Earlier this month, Rams coach Sean McVay turned uncharacteristically truculent when asked about reports that his team would arrive late and leave early from Australia.
It was clear McVay didn’t want to talk about the topic publicly until he talked to his team, which meant there was no reason to talk to a 90-man team about something that would ultimately impact only 53 of them (plus the practice squad).
On Sunday, he was asked whether he has spoken to the team about the itinerary.
“I haven’t done that yet,” McVay said, “so that means I’m not talking to you about it either.”
The next question was whether he has a timeline for doing so.
“I’ll probably do it the week of the game so don’t ask me until then,” McVay said. “Here’s what I would tell you though. I know we’ve laughed and had some good fun interactions about it, but I do want to be able — I think they have a loose idea of what we’re doing but I do still think it is appropriate in terms of the trajectory. I want to be able to talk to them about it, but we’re leaving later than most people would probably expect.”
In other words, yep, they’re going late. And they’re leaving early.
With the apparent goal of minimizing the impact of the stay in Melbourne on their body clocks. The question is whether they’ll be appropriately acclimated to perform in Australia, given the long flight and the short lag time. Especially since the 49ers apparently plan to get there several days before the Rams.
Either way, the game is only 10 days away. And the travel discrepancy could be an issue during the game. After the game, the question will be whether the Rams recover more quickly than the 49ers from the ordeal, given the decision not to stick around long enough to adjust to being in the land down under.