The Los Angeles Rams will play in an historic matchup Thursday night (in the United States) against the San Francisco 49ers. The two NFC West foes will square off in the NFL’s first-ever regular season game in Australia.
To play the contest, both teams embarked on a 15-hour flight and underwent a 17-hour time change. Each organization lost a day in the air.
But the two teams planned vastly different travel schedules to South Pacific. Through the offseason, the Rams’ plan has come under the most scrutiny. They completed their long trek to Australia just 28 hours before kickoff.
McVay did what he could during training camp to avoid addressing the team’s Week 1 travel plans. Upon landing in Australia, though, the head coach delivered as positive message to ensure to Rams fans his team’s itinerary won’t leave his players at a disadvantage.
“Flight was great,” McVay told reporters, via Olivia Garvey of NBC Los Angeles. “We’re well rested, we feel good.
“It really was. Matthew [Stafford] and I were just talking about that on the way over here. Able to sleep through the night, guys were comfortable. They seem fresh. Get a good night rest tonight and be ready to rock tomorrow.”
How Rams Australia Travel Plans Could Come Under Microscope
The Athletic’s Jonathan Jones, Nate Atkins and Matt Barrows reported Thursday the Rams and 49ers received “different sets of feedback” from their sports science and research teams about how to travel to Australia. The 49ers will spend nearly a week in Melbourne to adjust to the local time.
McVay’s club had the exact opposite plan — spend as little time in Melbourne as possible.
“The Rams flew overnight on Tuesday, following their third practice of the week, and arrived Thursday morning local time after a 17-hour time change. In 28 hours, they’d be kicking off their season at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. And within two hours of the game ending, they’ll be on another 15-hour flight back to Los Angeles,” wrote The Athletic insiders.
“They’ll spend about as much time traveling to and from Melbourne as they will in the city itself.”
Fair or not, the two strategies will likely have McVay and the Rams in the spotlight when the Australia game kicks off.
If the 49ers experience a sluggish start, their travel plans are unlikely to be considered much of a factor in the media. They should be the more rested team.
But should the Rams not look like themselves, for whatever reason, the team’s itinerary is probably going to be a narrative after the game.
That’s likely to be the case regardless of what McVay had to say about the travel arrangements beforehand. But the head coach did his best to nip the potential narrative in the butt in his pregame press conference.
McVay Could Set Precedence With Australia Travel
When the NFL scheduled the Rams-49ers matchup in Melbourne, the two teams immediately became guinea pigs. Will NFL games be popular enough in Australia to regularly send teams to the country?
But maybe even more crucially, the two teams are testing two very different ways to get there.
If the Rams play well, more teams could use the minimalist time in Australia strategy. Should the 49ers appear to be the fresher team, though, the Rams could set a precedence of what not to do with an International contest.
“The difference in the approaches to the game will make the result a referendum on how teams should plan for trips to play in any future Australian games,” wrote Pro Football Talk’s Josh Alper.
The Rams and 49ers will kick off at 5:35 pm PT. In Australia, it will already be tomorrow — 10:35 am.
Rams’ Sean McVay Gets Ahead of Australia Travel Criticism Before 49ers Game