WATFORD, England — Seventeen hours after locking the door in my Jacksonville home, I accepted a hotel room key card in this city northwest of London and a few miles from where the Jacksonville Jaguars will set up their headquarters for 10 days.
Everything will be different for the Jaguars ahead of their games against the Philadelphia Eagles (Oct. 11) and Houston Texans (Oct. 18).
The five-hour time change, which hits you over the head with a shovel.
The disrupted routine, which for many veteran players includes getting trained and treated by non-Jaguars employees.
And the food, which if you know, you know.
But coach Liam Coen’s message before getting on the plane: The job remains the same.
“A lot is going on with the travel and the preparations and obviously
everybody being on the same page and understanding what the schedule is (before) going (is important),” Coen said. “We’re going to need some mental toughness throughout this week to make sure that we’re physically and mentally prepared to go play against the Eagles.”
This trip is routine for so many Jaguars players who have traveled here for multiple-game trips. But for new cornerbacks Alijah Huzzie and Jaylon Jones and rookie receiver CJ Williams, the London Experience has already been interesting.
’Do you have a passport?’
The top two questions every NFL team asks every free agent this time of year: Are you healthy? Are you ready to go?
Except when said team are the Jaguars. They started their Oct. 4 game at Cincinnati minus two cornerbacks (starter Buster Brown and reserve Christian Braswell) and then lost two safeties (Eric Murray and Caleb Ransaw). Braswell and Ransaw were placed on injured reserve with knee injuries.
The Jaguars’ question as they settled on Huzzie and Jones: Do you have a passport?
“Right away they asked,” Huzzie said with a laugh after his first practice with the Jaguars on Oct. 7.
Huzzie was on the Houston Texans’ practice squad after getting waived during training camp.
Because the Texans are due in London next weekend to face the Jaguars on Oct. 17, they had already collected the passports of their traveling party.
Once he agreed to join the Jaguars on Oct. 5, Huzzie had to drive to the Texans’ practice facility to retrieve his passport and he quickly texted the Jaguars a screen shot. By 12 a.m., he was in Jacksonville.
“It’s been a quick turnaround,” Huzzie said.
Jones was training in Dallas since he was cut by the Chicago Bears on Sept. 2. The phone wasn’t ringing asking him to work out.
“We were preparing for those and it wasn’t happening,” he said.
Jones had completed his workout on Oct. 5 and was in a cold tub when he missed a call from his agent, Damien Butler. He called Butler back.
“We might hear something from the Jaguars,” Butler told him.
He was still in the cold tub when the Jaguars called asking if he could get on a flight within a few hours..
He could and did. But about that passport …
“My passport was with my wife in Tennessee,” Jones said.
Jones’ wife sent the Jaguars her husband’s passport via overnight mail from Murfreesboro to Jacksonville and it arrived on Oct. 6.
“This is a big opportunity; this is a great team,” Jones said of the 3-1 Jaguars. “I love the scheme. I’m already loving the coaches. I’m not trying to do anything but my part and help this team win in any way, shape and form.”
And the Dallas-Jacksonville-London turnaround?
“That will be an adjustment,” Jones said. “I’m thriving in being uncomfortable, but I will give a shout out to the Jags who have made this process very easy.”
CJ Williams excited for first overseas trip
There had to be at least one Jaguars player who will be making his first trip out of the United States.
“I was talking to CJ Williams earlier — he’s never been overseas,” kicker Cam Little said.
Williams confirmed it.
“I’m from California and been around the country but never been out of the country so it will be great for me to check out another place,” he said. “It will definitely be a new experience.”
Shortly after he was drafted by the Jaguars in April, Williams was told to get the passport process underway. He never had one before.
Williams played his freshman year at USC and senior year at Stanford. He never dashed down to Mexico for a weekend vacation?
“It’s always been just football for me,” he said. “I have never taken trips or vacations because it’s weird — I would feel like somebody else is out there out-working me.”
Williams, who played 10 offensive snaps in Week 1, but has been a healthy scratch the last three games, got sound advice ahead of the ocean-crossing flight.
“Try and sleep as much as I can and when we get there, don’t sleep,” he said. “Let your internal clock catch up.”
And with that, let’s start another Jaguars London Adventure. Two games in two stadiums over two weekends. Actual fall weather (temperatures in the 50s and 60s!). And the opportunity to explore one of the world’s most historic cities.
Contact O’Halloran at rohalloran@gannett.com or on X at @ryanohalloran. Listen to Ryan on 1010AM on Tuesdays (6:35 p.m. on “Into The Night"), Thursdays (1:15 on "XL Primetime") and Fridays ("First Coast Football Friday" 4-7 p.m.).
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Passports, time change, sleep patterns part of Jaguars' London Experience
