Recently, I’ve been watching my favorite NFL team, the New England Patriots, from The Daily Item office while I work on stories.

This past Sunday, I was one of 86,651 fans at Wembley Stadium in England, which set the record for the highest attendance for an NFL game at a stadium with a capacity of 90,000. I traveled with seven of my closest friends, many of whom I watched the Patriots win multiple Super Bowls with.

Of those 86,651, I want to shout out the handful of Item readers I had the pleasure of meeting throughout my trip to London.

Unfortunately for us Patriots fans, we had to watch another disheartening loss – this one to the lowly Jacksonville Jaguars.

But I’m not here to talk about the Patriots losing, yet again.

My friends and I kept a list of every NFL team jersey we saw on Sunday, thinking we’d see a dozen or so teams. From the moment we hopped on the Tube, a better version of the T, we saw fans representing all 32 NFL teams with jerseys before we even stepped into the stadium.

Something I pride myself on is being curious. That said, I was curious how locals choose an NFL team to support, especially when the league only plays a few games a season across the Atlantic.

One fan told me he supports the Philadelphia Eagles because of his love for the hit American sitcom, “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.”

Another fan said he loved the Joe Montana-Jerry Rice duo of the San Francisco 49ers in the 1980s and 1990s, after Channel 4 became the first British channel to broadcast the NFL in 1982.

As someone born and raised in Framingham, I support the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox, as most of my friends do. I chose to support the Patriots because I grew up less than an hour from Gillette Stadium.

Tom Brady and six Super Bowls before I was 20 years old didn’t hurt, either.

I’ve only been to two Patriots games, once when I was 8 years old and then a preseason game last season. Three key differences stood out to me between my experiences at Gillette and Wembley: the size of the stadiums, the atmosphere outside of the stadium, and the fans.

Firstly, Gillette Stadium is nothing compared to the monstrosity of Wembley Stadium, which was breathtaking. The sheer size of it took my breath away. Fill it up with more than 86,000 cheering fans and it was a sports fan’s dream.

But while Wembley has Gillette beat in size, there is nothing quite like Patriot Place. From the tailgating atmosphere; the shops, bars, and restaurants; and the Patriots ProShop, Patriot Place is truly the home of the greatest NFL franchise.

Wembley, however historic it may be, is not the true home of any team.

Last, but certainly not least, the NFL fans at a London game don’t even begin to compare to the fans here in New England.

Sitting a few rows behind me and my friends, I heard a local fan tell his friend that any flag was an automatic 5-yard penalty. For anyone who watches the NFL, you know penalty flags don’t necessarily cost a team 5 yards.

This pure dedication and love for the sport of American football is something New England will always have over England, if you ask me.

Watching my hometown heroes play in a foreign country was simply incredible. For anyone with the same love of travel and sports – and the means to travel – it’s something I recommend.

However, whether I’m watching the Patriots win a Super Bowl in my friend’s basement or play a rainy, preseason game at Gillette, there is nothing quite like watching the New England Patriots right where they’re meant to be watched.

New England.