Justin Jefferson didn’t have a rashers. Gaelic football? He looked over to Harrison Smith. Poor Harrison didn’t have a rashers either. It was a rasher sandwich of confusion. Guinness, though, oh yes, safe ground for everybody.
It is fair to say Guinness was mentioned a lot during the press conferences hosted by the Pittsburgh Steelers at Carton House on Friday afternoon and by the Minnesota Vikings at the Sport Ireland Campus in Abbotstown later in the day.
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’t no NFL game gonna change a shallow sentimental view of the old country.
Aaron Rodgers likes the stuff, but not in a ‘drink 10 pints of a Saturday night and do a job on a Sunday afternoon’ kinda kind of way.
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“I don’t really drink beer but if I do, I drink Guinness, and that’s not a bulls**t line that I’m telling you guys because I am in Ireland,” said Rodgers with a smile in Carton House.
“I’m telling you the truth. I hear it tastes different off the tap in Ireland than in the States. I’ve been to Northern [Ireland] and it was great so I am excited to see what it tastes like here.”
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.
Joking aside, both camps were charmingly open with their media engagements after the squads flew overnight and arrived in Dublin on Friday morning.
Sunday’s game is a designated home match for the Steelers but the first time they will see Croke Park is on matchday.
“We will not, no,” confirmed Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin when asked if they would be familiarising themselves with the stadium in advance.
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.
“No, not at all,” he fired back. “As 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.”
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 – and for no other reason – because they played in Croke Park all the time and knew more about its workings than their cheated culchie opponents.
And the guy who masterminded that stroke is now running for president. Of the country.
Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell later confirmed he hoped to bring his players to the stadium on Saturday.
“Yeah, we do a pre-game,” he stated. As he spoke, it was hard not to notice the big Fianna Fáil head on him. A Jim Gavin man, no doubt.
At the end of his opening remarks, O’Connell gave an injury update and revealed four players who would definitely not be available for Sunday’s game.
The visiting media didn’t 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, “Sure why don’t you just give them the actual f***ing starting team”.
Guinness came up again during the Vikings’ 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.
But of all the players over the course of the day, Jefferson was the man.
His first impressions of Ireland?
“Definitely, I would say just getting the clean fresh air,” he smiled. And we immediately prayed for the poor folk back in smog-filled Minnesota.
“I didn’t really have any expectations of Ireland because I never thought that I would actually be here,” he added. A Fáilte Ireland advert slogan if ever there was one.
Jefferson celebrates touchdowns with his trademark dance called the Griddy.
“I’ve got a little addition to the Griddy, a little Ireland edition,” he said. “Hopefully, I’ll get to bust it out Sunday.
“I definitely want to put on a show and especially since this is the first time we’re playing in front of people from Ireland.
“I’m always excited to be in front of a new fanbase really, for people to experience what it’s like to watch Justin Jefferson out there on that field.”
If he’s half as entertaining as David Clifford out there, he should get an All Star.
It was then cleverly suggested to Jefferson that he could rebrand his celebration for the weekend as the O’Griddy. He smiled: “I might take that, actually.”
Back at the Pittsburgh press conference, Rodgers held court.
“I 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,” he said.
“It’s 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.”
A huge golf fan, he was then asked about Rory McIlory.
“He is a transcendent player, for sure. Anybody that golfs dreams about having a driver swing and accuracy like Rory. I’ve got to be around him a bit through the event at Pebble Beach over the years.
“I’ve never played in his group but I’ve 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.”
For Irish NFL fans, this weekend is a massive party – the American football circus parking its tent in Dublin. But for the players and coaches, ultimately it’s just another game.
“Certainly it’s an opportunity for me to educate the Steelers about the late great ambassador Rooney and his passion for this place,” added Tomlin.
“We have done some of that but largely the work we do here is business as usual.”
Typical, lads talking about pints instead of drinking one.
