Sauce Gardner just ended a 651-day wait for an NFL win in the United States. Now the Indianapolis Colts cornerback is back on international soil.
The Colts clinched their first victory of the campaign in Week Three as they beat the Houston Texans 19-17, before which Gardner’s last win in the U.S. came on December 15, 2024 during his time with the New York Jets.
Gardner was traded to the Colts in November 2025, his only win after that coming against the Atlanta Falcons in Berlin before Indianapolis lost their final seven games of the season.
He returns to Europe once again this week as the Colts face the Washington Commanders at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, live on Sky Sports NFL.
“The crazy thing I was saying to [team-mate] Josh Downs is imagine we had lost that game in the States, and then ended up playing international, win international but lose in the States. That was giving me a lot of pain,” Gardner told Sky Sports.
“I always love international games, London especially, because it’s great, so it’s always a special place in my heart, it’s just amazing.
“It’s an amazing fan base, you play here and just hear the crowd being so electric.”
Colts offensive tackle Bernhard Raimann was in attendance as a teenage fan for his first live NFL game at Wembley Stadium back in 2013. The Austrian now returns to London as a player in awe of his own career journey.
“Back then, I just started playing football,” Raimann told reporters on Friday. “We took this trip with the club team that I was playing for and back then I was just a kid, just getting into football.
“And you know, I thought those guys on the field were like freaking superheroes. I mean that was an unbelievable experience. I thought me being live at an NFL game was the closest I’ll ever get to being to those guys. So yeah, so now being back here and getting to play and knowing what it means to the people here, it’s just, it’s extremely special for me
“I really hope that some kids can see me and listen to my story or see what’s possible and hopefully they can embrace their dreams and keep working every day and shoot, see what happens.”
Sunday’s game represents the first of three successive London matchups in October, while featuring as part of a record nine international games this season following the NFL’s debut in both Melbourne and Rio de Janeiro.
It arrives as the latest indication of the NFL’s commitment to global growth, the Commissioner Roger Goodell having repeatedly alluded to the ambition of 16 international games per season.
“I love traveling , so if I could play overseas games every single week, I would,” said Colts safety Cam Bynum.
“But I think the only downfall is not having your typical routine as far as your bodywork people, whether you do acupuncture, massage therapist, that’s probably the hardest thing, being able to get out of your routine. Because normally my Thursday, I’m having acupuncture and my person will fly to Indy to go to work on me.
“Then Friday I have a specific different massage therapists that will work on me that day. So I think the hardest thing is your routine with your bodywork, but everything else we’ll figure out with the sleep, lack of sleep. Our night of sleep was the plane ride, and that was only six hours, so it wasn’t that much sleep. But at the end of the day we both had to do it, both teams had to go through a flight and so it’s an even playing field at the end of the day.”
Still, for all its challenges, football overseas appears to be embraced by many granted the chance to ply their trade beyond the borders of the US.
Colts running back Jonathan Taylor arrives as one of the chief attractions and legitimate stars of the league, having led the league with 18 rushing touchdowns from his 1,585 yards on the ground.
“This game will take you places that you’ve never been before, and I remember my senior year. We used to do, they don’t do it anymore, but like a Turkey Bowl,” said Taylor.
“So we’d play on Thanksgiving Day every year and in my senior year, it was a thousand people there, and that was the largest…that’s the largest crowd I’d ever been in and played in front of.
“So to go from that to the University of Wisconsin, to now in Indianapolis, and then like you mentioned, international, it’s just the most amazing feeling in the world. I don’t take it for granted at all.”
The Commanders come into Sunday fresh from their upset win over the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks, with Marcus Mariota primed to start at quarterback again in place of the injured Jayden Daniels.
Terry McLaurin and Stefon Diggs had looked set to be at his disposal, though the former was ruled questionable on Friday due to a hamstring issue.
“Terry McLaurin, he’s a fast kid,” said Gardner. “He’s got a lot of speed, explosiveness and things like that.
“Stefon is also a playmaker. Diggs don’t have McLaurin’s speed, but he’s very smart. He’s got great hands, he’s able to create separation.”
Shane Steichen’s side swerved the prospect of starting the season 0-3 with last weekend’s win after dropping their opening two games against the Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs.
“A win can change the whole energy, everything,” said Gardner. “It might not sound like it, but it’s a huge difference between 1-2 and 0-3.
“We didn’t win the Chiefs game, but it was very close. It’s not something that we’re going to be like, it’s going to be very close, but it’s something that was like, if we’re this close, we’ve got to win the next one.
“We should have won that game. We don’t have no choice, but we’ve got to win this one.”
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: skynews.com
