When the buses rolled in to Allianz Park, home ground of the Saracens rugby club in the north-west London suburb of Mill Hill, for a lot of the Miami Dolphins staff and players, it felt familiar. That was the point.
Last year, the Dolphins flew out just two days before the ninth game in the International Series, where they were "hosted" by the Raiders at Wembley. The Dolphins stayed at a hotel near Wembley Stadium itself, trained at Allianz Park, and came away from the game with a 38-14 beatdown of Oakland to head into their Week 5 bye with a 2-2 record.