*Jamal Jones is making the most of his European adventure, at least on the football field.
Through two games, the wide receiver is the leading pass-catcher for the Frankfurt Galaxy with nine receptions for 97 yards, totals that place him fourth among the NFL Europe League leaders in both categories.
His exploits have helped lead the Galaxy to a 1-1 record, and with a game against the 2-0 Cologne Centurions this weekend, they could be tied for first place with a second consecutive victory.
The former North Carolina A&T wideout is joined in Frankfurt by three Packers teammates, defensive end and Seante Williams and a pair of fellow receivers, Sam Breeden and Kelvin Kight. Jones now continues with the second installment of his NFL Europe Diary:*
This week was a whole lot easier to go to practice every day after getting our first win last weekend. It was kind of a tough week last practicing with a loss hanging over our heads, and this week has been much better.
We had a great time in our first home game, coming back to beat Amsterdam after losing to Berlin the week before. One of the best things about playing at home was our fans. I think they definitely give us a home-field advantage.
As soon as we came out on the field, they were blowing whistles and screaming, giving us great fan support. They stayed through the whole game and supported us. Even when we were down 14-0, they were still in the game with us. They really helped our defense out by making a lot of noise when the other team had the ball, so they really know what they're doing and they're definitely behind us.
I've had a couple of pretty good games so far, but I don't really focus on how many balls I catch in every game. I'd rather make a few plays that help us win the game than catch a lot of passes and lose.
I'm trying to stay consistent in my performance. I don't really focus too much on statistics, but of course I want to have numbers to show what I'm doing out on the field. I just want to basically have a good game every time out and contribute to winning. All I do is make sure that I play hard and I think the stats will take care of themselves.
Before I came over here, it had been a couple of years since I had played receiver in a game, so just getting out there running routes and catching the ball with real defense out there has felt real good. I've gotten better at recognizing defenses and knowing how to run my routes to give me an advantage over what they're doing against me.
Away from the field, I haven't really been doing much other than resting and training to be at my best whenever the games roll around.
I don't really do too much. About the only times I go downtown are to work out at the gym, or when we go to clubs after the game. There's a club here in Frankfurt called the Halli Galli - we go in there and chill out and get in the VIP and play the superstar role.
I'm still getting used to some of the differences to living in Germany. For starters, the food is different. Everything has a different taste and flavor to it, even the things that are the same foods I would eat at home. They don't like things hot or salty over here, so the dishes are pretty plain.
They try to cook food for us in our hotel that's kind of American, or they cook Italian food. They cook food from a lot of different cultures, but it just tastes different. The spaghetti doesn't taste the same as I'm used to, and the seasoning they put on the fish or the chicken is different.
You've also got to get used to hearing German all the time. All the TV stations are in German, everyone on the streets is speaking German. People could be in the same room with you speaking German and you'd look at them and have no idea what they're saying.
We've got a big game coming up this week at Cologne. They're 2-0, so we need to win to catch up with them and make sure we stay in good position to make the World Bowl at the end of the season.
I'm looking forward to this game. They play a lot of man coverage, so that will be a challenge. But I'm sure that the other receivers and I can meet that challenge. They're basically a man defense, so it's going to be our jobs to beat the defender and get open so the quarterbacks can find us.
This weekend's Frankfurt Galaxy-Cologne Centurions game will be televised live in the U.S. on DirecTV, Saturday at 11:00 a.m. (CDT). The game will also be re-aired on NFL Network Sunday at 2:00 and 7:00 p.m. Make sure to check out Jamal and his Packers teammates. Jones' NFL Europe Diary will continue throughout the season on Packers.com.
