FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — When the New England Patriots learned this spring that they’d be headed to Munich, Germany, for a regular-season game against the Detroit Lions, planning began right away.
They mapped out exactly how much weight their team plane could hold, made on-site arrangements and held meetings about how best to prepare for a game six time zones away.
What they landed on was something a bit outside the norm, a changeup from their previous trips abroad, and different from what the Lions are doing before their matchup at the Allianz Arena, the home of popular soccer club Bayern Munich.
NFL teams typically hold three practices before a Sunday game — usually Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Before a game in Europe, many teams opt to practice at home on Wednesday and Thursday, then board an overnight flight to their location. Once in Europe, they hold a Friday practice that, due to the jet lag, tends to be a bit more relaxed than a normal Friday practice. That’s what the Patriots did on their trip to Germany under Bill Belichick in 2023 — and what they did the following year with coach Jerod Mayo for their game in London.
The alternative approach is to head to Europe early in the week and hold all three practices abroad, which offers the players more time to acclimate and ensures they don’t have a jet-lagged, slow-motion practice. That’s what the Cincinnati Bengals and Atlanta Falcons did last week before playing in Madrid.
But Patriots coach Mike Vrabel is trying something a bit different. The Patriots plan to practice at their usual digs in Foxborough on Wednesday, then fly overseas and practice in Germany on Thursday and Friday.
Patriots plan for travel to Germany
Chad Graff
Here’s the trade-off: The plan offers players an extra day to get used to the time change and shake off jet lag, but it does shift their usual schedule. Since the team will likely be a bit tired for Thursday’s practice, they’ll conduct more of a walk-through that day. While it probably won’t accomplish as much as a normal Thursday practice, it should give them, in Vrabel’s eyes, a more productive session on Friday when they’re just 48 hours away from the game.
“We’re going over a day early,” Vrabel said. “We want to try to get work in here as much as we can get done Wednesday, (then a) walk-through Thursday. Then maybe have a day where we’re acclimated, where Friday can resemble what we feel like is a Friday practice here. In my past, I think you travel, you land and try to have a Friday practice. I don’t know if that necessarily mirrors a Friday practice that we would have here. So, the hope is to try to get over there and get acclimated enough where we can have a good day on Friday.”
The Lions are taking the more conventional route. They’ll practice at their training facility in Allen Park, Mich., on Wednesday and Thursday, then board an overnight flight to Germany and have a slow-motion, jet-lagged practice on Friday.
“We’re gonna practice our tails off (Wednesday) and Thursday,” Lions coach Dan Campbell told Detroit radio station 97.1 The Ticket. “We’re gonna take a shower. We’re gonna jump on this freaking plane. We’re gonna take a nap, and then we’re going to wake up, we’re going to meet and we’re going to walk through red zone practice (on Friday).”
After losing badly to the Green Bay Packers at Gillette Stadium this past weekend, this game suddenly has pretty big implications for the Patriots, at least in terms of the team’s narrative entering its bye week.
With the way the AFC has gone, it doesn’t look like there will be that many teams fighting for wild-card berths. That’s because for the Patriots (currently the No. 7 seed) to miss the playoffs, one of the Cleveland Browns, Baltimore Ravens (without Lamar Jackson), Las Vegas Raiders or Houston Texans would have to leapfrog them in the standings. That’s why the Patriots’ playoff odds, which sit at 66 percent, according to The Athletic’s Playoff Simulator, would still be at 56 percent even if they lose to the Lions.
So while this game might not massively affect their playoff chances, it’s big for the tenor of the team at an important time.
On Sunday against the Packers, cornerback Christian Gonzalez was torched, and the defense as a whole struggled. Drake Maye threw three interceptions, and the offense looked disjointed. Now, they’re planning to play the Lions without their top two running backs, Rhamondre Stevenson and TreVeyon Henderson. A loss would send them into the bye week with all sorts of questions and doubts.
The boost the Patriots really need is the return of A.J. Brown — and for him to play as well as they imagined he would when they gave up a first-round pick to get him. But it’s not clear yet whether Brown will play Sunday as he nurses ankle and knee injuries.
“There’s no decision on that,” Vrabel said when asked if Brown will make the trip to Germany, “but I would imagine that’s the plan.”
Source: www.nytimes.com
