The first thing Jacob Johnson planned to do after returning home was stop at an authentic German bakery.
Johnson, a Giants fullback who lived in Germany until he was 18, bought 52 tickets for friends and family to attend Sunday's game against the Panthers at Allianz Arena, home of the Bayern Munich soccer team. Lined up.
The Giants practiced late Thursday afternoon, held a meeting in East Rutherford, and then departed for Munich on an overnight flight, arriving around 10 a.m. local time (4 a.m. ET) and practicing on Friday. followed.
“It was just a happy coincidence,” Johnson said of signing a free agent contract with the Giants in August of 2018, when the Giants played in their home country. “When I signed, I didn't even know there was a game against Germany scheduled, and during the preseason, Week 10 was a long way off.”
The Giants have cut the 29-year-old Johnson and re-signed him five times since then.
“Nothing is taken for granted in the NFL,” Johnson said of the cycle of attrition and re-signing. “The Giants are doing a good job of saying, 'Let's get you back as soon as possible.'”
Johnson, a veteran of 70 games and one touchdown in the NFL, will have to be promoted up to two gamedays from the Giants' practice squad to play in his home country for the first time since he was a member of the Stuttgart Scorpions. There is. — before receiving an offer to play at the University of Tennessee.
Winning is the priority, but some of Johnson's teammates are planning a tour of BMW headquarters during the break. This will be the third consecutive year that an NFL game will be held in Germany.
“Germany has been waiting for this for years,” Johnson said. “When Germans get excited about something, they get excited about life. More kids are taking up soccer, the German Football League and the European Football League are working together, and soccer is a sport that will continue to exist in Germany for a long time. I think so.”
Case in point: A German couple got Johnson's signature tattooed on their bodies after attending his youth camp.
“I was one of those kids who couldn't sit still and was always getting into trouble at school,” Johnson said. “After that, my mom came to pick me up because it was my first soccer practice and I was tired. It was the first time I felt like I really fit in.”
International NFL matches held at soccer fields in England and Germany have a history of having slippery surfaces.
Head coach Brian Daboll said, “Our equipment guy did a good job of talking to us about field conditions and things like that, so we're going to come out early and check out the field.'' “We have different shoes that we have to wear.”
Daboul is expecting a large crowd.
LT Chris Hubbard (illness), WR Darius Slayton (concussion) and WR Bryce Ford Wheaton (Achilles) did not practice.
Of the three, only Slayton has no plans to travel.
If Hubbard is unavailable, the Giants could turn to Josh Ezeudu (who started just one game earlier this season before being benched) or switch sides to RT Jermaine El-Emunor to replace El-Emunor. They will likely ask Evan Neal to join the team.
K Graham Gano (right hamstring) and P Jamie Gillan (left hamstring) were two of the Giants' limited nine in practice.
However, Gano and Guillain are expected to play, having missed the past seven and four games, respectively.
