Road game in the east then in London

With revised plan in place, Rams hope this long trip will be more jolly

RICH HAMMOND

link: http://www.ocregister.com/2017/10/13/with-revised-plan-in-place-rams-hope-this-long-trip-will-be-more-jolly/

THOUSAND OAKS — The Rams’ locker room at Cal Lutheran turned into an ant farm Friday afternoon, with trainers and equipment staffers darting around and barking out coded instructions.

“Dirty, incoming,” equipment manager Jim Lake said as a laundry bag got tossed across the room.

The Rams are off on another intercontinental adventure, one that took them to Jacksonville on Friday, in advance of Sunday’s game, and eventually will end in London for next week’s game against Arizona.

This isn’t easy. The Rams will travel in style, but all told they’ll be on the road for parts of 11 consecutive days. There’s no perfect formula to maximize player comfort, but this time, the Rams will handle the trip very differently than they did last year, when they lost to Detroit, then to the New York Giants in London.

Last October, the Rams played the Lions, then immediately flew to London and stayed, for six days, in a beautiful but sleepy village approximately one hour away from the city. This time, the Rams will stay in northern Florida after Sunday’s game and won’t arrive in London until two days before the Arizona game.

“Some guys really enjoyed staying over there last year,” linebacker Alec Ogletree said Friday. “I’m happy that we’re not staying all week. I’m definitely looking forward to being in the States a little longer, then going over and playing the game. London is a great city, but personally, I’m glad we’re not there all week.”

That seemed to be the prevailing sentiment. Last year, some players took advantage of (limited) free time to take a sightseeing trip to London or Stonehenge, but they seemed to feel isolated in the countryside.

The main concern, though, is getting players’ bodies prepared for the game. The idea, last year, was that by arriving in London so early, the players’ bodies would have a chance to acclimate to the eight-hour time change. Instead, at one point during the week, then-defensive coordinator Gregg Williams was captured, by documentary cameras, screaming at players to stop sleeping in the afternoon in London.

The Rams took an early 10-0 lead in that game but then slumbered and lost, 17-10, to the Giants.

“You don’t get to enjoy it too much,” running back Todd Gurley said. “I guess that’s not really the point of going there. It’s really a business trip. It’s just like a regular week, but you just happen to be in London.”

Rams first-year coach Sean McVay did a London trip last year as offensive coordinator for Washington, which tied Cincinnati, 27-27. McVay said Washington left for that game on a Thursday, as the Rams will do this time, with hope that a five-hour time change will be less jarring than an eight-hour change at once.

“It’s a great opportunity for us to travel together as a team and continue to work on staying connected,” McVay said. “We look at it as an advantage. It’s not something we’re going to make an excuse for, if our routine is off a little bit. We’ll stick to our same routine.”