Rams reveal uncommon journey plan for 16-hour flight to Australia vs 49ers

Late on Tuesday, someplace over the Pacific Ocean, the Rams will try to tug off their most bold play of the season nicely earlier than coach Sean McVay ever calls one.

The technique appears easy: Fly practically 16 hours to Australia, cross the worldwide dateline, land in Melbourne on Thursday (native time), test into the lodge, fall asleep, get up and play an NFL sport.

Meanwhile, their opponent, the 49ers, have already been on the bottom in Melbourne for days, acclimating to the time change. The Rams are intentionally doing the alternative. Only one in every of these methods will prevail.

McVay and the Rams selected to stay in Los Angeles so long as potential earlier than departing late Tuesday for his or her season opener towards their longtime NFC West rivals on the historic Melbourne Cricket Ground at 10:35 a.m. on Friday (native time), 5:35 p.m. PT on Thursday.

The Rams’ idea is an assault on jet lag: Don’t give the physique sufficient time to appreciate the place it’s.

“We’ll sleep through the night, and then we’ll get there and have kind of a rhythm,” McVay mentioned earlier than apply Sunday.

There is at the least one vital perk. This gained’t be 53 soccer gamers making an attempt to sleep upright in financial system.

“They’ve got full lay-flat beds,” McVay mentioned. “All of our players have that.”

The large constitution will enable everybody to completely stretch out and sleep, an necessary part of a journey technique developed with the Rams’ sports activities medication and efficiency workers. McVay mentioned the group additionally consulted individuals from different sports activities and others skilled with comparable long-distance journey.

The Rams even examined parts of the plan beforehand.

“It’s about keeping guys in their normal rhythm and routine,” McVay mentioned. “Everything that we do, I would hope our guys know that everything we do is what we think is best.”

The Rams have a precedent that this technique can work, albeit on a a lot smaller scale. Last season, the Rams remained in Baltimore following a sport towards the Ravens earlier than flying to London the evening earlier than kickoff in a sport towards the Jaguars. 

The consequence was a rout by the Rams, who led 28-0 within the fourth quarter earlier than flying again to LA with a 35-7 victory.

“Obviously, we have experience with it, even though we went a different direction last year in London,” mentioned quarterback Matthew Stafford concerning the group’s journey plans. “I felt like it worked out for us. I think guys enjoy being home. I feel confident in the way we’re going about it, and we’ll be ready to rock and roll come Friday morning.”

Stafford is correct about it working final season, however Australia is a special beast in contrast with London. The flight is significantly longer, and the time distinction is far more extreme.

McVay is aware of he’ll be judged on the end result. Win and the Rams cracked the worldwide journey code. Lose sluggishly and everybody will surprise why the 49ers had been acclimating in Australia all week whereas the Rams had been again dwelling practising prefer it was a house sport at SoFi Stadium.

McVay isn’t thinking about feeding that debate.

“I’m not really worrying about it because I know what our plans are,” he mentioned. “We’re going to follow that plan, and then we’re going to focus on our preparation and try to be at our best and go swing.”

Eventually, even McVay had sufficient.

“If you guys ask me any more questions about it,” he joked, “I’m kind of tired.”

His gamers had been completely happy to speak about it, although, and so they didn’t appear to be apprehensive.

“We did the same thing in London, and we went out there and handled business,” mentioned huge receiver Davante Adams, who had three touchdowns in that sport. “We’ve got a lot of smart people here, a lot smarter than me, to make decisions.”

One factor is for sure: McVay can have his full complement of gamers obtainable in Australia.

McVay mentioned Friday your complete group would make the flight, and when requested Sunday whether or not the expectation remained that Puka Nacua and Alaric Jackson can be eligible to play amid questions on potential NFL self-discipline, his reply was unequivocal.

“Yeah, absolutely,” McVay mentioned. “That’s what I’ve heard. I haven’t heard anything differently.”

He added that they nonetheless haven’t decided on whether or not Aaron Donald will play: “We’re taking it one day at a time.”

So, the Rams will board their monumental constitution Tuesday evening with their roster intact, beds flattened and physique clocks nonetheless set to Los Angeles.

About 16 hours later, they’ll get up on the opposite facet of the world.

By Thursday night, we’ll know whether or not McVay’s uncommon experiment is remembered as sensible sports activities science or second-guessed on their journey all the way in which again throughout the Pacific. 

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