Travel

[Old but Slow]

Thought I would bring this up because I like to see people's ears steam:

Front Office Sports reports the travel stats for this coming season. For example the Seattle Seahawks will travel 29,466 miles this season and change time zones 34 times.

On the other hand, the Pittsburgh Steelers will travel 6,442 miles and never, as in not once, leave the Eastern Time Zone.

No comment.

[RiverDog]

Thought I would bring this up because I like to see people's ears steam:

Front Office Sports reports the travel stats for this coming season. For example the Seattle Seahawks will travel 29,466 miles this season and change time zones 34 times.

On the other hand, the Pittsburgh Steelers will travel 6,442 miles and never, as in not once, leave the Eastern Time Zone.

No comment.

Yeah, the trip to Munich ran up the odometer.

Back in the Holmgren era, the drone was the east coast jinx, the theory being that we played worse when we had to deal with a 3 hour time change. But we don't hear much about it very much anymore. I wonder why that is? Could it be that the teams back east, ie Eagles, Redskins, Giants, Falcons, Dolphins, Panthers, Colts, Jets, et al aren't as good anymore?

Sure, we put on a lot of miles due to our geography, but the biggest pain in the butt when you travel is packing, getting to the airport, parking, checking in, going through security, boarding, de-boarding, picking up luggage, and so on, all things you have to do no matter how long or short your flight is. The actual time in the air is the least stressful part of air travel. And with NFL teams taking direct flights, there are no layovers in airports, no hassle at baggage claim, no getting a rental car or an Uber, and so on.

I'm not too sympathetic. It's a lame excuse used by bellyachers to justify bad football.

[NorthHawk]

For me it’s a huge issue. It’s like getting up at 3:30am for a few days, and if you don’t think that’s an issue try doing your normal routine at 4am here at home (if you normally get up that early try moving it up 3 hrs.
Pete did a smart thing getting there a day earlier than early teams did and it seems to help, but with a lesser talented
team a slight difference in readiness can mean defeat.

[RiverDog]

For me it’s a huge issue. It’s like getting up at 3:30am for a few days, and if you don’t think that’s an issue try doing your normal routine at 4am here at home (if you normally get up that early try moving it up 3 hrs.
Pete did a smart thing getting there a day earlier than early teams did and it seems to help, but with a lesser talented
team a slight difference in readiness can mean defeat.

So it takes a day to adjust. BFD. For all the pi$$ing and moaning done by the fans, it doesn't seem to be a very big issue with the coaches or the players as I don't hear any complaints.

I used to think that it would be fair to west coast teams traveling to the east coast if they not give them the early time slot (ie 10am PT) and rather assign them to the 1pm or 5:15pm slots, but even that has never come up in any discussions. It doesn't seem to be a problem with the teams.

[NorthHawk]

Get up 3 hours earlier and do your workout.
When I traveled east and did that my abilities were impacted quite a bit and I didn’t have a physical
requirement for my daily work. Considering the difference between being on top of your game and slightly off
ending in a bad performance it can have a big factor.

[Aseahawkfan]

If we weren't in a down period, I would hate this. Since I expect next year to be a down year, might as well do stupid travel during a year with no real expectations.

[RiverDog]

Get up 3 hours earlier and do your workout.
When I traveled east and did that my abilities were impacted quite a bit and I didn’t have a physical
requirement for my daily work. Considering the difference between being on top of your game and slightly off
ending in a bad performance it can have a big factor.

I have. I've worked swing, graveyard, and rotating shifts off and on for 40 years. I've worked on rotating shifts with a week's schedule that consists of working 3pm-11pm for 2 days, take 32 hours off, work 11pm-7am for two days, take 24 hours off, work 7am-3pm for a day, take 40 hours off, then do it all over again the next week. And my job wasn't pushing a pencil. I was a floor supervisor, frequently doing strenuous work. No one has to tell me about biological clocks. And there's other occupations with worse schedules and that are more physically demanding than the one I worked at.

A 3 hour time change is not that big of a deal. It's an adjustment, for sure, but it's one that's easily managed, like traveling on a Friday for a Sunday game. If it is as bad as you are claiming, the Hawks, Niners, Rams, Chargers, Raiders, and Cards (and before you say it, Arizona doesn't observe DST) would be screaming their fool heads off, but they're not. Besides, it's only a few games a year that we play in the Eastern Time Zone. This season, we don't play a single game in the ETZ. Munich is the only significant road trip we make, and the disadvantage is offset by the fact that the Bucs have to travel, too. Depending on where the AZ road game falls, 13-14 of our 17 games this season have no time change at all. Not many teams can make that claim.