Pete Carroll would relish a return to Wembley after his Seattle Seahawks received a rapturous reception in a 27-3 victory over the Oakland Raiders.
A crowd of 84,922, the largest for an NFL fixture at England’s national stadium, saw Russell Wilson’s three touchdown passes inspire Seattle to a comfortable win.
Oakland, officially the “home” team, were booed on to the field for their warm-up by a crowd heavily favouring the Seahawks and seeking to replicate the hostile “12th man” atmosphere of their home ground CenturyLink Field.
Seattle head coach Carroll said in a video on his franchise’s official website: “This whole ordeal of coming over here for the trip, I’m so proud of our players. We had a great time.
“Our players’ attitude towards it was incredible; they practised hard, they worked hard, they rested well. They did a little bit sightseeing but they didn’t do too much.
“As we got closer to the game, we realised how much energy there was for the Seahawks here. That was a great crowd.
“Playing at Wembley was great and if anybody says anything different then they don’t know.
“The whole experience culminating in a game where we played a really complete football game just makes it a special week.
“It felt like a home game and so if we come back again, I’m looking forward to it.”
Jaron Brown, David Moore and Tyler Lockett each got on the end of Wilson’s passes to the end-zone with long-time Raider Sebastian Janikowski booting the extra points as well as two field goals.
Oakland only got on the board as they trailed 27-0 – Matt McCrane splitting the posts with a 43-yard field goal in the final quarter, but the damage had long since been done.
Head coach Jon Gruden said in a video on his franchise’s website: “Although the game was obviously lopsided, it was a great experience.
“I’m not going to get too deep but we know what we have to do. We know we have a way to go and today was a tough one.
“It’s tough when you kick the ball to them and they possess the ball for one half of the first quarter and come away with a touchdown, it’s a bad way to start.
“We did not play well today, that’s for sure.”
Quarterback Derek Carr was sacked six times by the Seahawks, and Gruden added: (There was) too much fire around the quarterback. Credit to the Seahawks but we’ve got to do a lot better, obviously.
“We’re going to do the best we can to find five men that can collectively pass protect much better. And that’s what we will do.”