{"id":88006,"date":"2025-09-27T03:04:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-27T03:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/88006\/"},"modified":"2025-09-27T03:04:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-27T03:04:10","slug":"it-wasnt-quite-house-of-guinness-but-all-the-old-cliches-were-dusted-off-ahead-of-nfl-clash-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/88006\/","title":{"rendered":"It wasn\u2019t quite House of Guinness, but all the old cliches were dusted off ahead of NFL clash \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Justin Jefferson didn\u2019t have a rashers. Gaelic football<\/a>? He looked over to Harrison Smith. Poor Harrison didn\u2019t have a rashers either. It was a rasher sandwich of confusion. Guinness, though, oh yes, safe ground for everybody. <\/p>\n

It is fair to say Guinness<\/a> was mentioned a lot during the press conferences hosted by the Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a> at Carton House on Friday afternoon and by the Minnesota Vikings at the Sport Ireland Campus in Abbotstown later in the day.<\/p>\n

At this stage, as a people, we might as well just give up, grab the stereotype and cliche the hell out of that baby all the way to the red zone. Ain\u2019t no NFL<\/a> game gonna change a shallow sentimental view of the old country. <\/p>\n

Aaron Rodgers likes the stuff, but not in a \u2018drink 10 pints of a Saturday night and do a job on a Sunday afternoon\u2019 kinda kind of way.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t really drink beer but if I do, I drink Guinness, and that\u2019s not a bulls**t line that I\u2019m telling you guys because I am in Ireland,\u201d said Rodgers with a smile in Carton House.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m telling you the truth. I hear it tastes different off the tap in Ireland than in the States. I\u2019ve been to Northern [Ireland] and it was great so I am excited to see what it tastes like here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well now Aaron, let us tell you that is a fair wriggly can of worms you are opening, to be dividing the island in terms of where Guinness tastes better. The English never even tried that one.<\/p>\n

Minnesota Vikings listen to some music while training at the Sport Ireland Campus in Abbotstown <\/p>\n

Joking aside, both camps were charmingly open with their media engagements after the squads flew overnight and arrived in Dublin on Friday morning.<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s game is a designated home match for the Steelers but the first time they will see Croke Park is on matchday. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe will not, no,\u201d confirmed Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin when asked if they would be familiarising themselves with the stadium in advance.<\/p>\n

\"PittsburghPittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin at Carton House, Co Kildare. Photograph: Laszlo Geczo\/Inpho <\/p>\n

We followed up. Any concern about that? To which Tomlin looked down at us with an unmistakable stare that suggested he felt he knew more about preparing a team for an American football game than we did. <\/p>\n

\u201cNo, not at all,\u201d he fired back. \u201cAs long as the field is 100 yards and all of that stuff and the conditions are the same for both teams, we care very little about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, Mike has obviously never heard of Dub-gate. That was the great GAA scandal of our time which rocked the association to its very core. It involved Dublin winning six All-Ireland titles in-a-row simply \u2013 and for no other reason \u2013 because they played in Croke Park all the time and knew more about its workings than their cheated culchie opponents.<\/p>\n

And the guy who masterminded that stroke is now running for president. Of the country.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0House of Guinness on Netflix review: Wildly unfaithful retelling is like Succession with shillelaghsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Vikings head coach Kevin O\u2019Connell later confirmed he hoped to bring his players to the stadium on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, we do a pre-game,\u201d he stated. As he spoke, it was hard not to notice the big Fianna F\u00e1il head on him. A Jim Gavin man, no doubt.<\/p>\n

At the end of his opening remarks, O\u2019Connell gave an injury update and revealed four players who would definitely not be available for Sunday\u2019s game. <\/p>\n

The visiting media didn\u2019t move a muscle at such an incredible breach of GDPR. It was a level of transparency that would have GAA managers with hands in their heads muttering something along the lines of, \u201cSure why don\u2019t you just give them the actual f***ing starting team\u201d.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Croke Park gets NFL makeover ahead of Pittsburgh Steelers and Minnesota Vikings clashOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Guinness came up again during the Vikings\u2019 press conference. Smith had tried it before and looked forward to trying it again while quarterback Carson Wentz indicated he was more a Guinness man than an Irish stew man. We all laughed.<\/p>\n

But of all the players over the course of the day, Jefferson was the man. <\/p>\n

His first impressions of Ireland?<\/p>\n

\"MinnesotaMinnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell saw more value in a pre-match visit to Croke Park than his Vikings counterpart. Photograph: James Crombie\/Inpho <\/p>\n

\u201cDefinitely, I would say just getting the clean fresh air,\u201d he smiled. And we immediately prayed for the poor folk back in smog-filled Minnesota. <\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t really have any expectations of Ireland because I never thought that I would actually be here,\u201d he added. A F\u00e1ilte Ireland advert slogan if ever there was one.<\/p>\n

Jefferson celebrates touchdowns with his trademark dance called the Griddy. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got a little addition to the Griddy, a little Ireland edition,\u201d he said. \u201cHopefully, I\u2019ll get to bust it out Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely want to put on a show and especially since this is the first time we\u2019re playing in front of people from Ireland. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m always excited to be in front of a new fanbase really, for people to experience what it\u2019s like to watch Justin Jefferson out there on that field.\u201d<\/p>\n

If he\u2019s half as entertaining as David Clifford out there, he should get an All Star.<\/p>\n

It was then cleverly suggested to Jefferson that he could rebrand his celebration for the weekend as the O\u2019Griddy. He smiled: \u201cI might take that, actually.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back at the Pittsburgh press conference, Rodgers held court.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a family history going back to Ireland and Scotland so I always wanted to get over here. If the schedule could have been a bit different, if I could have chosen it, I would have got over on Monday, Tuesday is a day off, get to get out and see some things,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"AaronAaron Rodgers of the Pittsburgh Steelers at Carton House, Co Kildare, ahead of Sunday’s NFL match against Minnesota Vikings at Croke Park. Photograph: Laszlo Geczo\/Inpho <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a beautiful country, it seems like, from the pictures. I know a bit of the history geopolitically of the area. I am a huge fan of the area.\u201d<\/p>\n

A huge golf fan, he was then asked about Rory McIlory<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is a transcendent player, for sure. Anybody that golfs dreams about having a driver swing and accuracy like Rory. I\u2019ve got to be around him a bit through the event at Pebble Beach over the years. <\/p>\n

Aaron Rodgers of the Pittsburgh Steelers talks about Rory McIlroy during a press conference at Carton House, Co Kildare <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never played in his group but I\u2019ve played behind him in a practice group before, so I have got to be on some of the same tees sometimes. Some of the lines he takes and the way the ball sounds coming off the face is pretty amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Irish NFL fans, this weekend is a massive party \u2013 the American football circus parking its tent in Dublin. But for the players and coaches, ultimately it\u2019s just another game.<\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly it\u2019s an opportunity for me to educate the Steelers about the late great ambassador Rooney and his passion for this place,\u201d added Tomlin.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have done some of that but largely the work we do here is business as usual.\u201d<\/p>\n

Typical, lads talking about pints instead of drinking one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Justin Jefferson didn\u2019t have a rashers. Gaelic football? He looked over to Harrison Smith. Poor Harrison didn\u2019t have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88007,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[18,19,17,2530,48304,132],"class_list":{"0":"post-88006","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-nfl","12":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","13":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88006\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}