LONDON (AP) — Jet lag researchers might want to keep an eye on Sunday's game in London between the Jacksonville Jaguars and Los Angeles Rams at Wembley Stadium.
The Rams aren't scheduled to arrive in England until Saturday morning, a day later than their arrivals to London under coach Sean McVay in 2017 and 2019.
The Jags changed up their template, too. They typically arrive on a Friday. But a year after a hurricane delayed their departure to London,
the Jags arrived Tuesday.
“Is it an advantage? I don’t know, there’s sports science that supports both,” Jags coach Liam Coen said Wednesday before practice at The Grove hotel north of London.
Both teams are 4-2, and Jacksonville is looking to rebound from a 20-12 loss to Seattle.
“I just thought it was a great opportunity for our guys to get here, be able to be together a little bit more, have a little bit more continuity,” he added.
Coen worked under McVay for several seasons, most recently as the Rams' offensive coordinator in 2022.
“I fully understand — working with Sean, knowing their sports science behind why they are leaving later,” Coen said. “We had the same opportunity to make that decision and we just chose to come a little bit earlier.”
The decision, he said, was partly related to having a bye next week.
The game Sunday will be Jacksonville's 14th in London. Starting in the 2015 season, the Jags' schedule for the trip was to depart Thursday evening and land Friday morning, according to the team.
After their delayed arrival last year, the team canceled a Friday news conference outside London and rescheduled it the next day.
The Jags had back-to-back games in London last year. In the first one, they lost 35-16 to the Chicago Bears at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The following week, the Jags beat the New England Patriots 32-16 at Wembley Stadium.
The Rams stayed in Baltimore after beating the Ravens 17-3 on Sunday. They are holding practices this week at Camden Yards — home of the Baltimore Orioles — and will leave Friday evening for London, the team confirmed.
They followed a similar pattern in 2017 — McVay's first season as Rams coach — and again two years later, though both times they arrived on a Friday morning. Following games at Jacksonville (2017) and at Atlanta (2019), they had stayed on the East Coast both times.
The Rams routed the Arizona Cardinals 33-0 at Twickenham Stadium in 2017 and beat the Cincinnati Bengals 24-10 in 2019 at Wembley.
“We’ve had some successful outcomes having an East Coast game, staying on the East Coast to get our preparation ready to go, whether it was to play the Bengals in London or whether it was to play the Cardinals in London our first year, and hoping for the same this week,” McVay told the Rams' website on Monday.
In 2016, the Rams arrived on a Monday and lost 17-10 to the New York Giants at Twickenham.
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