playing. He kept the guys around him fighting. That’s an important trait in this league to not only get yourself but everyone else around you to rise up and continue to fight when things weren’t going good.

“You’re going to have games when everything doesn’t go the way you have it drawn up. That’s how things work. There’s a lot of competition; there’s a lot of parity in this league. For our guys to come out and battle like they did … I’m proud of them.”

Smith was equally proud of his teammates’ performances.

“I think we have a lot of guys who have played in big games and played a lot of football, guys who have played in big situations, guys who have confidence,” Smith said. “It’s almost a culture. I think it’s all the whole team, especially the defense. This wasn’t anything crazy … It’s next man up and kind of roll. That’s the type of culture we like to preach around here.

“Knowing it’s a long day, we’ll adjustments and get it going. We love the passion around here and we talk a lot of having personality and letting the personality show and playing with passion and enjoying what you do, your teammates and enjoying that kind of atmosphere.”

The Chiefs next travel to Southern California for an AFC West divisional game against the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday, Sept. 24. Kick off is 1:25 p.m.

The Chargers are 0-2 following last Sunday’s 19-17 loss to the visiting Miami Dolphins in front of an announced crowd of 25,381at the Home Depot Center in Carson.

For the second consecutive game, Younghoe Koo missed a critical field goal. His last-second field goal attempt was blocked in a 24-21 loss to the host Denver Broncos in the teams’ season opener on Sept. 11.

Koo missed a 44-yard attempt with five seconds to play Sunday to clinch the loss to the Dolphins (1-0).

A sizable portion of the fans in attendance appeared to be Miami fans.

Around the NFL
Former Castle Park High School and Southwestern College alumnus John Fox fell to 9-25 in his third season as head coach of the Chicago Bears after Sunday’s 29-7 loss to the host Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The Bears are 0-2 to kick off the 2017 NFL season.

Quarterback Mike Glennon threw fof 301 yards and one touchdown in the loss.

Nick Folk kicked field goals of 42, 50 and 23 yards while quarterback Jameis Winston connected with Mike Evans on a 13-yard scoring pass, Jacquizz Rodgers scored on a one-yard run and Robert McClain returned an intercepted pass 47 yards for a touchdown to fuel scoring the host Bucs (1-0).

Chicago next hosts the undefeated Pittsburgh Steelers (2-0) in a non-conference game on Sept. 24 before traveling to Green Bay for a key NFC North division game on Thursday, Sept. 28.

Pittsburgh defeated visiting Minnesota, 26-9, on Sunday while Green Bay evened its record at 1-1 following a 34-23 loss to the host Atlanta Falcons on the Sunday Night Foodball national telecast.