Watson living American dream with one of NFL’s most storied franchises

Menelik Watson admits he can scarcely believe that his journey has taken him from Longsight in Manchester to one of the NFL’s most storied franchises.

The 25-year-old Oakland Raiders tackle grew up in impoverished conditions in one of Manchester’s tougher neighbourhoods before branching out to the States in a bid to forge a professional basketball career.

And although one American dream soon faded away, he quickly discovered he was a useful offensive lineman in gridiron, a game he took up properly just over three seasons ago.

Watson is far and away the most prominent Briton in the NFL, which meant there was an added interest in his Raiders’ clash with Miami on Sunday at Wembley, which ended in a convincing 38-14 Dolphins victory.

“It’s something I dreamt of when I was a kid,” Watson said of flying the British flag in America’s most popular sport.

“I always dreamt of being in America, I always thought it would be the NBA but it’s American football. So every once in a while when I get a day off, I think about it and I’m like, wow. I think I was kind of thinking about it (on Sunday) and I was like, yeah, you know, I am one of the only Englishmen, or one of the few Brits, in the NFL.

“It’s not every day I think about it, but sometimes I’ll have a moment and I’ll go, wow, pretty crazy.

“But I’m not where I need to be. I want to be better. I want to be the best in this league. So that’s why I can never really stop and think about it. I just think about ways that I’m going to get better and better.”

All three International Series games at Wembley are sold out this season, and Watson added: “It is important, they see how much the game has grown.

“A lot of them were thrown back by the stadium and the fans in there and stuff like that.

“So, I think it was just a great experience. Obviously, we care about the result, but I think guys will remember this trip for a long time.”

The Dallas Cowboys moved to 3-1 after an impressive 38-17 win over the New Orleans Saints in a game which saw Tony Romo throw three touchdown passes and DeMarco Murray run 149 yards.

Philip Rivers was equally effective throwing the football as he completed three touchdown passes for 377 yards as the San Diego Chargers crushed the Jacksonville Jaguars 33-14.

Rookie Teddy Bridgewater in his first NFL start, threw for 317 yards before leaving the game with an ankle injury as the Minnesota Vikings picked up a surprising 41-28 win over the Atlanta Hawks to move to 2-2. The San Francisco 49ers ended a two-game losing streak with a 26-21 win over the Philadelphia Eagles.