The Los Angeles Rams are making a bold decision before their season-opener, opting to fly into Melbourne, Australia as close to game time as possible . Their opponent, the San Francisco 49ers, will arrive early in an attempt to adjust to the travel and new environment, heading to Australia this week.
Head coach Sean McVay has come under criticism for the decision, as the expected time to travel from Los Angeles to Melbourne is approximately 16 hours – a massive difference from their trip from Baltimore to London last season.
However, those criticisms lack a fundamental understanding of the team's operation. McVay's decision is the correct move for the health of his roster. A big portion of their preparation is their players' individual approach to game week. Star receiver Davante Adams spoke about his approach last season before the team left for Baltimore, as they were going to spend a week practicing on the East Coast before their London game.
"For me, I have a lot of different checkpoints and things throughout the week that I do locally," said Adams. "It's going to be different for me for sure. The main thing for me is just being away from my kids, honestly more than anything. That's a big part of my healing process and mentally throughout the week just resetting, going home, spending time with them and my wife.
"Not having that element…I mean, we'll get through it. I've been away from them for a week or so before that. It's not the end of the world, but if I was drawing it up, I'd love to have my family with me. It's a week that'll be a little bit different from what we normally do, but we'll be able to get through it."
On top of the fact that the Rams will be able to spend more time with their families at home, a crucial portion in maintaining their overall health and effectiveness, Adams also spoke about the changes in routine.
"Just getting body work from different people that is not as easy to fly them out to London as it is to fly them from the Bay Area or Vegas to come and work on me in Southern California," said Adams. "It's a little bit of a longer trip, even going to Baltimore. I'm sure they'll have different things set up for us, massages and stuff like that. 12 years in you find a way to keep it working for you. I've found my way and like I said, it'll just be a week but I'd rather have them with me."
Adams is not the only one and for a team that has to deal with a variety of issues, such as managing Byron Young's knee, Alaric Jackson's blood clots, and the wear-and-tear associated with traveling, leaving their home base early would be pointless.
Their resources are in Los Angeles, not Melbourne. The Rams know what they're doing, and McVay is 3-0 in international games. There's no reason to arrive early if the consequences won't come with a positive payoff.
This article originally appeared on Rams Wire: Why the Rams heading to Australia just before kickoff is the right move
