The Eagles are arriving in London less than 36 hours before playing the Jags. Nick Sirianni explained why.
The Eagles coach says the team did extensive research on the best approach to their international travel.
The Eagles won’t have time for sightseeing or afternoon tea in London this weekend. They’re barely going to be there long enough to have a proper English breakfast.
The team will have a normal practice week in Philadelphia before flying Friday overnight. They plan to get some sleep on the plane, arrive Saturday morning, have a walkthrough in London, rest up, play the game vs. Jacksonville on Sunday, and then fly home after the game. They do not have a bye in Week 6, when they host the Carolina Panthers for a Sunday 1 p.m. contest.
Traveling, and how and when to do it, is something Nick Sirianni has paid close attention to since becoming the head coach of the Eagles. They study many scenarios and have adjusted travel plans when necessary, like earlier this season when they left for Nashville a day early to try to get acclimated to the extreme heat, something they also did last season for a September trip to Tampa Bay.
The Eagles are playing their first international game since 2024 and their first game in London since 2018. For their 2024 game in Brazil, the Eagles left two days before the game and had two overnights at the hotel before playing the game. But Sirianni said that was a different circumstance in part because it was the first game of the season. It also was a 10-hour flight.
Why this specific travel schedule for London?
“We felt like leaving Friday was best for our team, this team, and with the schedule that we have with the weeks coming up,” Sirianni said on Monday, a day after his team’s 24-20 loss to the Rams that dropped them to 2-2. “A lot of research went through it, you guys know, I’ve discussed these things with you about short weeks, long weeks, rain weeks, hot weeks, whatever it may be, international weeks, of how to kind of go about it.
“We’re trying to get a full week’s worth of practice in before we go up there. But we felt like, through the studies that we did and through some of the things that we looked at, all the things that we looked at, we decided on this. At the end of the day, I got to make those decisions and this is the decision I chose, with the help of great people no doubt.”
International travel was a popular topic earlier this season, when Rams coach Sean McVay opted to travel to Australia the day before their Week 1 game, a week later than the San Francisco 49ers did. The 49ers rolled, 27-7, and McVay later expressed regret about the itinerary.
It’s unfair to compare the Eagles’ London plans to that, however. It’s a much shorter flight, one that is similar in length to when the Eagles fly to California, which they will be doing later this year for a Week 17 game against the 49ers.
Still, Sirianni was asked Monday if he had any concern about jet lag.
“We went through all this,” he said. “I don’t want to get into too many specifics there. Like I said, we feel like this is giving our team the best chance to win, taking everything into account, jet lag included.”
