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Rams coach Sean McVay over map of Australia
Most NFL teams test new plays during the offseason. The Los Angeles Rams apparently decided they also needed to test what happens when you put professional football players on a plane for 16 hours and drop them on the other side of the planet.
Kevin Dotson, Kyren Williams, Xavier Smith and Tyler Davis traveled to Melbourne in separate groups this spring, officially serving as goodwill ambassadors but unofficially doubling as human test subjects for Thursday’s historic opener against San Francisco. Dotson told the Los Angeles Times the organization “kind of used us as guinea pigs,” collecting feedback on how the players felt during the flight, after landing, and once they returned home.
The Rams Basically Ran A 30-Hour Travel Experiment
The assignment sounded fun on paper.
Dotson and Williams visited Melbourne in March, went to the zoo, attended a rugby match, and did promotional appearances while getting an early look at the city. Smith and Davis made another trip later in the offseason.
Behind all the koalas and photo opportunities, the Rams were taking notes.
The players experienced a roughly 16-hour flight from Los Angeles to Melbourne and another 14 hours coming home. Los Angeles wanted to know when they slept, how much they slept, how their bodies felt after landing, and what happened to them mentally and physically once the normal internal clock was replaced by one approximately 17 hours ahead.
That information became part of the plan the entire Rams roster is now following.
Williams said he stayed awake after arriving in Australia in the morning because going back to sleep felt like it would make the adjustment worse. Smith said he managed eight to 10 hours of sleep on the flight and felt ready to go once he landed.
Useful information when your Week 1 opponent is waiting approximately 8,000 miles from home.
Los Angeles Is Making The Trip As Late As Possible
The resulting plan is especially interesting because the Rams and 49ers approached the exact same problem in almost opposite ways.
San Francisco traveled early enough to spend roughly a week acclimating in Australia. Los Angeles waited.
Sean McVay kept his players on something close to their normal West Coast rhythm throughout camp and moved practices later in the afternoon to mimic what their bodies will experience during the morning kickoff in Melbourne. The team schedule had the Rams practicing in California Tuesday before boarding that night and arriving Thursday morning local time.
They play Friday morning in Australia, which is Thursday evening back in Los Angeles.
Basically, McVay is trying to convince everyone’s body that Australia is just an extremely elaborate road stadium in California.
That approach carries obvious risk, but at least the Rams did not invent it after staring at a time-zone converter.
They sent four actual players through a version of the trip months beforehand and asked them what happened.
The NFL wanted its first Australian regular-season game.
The Rams responded by conducting human trials.