Sean McVay Explains Rams' Travel Plans for NFL Australia Game vs. 49ers

The San Francisco 49ers are already in Australia for Thursday's game in Melbourne, but the Los Angeles Rams won't arrive for a few more days.

Rams head coach Sean McVay revealed the team's travel plans on Sunday, telling reporters they'll fly out on Tuesday night and try to make the trip as short as possible.

"The guys had an idea, but I tell them, 'Hey, let's take it a day at a time, but for your guys' understanding we'll leave on what would be equivalent — I look at it as Friday evening,'" he said. "It's Tuesday night for you guys, but it would be the equivalent of Friday evening. Sleep through the night and then we'll get there and we have kind of a rhythm. But I believe everything that we do, I think our guys, and I would hope — the most important thing to me is they know that, hey, everything we do is what we think is best."

The Niners are taking a very different approach, getting the team to the other side of the world early in the week so they have time to settle in.

"It doesn't mean that we think we're right and a different approach is wrong. 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. "That's what will always consistently drive our decision-making processes is with the players first and foremost at the forefront of our minds in every decision that we make and keeping guys in their normal rhythm and routine. Then some of the different things that we've done behind the scenes of people that have done this whether it's different sports or people that have made these types of trips. We've tested it out with some guys and we feel like it's been positive, but that's what went into the approach."

Staying in Los Angeles for as long as possible will, in theory, give the Rams a mostly normal week as they prepare for their season opener on Thursday, but they will have less time to recover from both the jet lag and the time spent on the plane.

"The jet lag didn't hit me that bad," 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey said about the wear and tear of travel. "It's more about how long you're on the plane."

Thursday's game will be the first the NFL has played in Australia, and it's by far the longest trip any team has taken for a game. If anything, it will be a learning experience for other teams about how to approach such a trip.

Whether the 49ers' or the Rams' method is better remains to be seen.