Why Rams strongly preferred to face Falcons before the London game...

Why Rams strongly preferred to face Falcons before London game

Cameron DaSilva

[theramswire.usatoday.com]

The Los Angeles Rams will be flying across the country a lot in 2019, traveling the second-most miles of any team in the NFL next season. It’s the result of having to play the NFC South and AFC North, as well as hosting a “home game” in London.

One negative aspect of their schedule is having to fly back and forth from L.A. to their road games because they alternate home and away contests for most of the season. For instance, they’ll go to Carolina in Week 1, return to Los Angeles for Week 2 against the Saints and head back to Cleveland for a Sunday night game in Week 3.

The Rams play the Bengals in London in Week 8, but before they head across the pond, they’ll face the Falcons the week prior.

That was intentional and a scheduling quirk the Rams requested. When the schedule was released, an NFL representative told Sean McVay, Les Snead and everyone in the room for the unveiling that the league made it happen.

“I will note for you that we got you to the Falcons before that game. I know that was a strong preference for some in your organization, so we got that done for you,” he said.


McVay was pleased with the league granting the team’s wish, saying “that’s good.” But why exactly did the Rams strongly prefer to play the Falcons before going to London? The reason is fairly simple.

In order to shorten the trip, the Rams will likely stay around Atlanta after their Week 7 game and go to London from there. That will save them more than 3,000 miles of travel by not flying back home to Los Angeles and then going to London.

They used a similar approach two years ago when they played the Jaguars the week before playing internationally. They stayed in Jacksonville and left for England from the East Coast, shortening their travel schedule.

McVay liked the way the Rams’ week in Jacksonville had a training camp feel to it, bringing players and coaches together. Expect to see a similar scenario play out this year between Weeks 7 and 8.