There are a number of ways to deal with jet lag when taking a trip to a place that is several time zones ahead of your home. Generally, you should try to avoid alcoholic beverages. You might also want to take a sleep-aiding medicine. If you arrive very early in the day, you should probably suck it up and stay up to keep a consistent schedule. If you arrive late, you might want to go to sleep right away rather than pushing your body past its usual rhythms. It’s a delicate balance.
If you’re Sean McVay, planning a London trip for the Los Angeles Rams in Week 7, you try to eschew the concept of jet lag entirely. How? By having your team show up only roughly 24 hours before they’re scheduled to play a game at a rainy Wembley Stadium.
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This is exactly what McVay had the Rams do ahead of their London matchup with the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday. McVay had the Rams fly out on Saturday morning for a game that would take place the following day, even though their body clocks would still be running behind. You technically don’t have to worry about jet lag if it never sets in, you know? It’s the first time an NFL team playing abroad has ever tried this sort of unconventional strategy. The plan seemingly worked wonders because the Rams showed no signs of weariness in a 35-7 drubbing of Trevor Lawrence and Co.
If the Rams were tired or groggy, they certainly didn’t show it. Well, that, or they were just playing the woeful Jaguars, who, notably, tried the usual “we’re going to fly there earlier to get acclimated” line of thinking.
Here’s more McVay on his logic for the weird London travel from CBS Sports’ John Breech:
“We’ll travel to London tonight and get there [Saturday] morning, have a walk-through, and then let guys be able to relax and get some rest,” McVay said. “Then we’ll be ready to kick off at 2:30 p.m. [London time]. Guys are excited about this business trip that we have but I think it’s been a good week for a team camaraderie that’s organically unfolded. It’s been about the week of preparation and guys have done a great job.”
Kudos to McVay for thinking outside the box and having enough audacity to break away from conventional NFL thinking regarding extensive travel. I don’t think it’s fair to entirely say his strategy was the reason the Rams won by four touchdowns, given the competition, but it’s apparent that it did play a meaningful role. And now that McVay has blazed this trail, I’m certain NFL coaches will start following suit in the future.
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This article originally appeared on For The Win: Sean McVay looks brilliant after having Rams travel to London only 24 hours before game