The NFL will give their British fans the team they wanted more than any other tomorrow when the New England Patriots walk on to the field at Wembley.

Whether the winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers can do anything to stop from getting steamrollered by them remains to be seen.

This will be the third NFL regular-season game in as many years. The last two have been close, with the New Orleans Saints topping the San Diego Chargers 37-32 in a shoot-out last year, after the New York Giants edged the Miami Dolphins 13-10 the year before.

Tampa Bay must hope for a game like that one, when the Super Bowl-bound Giants got bogged down in poor field conditions against a woeful Dolphins team and almost lost.

The signs are good - rain in the capital forced the cancellation of the final walk-throughs at Wembley today.

Even so, there is little else going in Tampa Bay's favour.

"We're 0-6, and we're playing the best team out there," said Bucs coach Raheed Morris. "But there's no good time to play the New England Patriots.

"We're just excited to be here and have the opportunity to go out and play.

"This is a great test for our team, this is a great test for our organisation and we get to be in a great place like London to do it."

Morris, a first-year coach, will lead his young team into battle against a star-studded Patriots line-up, led by the league's biggest name, Tom Brady.

While several Patriots cannot cross the street without being spotted at home, it was only Brady who got recognised when the team landed this week. Of course it helped that he was turned out immaculately in a suit while his team-mates disembarked dishevelled in their training gear.

The New England quarterback is getting back to the very top of his game after missing last season with a knee injury, and showed all the signs of a being in peak form during last week's 59-0 demolition of the Tennessee Titans. That game was played in heavy snow, conditions London is sure not to offer tomorrow.

"Whatever we did last week, you take the good from it, understand what you did well and what you executed better than you had, but then you get a different gameplan and a different opponent," said Brady.

"Obviously we also have a different venue but hopefully we go out there and play well again."

But while the Patriots have become stars in the course of winning three Super Bowls over the last decade, the organisation's model, put in place by coach Bill Belichick, is a team concept that has shown it can succeed even with individual players who have failed elsewhere.

Belichick is regarded as the best in the business, thanks in large part to his attention to detail, and he is not letting his players waste any time sightseeing this weekend.

"This is quite an experience for all of us," he said. "In 35 years in the NFL this is the first time I've done something like this and it's kind of cool.

"It would be nice if we could hang around a little bit longer, this is a great city with great history, but we can't."

But while a trip like this is likely a minor irritation to Belichick and his strict routines, Tampa Bay are hoping something so different can snap them out of their rut.

"Maybe it's what we need, a little shake-up," said linebacker Barrett Ruud. "We've not put together a complete game yet and that's why we're 0-6.

"Maybe a little change of pace can get us going in the right direction."

The NFL is certainly hoping for a close game to continue its bid to grow the game in this country and potentially one day place a team here full time.

That is a notion supported by Morris, even if he admits he is not fully enjoying this trip.

"We want to go global, we want to be like soccer and have global recognition," he said. "But you ask me if I'm enjoying London? No, I've got Bill Belichick waiting for me tomorrow. I'll enjoy London in the off-season."