Chiefs players describe the sights of Germany trip
FRANKFURT, Germany — The Kansas City Chiefs only had a short amount of time to take in the sights of Europe before they went to work against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday.
The Dolphins arrived in Germany on Monday, while the Chiefs landed and practiced on Friday.
It’s the franchise’s third international game but it was most Chief players’ first trip to Germany and Europe in general.
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All reviews were positive of the country and the fans at Deutsche Bank Park before and after the Chiefs’ 21-14 win over the Dolphins.
“The hospitality by the German people has been great the last few days here,” head coach Andy Reid said.
“Compliments to our staff for doing the forward work on this and working with the people here in Germany to put on a smooth event for the coaches and the players.”
Chiefs fans are known to travel well, and they certainly did for this matchup. It also helped that the Chiefs are marketed in Germany as part of the NFL’s International Home Marketing Areas initiative.
“Chiefs fans won that one,” Reid said. “We could feel them. It was loud. Whether they were from Germany, or whether they were from Kansas City or the UK. It was something. It was loud, aggressive and we can feel that as players and coaches.”
“It was an amazing experience to be out here in Germany,” quarterback Patrick Mahomes said. “You could see red all around the town. Chiefs Kingdom showed up and you could feel the love that they have not only for the game of football, but for the players and you could tell they watched and they knew what they were talking about.
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“I was excited to be here and even more excited leaving that hopefully I get to get back at some point.”
Chiefs safety Mike Edwards played in Munich last season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and said the atmosphere was similar.
“They [were] electric the whole game from first quarter until the end of the game,” he said. “Definitely appreciate the fans and they definitely showed out.”
“This Frankfurt crowd was great,” cornerback Trent McDuffie said. “It was kind of like a playoff atmosphere. I think the new thing was everybody whistling. I thought that was pretty cool, not used to all those whistles. But the energy was infectious and we had a great time out there.”
The NFL’s developmental league, NFL Europe, set the precedent for the league to play overseas from 1998 to 2005.
The league began playing regular season games in Europe in 2007 with London, and expanded to Mexico City in 2016 and Germany in 2022.
As the league keeps planning to grow internationally, Reid and Mahomes hope to see that happen as well as making some international trips themselves.
“Mexico, London and here have been phenomenal trips and I think it’s great for the National Football League,” Reid said.
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“You see what it’s done for basketball, you see what it’s done for baseball. And there’s no reason it can’t do that for football.”
“I’m up for anything,” Mahomes said. “I’m always excited to get across the world and play football and show American football and what it has done for not only me but for a lot of people to the rest of the world.
“I thought it was really cool just to be out here. The whole experience being that being out in the city and at the practice, facility, everything like that you could tell everybody was excited. And like I said, I want to come back. I don’t know when that will be. But when we get the opportunity I hope (Chiefs owner) Clark (Hunt) jumps at it and we can be back out here playing football games.”
