Statistics have proven that when teams from the Pacific Time Zone travel to the East Coast for an early game, they're less likely to win or put up their best performance. That's what the Raiders are facing Sunday when they head to New England to face the Patriots.
It's a matter of bodily clock mostly. It will be three hours earlier at home. That can throw things out of whack. Basically when your body is being asked to be ready to go at the time it is used to warming up. And in the NFL, even being off by a fraction of a second can make all the difference.
Raiders head coach Klint Kubiak doesn't see the Raiders having any issues with the trip and he points to the Raiders' early camp practices as one reason why.
"We practiced at 7:30 in the morning
all training camp, so it'll be different. But I'm not worried about it," said Kubiak.
The Raiders practiced so early in camp because they again chose to hold camp at their facility in Henderson in the heart of the summer. So, holding practice early is the best shot they had at escaping the scorching temperatures there.
The thing is though, it's been six weeks since they broke camp, so it's hard to say just how much that would factor into anything. Not to mention this is the first time they've had an early game this season.
Does this give the Patriots an advantage? Perhaps. Does it mean they will automatically be the better team? Absolutely not. It might just mean the Raiders will have to play even better than they would otherwise to make up for any advantage that comes with the Patriots enjoying a game in their home stadium in their own time zone.
This article originally appeared on Raiders Wire: Klint Kubiak confident Raiders prepared for early game time vs Patriots
