The NFL plays games in London to grow the sport internationally, new fans, new TV markets, new revenue. It started with one game at Wembley Stadium in 2007 and worked so well the league kept adding more. In 2026 there are a record nine international games across seven countries, including three in London.
When a penalty is called, the team it helps gets a choice: accept it or decline it. They decline when the result of the play was actually better than what the penalty would give them. If your team just gained 30 yards on a play and the defense was called for holding, why take the 10-yard penalty and replay the down? Keep the 30 yards. Declining is just taking the better deal.
The red zone is the final 20 yards before the end zone. Offenses score touchdowns far more often from inside the 20, so every trip there feels like points are coming and kicking a field goal from the red zone feels like a letdown. It’s where games are won and lost.
The offense gets four chances, called downs, to move the ball 10 yards. If they make it, they get four fresh chances. If they don’t, the other team takes the ball. That’s the entire engine of football everything else is built on top of those four chances.
