FOXBOROUGH -- A week from today, the Patriots will be winging their way to London to face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Wembley Stadium.

During Wednesday's press conference, Patriots coach Bill Belichick was given a stark reminder of that fact when a voice with a British accept piped up and asked if he was looking forward to the trip to London.

"Yeah, we are,'' Belichick replied. "Obviously, right now it’s on the back burner, but when it comes it’s a great opportunity for all of us to play in a new venue. When that game was scheduled in the spring it was very unique obviously, so there’s anticipation there. But again, at this time it’s not really something we’re thinking about, but it will come in a little while. When it does come I know there’s a little….That’s a little extra special game on your schedule that you know you don’t normally have. You have all your division games, all your other games and when you’re playing on in London, put a little asterisk by that one; that one’s a little bit different than the rest of them. When that comes that will be an interesting experience for us.''

Belichick got a taste of what the British press is likely to ask him when he arrives London when another journo asked if he had ever eaten fish and chips. "Yeah, sure absolutely. I’ve been to London a couple times. It’s great,'' he replied.

Tom Brady seemed to relish in the opportunity to walk the streets of London cloaked by a certain degree of anonymity which he wouldn't otherwise enjoy stateside.

"That would be wonderful,'' he said. "That would be great. Yeah, I think it will be a great experience for us. The team’s really looking forward to it. It’s coming fast, the season’s going by pretty quickly. I think there’s two games before the bye week, and the second one being in London. It feels like we just started. It will be fun when we head over there. Hopefully, we head over there at 4-2.''

The Patriots hosted six journalists from England and two from Germany, which brought a bit of levity to Wednesday's press conference.

One British writer quizzed Brady about David Beckham and his wife, Victoria, and asked if he was aware of their notoriety and whether it compared to that the Patriots QB shared with his wife, Gisele Bundchen.

"i’m aware of it. It’s hard not to be aware of it,'' Brady said. ``But I don’t see much of a comparison, I really don’t. He’s older. He’s got a lot more kids. He’s a lot faster than me. But he’s certainly a great player.''

Asked if he had ever met Beckham, Brady replied, "Yeah. He’s a very nice guy. He loves playing soccer and he’s very good at it. He obviously makes a big commitment in the work that he’s done to travel as much as he has to play here and in Europe. You play at a very highly competitive level, I think that’s what drives all of us. We want to be the best we can possibly be and to continue to find ways to challenge yourself. I think that’s a big part of our lives.''

When the NFL announced it would play three regular-season games in London from 2008-2010, European fans scooped up 90,000 tickets in 90 minutes, according to Neil Reynolds of NFL Europe. "This year, they did 70,000 in two hours,'' Reynolds said.

Duncan Wright of the London Daily Star was among six English journos who came to Foxborough Wednesday to advance next week's game. He and his entourage traveled to Tampa today to meet with the Buccaneers.

Wright had his theory on why NFL Europe, which started out with teams from Barcelona (Dragons), London (Monarchs), Amsterdam (Admirals) , Frankfurt (Galaxy) , Scotland (Claymores) and wound up shrinking to five German teams and Amsterdam, failed to gain a foothold.

"NFL Europe didn't work because there were no players,'' Wright said.

NFL fans in Europe preferred to watch the real thing as opposed to a diluted version of the game played by players with unrecognizable names.

Oliver Strerath, a sportswriter with the German publication Darmstaedter-Echo, said when the NFL pulled the plug on NFL Europe, it left a lingering feeling of bitterness among German football fans.

"There's one amateur football teams in the German Football League that plays in the Galaxy's purple and orange colors,'' Strerath said. "And they still have about 1,000 people coming to their games.''

For Strerath, who went to high school in Bath, Maine, the trip to Foxborough was a bit of a New England homecoming.

"I was a kicker for the Morse High Shipbuilders,'' Strerath said, "and had an unofficial state record 46-yard field goal in a scrimmage.''