Eagles flying to London for game vs. Jaguars on Friday, leaving little time to adjust after Rams' issues in Australia
The Rams tried an "in and out" strategy earlier this season in Australia, which is much further than London, and it didn't work out well.
The Philadelphia Eagles are following in Sean McVay's footsteps.
The Eagles are set to take on the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday in London. But instead of traveling to the United Kingdom early, head coach Nick Sirianni revealed on Monday that his team is going at about the last possible moment.
They are going to practice at home all week, and then leave on Friday. That plan, Sirianni said, via The Athletic , "felt like the best thing for our team, taking everything into account — jet lag, included."
Now, it's not that big of a difference from Philadelphia to London. It's a roughly seven-hour flight across the Atlantic Ocean, and London is five hours ahead. That means that, once the Eagles land on Friday night, they'll have all day Saturday to adjust before the game starts at 2:30 p.m. local time on Sunday at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
While there is no right way to prepare for an international game like this, travel plans have been called into question after McVay and the Los Angeles Rams opted to fly down to Australia for their season opener against the San Francisco 49ers at the last possible moment. The Rams ended up spending roughly 30 hours in the country between their two flights, something the team had been working on for more than a year.
Then the 49ers, who landed several days in advance, rolled to an easy 27-7 win in Melbourne.
The Eagles will enter Sunday's game with a 2-2 record, and are coming off back-to-back losses. They blew a 10-point fourth quarter lead to the Rams on Sunday, and are likely down both running backs Saquon Barkley and Tank Bigsby. Beating the Jaguars (3-1), who have won two straight and are preparing for back-to-back games in London over the next two weeks, isn't going to be an easy task regardless of where the game is held or how the Eagles get there.
But if things go poorly, it's easy to wonder how long coaches will keep pushing the "in and out" travel strategy for international games.
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