LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sean McVay has never been afraid to buck conventional NFL logic, and he is doing so once again with the Los Angeles Rams’ unusual travel plans for their season opener in Australia.The Rams are leaving Southern California on Tuesday night and will arrive in Australia on Thursday, roughly 24 hours before their game against the San Francisco 49ers kicks off at 10:35 a.m. local time on Friday morning at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.The Niners will spend one week in Melbourne, having arrived last Friday for what is expected to be the first of several NFL regular-season games in a country and venue traditionally associated with cricket and Australian rules football.“It doesn’t mean that we think we’re right and a different approach is wrong,” McVay said Sunday. “It’s just what we think is best based on the things that we’ve done and what we’ve learned over our time here.”
McVay said the plan was influenced in part by how the Rams approached their game against the Jacksonville Jaguars in London last October, when they arrived on Saturday morning for a Sunday afternoon start. They rolled to a comfortable 35-7 win at Wembley Stadium.However, they had already spent a week on the East Coast after playing at the Baltimore Ravens, reducing both the flight’s length and impact of adjusting to a new time zone. This time, the Rams will be spending approximately 15 hours in the air, albeit with lie-flat seats available to all players and coaches.
