For the third time in the last four years, the New England Patriots will travel abroad this season. As was announced by the NFL on Wednesday, they will participate in the 2026 International Series.
In November, the team of head coach Mike Vrabel will take on the Detroit Lions at Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany. It will be the club’s second trip to Germany, and sixth international regular season game overall. In total, the Patriots are entering that contest with a 3-2 record, even though they are coming
off two straight international defeats.
With that said, let’s take a closer look at the Patriots’ international history.
Patriots international games
2009 vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (London): The Patriots’ first non-preseason game on international soil took place at London’s Wembley Stadium during the 2009 season, and it was a blowout. Led by an opportunistic defense that had three interceptions — including a Brandon Meriweather pick-six — New England ended up beating Tampa Bay with a final score of 35-7.
2012 vs. St. Louis Rams (London): Three years after the Buccaneers were blown out by the Patriots at Wembley Stadium, the Rams suffered the same fate. While they did take a 7-0 lead, New England ended up scoring 45 unanswered after that. Tom Brady threw four touchdown passes en route to a 45-7 victory, with Rob Gronkowski as his favorite target: the two future Hall of Famers connected eight times for 146 yards and two scores.
2017 vs. Oakland Raiders (Mexico City): The Patriots’ first trip to Mexico in two decades — more on that in a second — saw them leave the Raiders no chance. Tom Brady threw three touchdowns this time around, while Stephen Gostkowski went 4-for-4 on field goal tries including a career-long from 62 yards out. When all was said and done, New England had scored 33 points to the Raiders’ 8, improving to 3-0 in international regular season games.
2023 vs. Indianapolis Colts (Frankfurt): The Patriots’ first game in Germany, an international marketing territory for them, was a debacle from start to finish. Cornerback J.C. Jackson was scratched from the trip, questions about Bill Belichick’s future started to get louder, and the contest itself was a low point even by the Patriots’ 2023 standards. Their 10-6 defeat was topped off by quarterbacks Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe both throwing head-scratching interceptions on back-to-back fourth-quarter drives to seal the defeat.
2024 vs. Jacksonville Jaguars (London): Their return to the United Kingdom for the first time in 12 years ended in a second straight international defeat for the Patriots. Drake Maye’s second career start saw him complete 70.3% of his passes for 276 yards and a pair of touchdowns, but his efforts were not enough to steady an uneven offense or overcome some shaky punt coverage and third down defense. When all was said and done, New England was beaten 32-16 to drop to 3-2 outside the United States.
Patriots international exhibition games
While those five games are the most notable, the Patriots’ international history is actually longer than that.
In addition to those games, they also played three preseason contests plus an interleague game abroad over the course of the years. The first of those came in August 1969, when the then-Boston Patriots met the Lions at Jarry Park in Montreal in an AFL-NFL clash. The game ended 22-9 in the Lions’ favor.
The Patriots also came up empty in their next trips to Canada. Facing the Pittsburgh Steelers at Montreal’s Olympic Stadium in the 1990 preseason, New England lost 30-14; three years after that, they were beaten 12-9 by the Cleveland Browns in Toronto. In 1998, they celebrated a 21-3 victory over the Dallas Cowboys in an exhibition showdown in Mexico City, as mentioned above.
The team also was scheduled to take on the Seattle Seahawks in the so-called China Bowl in August 2007. That game, which would have taken place in Beijing, was initially postponed to 2009 before being canceled altogether.
