Ten months ago, the Los Angeles Rams conducted an audacious experiment.
They sought to reduce the toll that transatlantic travel takes on players' bodies by approaching a game in London like a hit-and-run mission.
Instead of flying out a few days before kickoff the way most NFL teams do, the Rams arrived in London just a day before facing the Jacksonville Jaguars and began their journey home soon after the final whistle. There would be no need for body clocks to adapt to the eight-hour time difference, the Rams theorized, if the trip was as short as possible.
Poking holes in the Rams' tactics became harder over the course of a crisp 35-7 pummeling of a Jaguars team that only lost three other games last regular season. "The way the guys played showed it was the right decision," Rams head coach Sean McVay told reporters after his team brushed off the absence of injured star receiver Puka Nakua, charged to a 21-0 halftime lead and coasted to a blowout victory.
Emboldened by last year's successful trial run, the Rams are getting even more daring. They're applying the same philosophy to the longest trip in NFL history, a 16-hour flight to Melbourne, Australia, covering nearly 8,000 miles. Australia hosts its first NFL game at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday, September 11 when the Super Bowl favorite Rams open their season against the San Francisco 49ers. Kickoff is at 10:35 a.m. in Melbourne so that the game airs in prime time on Thursday, September 10 back in the U.S.
#jaguars
They sought to reduce the toll that transatlantic travel takes on players' bodies by approaching a game in London like a hit-and-run mission.
Instead of flying out a few days before kickoff the way most NFL teams do, the Rams arrived in London just a day before facing the Jacksonville Jaguars and began their journey home soon after the final whistle. There would be no need for body clocks to adapt to the eight-hour time difference, the Rams theorized, if the trip was as short as possible.
Poking holes in the Rams' tactics became harder over the course of a crisp 35-7 pummeling of a Jaguars team that only lost three other games last regular season. "The way the guys played showed it was the right decision," Rams head coach Sean McVay told reporters after his team brushed off the absence of injured star receiver Puka Nakua, charged to a 21-0 halftime lead and coasted to a blowout victory.
Emboldened by last year's successful trial run, the Rams are getting even more daring. They're applying the same philosophy to the longest trip in NFL history, a 16-hour flight to Melbourne, Australia, covering nearly 8,000 miles. Australia hosts its first NFL game at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday, September 11 when the Super Bowl favorite Rams open their season against the San Francisco 49ers. Kickoff is at 10:35 a.m. in Melbourne so that the game airs in prime time on Thursday, September 10 back in the U.S.
#jaguars
2 days ago
