‘I went to bed just really early’: How Mac Jones, Patriots prepared for trip to Germany
The Patriots landed in Frankfurt early Friday morning, holding their third practice of the week shortly after their flight.
A week after daylight saving time ended, Mac Jones and the Patriots had to make some more time adjustments this week, and to a much larger degree.
The Patriots are in Frankfurt, Germany, this weekend to take on the Colts, traveling overseas late Thursday before arriving Friday morning. As the Patriots moved six hours ahead, Jones said he prepared for the time jump earlier in the week.
“For me, it was just getting onto Germany time early in the week and then just bump everything up,” he told reporters Friday. “Make sure that I’m getting everything throughout the week. Had a good practice today. So, just have to carry that over, get recovery, hydrate, do all the right things, and then we’ll be ready for Sunday.”
To help acclimate himself to German time, Jones made a simple adjustment in his preparation.
“I went to bed just really early,” he said. “I bumped everything up, like I talked about. Hopefully, that’ll helps us in the long run.”
The Patriots’ decision to travel and land in Germany a little more than 48 hours prior to kickoff (which is at 9:30 a.m. ET on Sunday) is a different approach than what the Dolphins took for their game against the Chiefs last week in Germany. Miami traveled overseas on Tuesday, but Kansas City traveled late Thursday.
As some might think the Dolphins’ approach to spend extra time in Germany to acclimate to the time difference would be more beneficial, Patriots coach Bill Belichick said that they opted to use a similar schedule for what they did when they traveled to London in 2009 and 2012.
“I think the overall preparation at home, not trying to bring all of our stuff here, but trying to do the majority of the groundwork at home and cover all the things,” Belichick said on the Patriots’ decision to travel later in the week. “Then come here today and review it — today and then tomorrow — and then play the game. It felt like that was the most efficient way for us.
“But, it could be different for other teams, I don’t know. I don’t need to comment on that. For us, we felt like it was the best way for us to operate. We’ve done it that way before, I think everybody is very comfortable with it.”
Belichick also said that the team packed in three days’ worth of practice preparation into the Wednesday and Thursday practices. Patriots safety Jabrill Peppers said that he “absolutely” noticed the difference in preparation this week.
“We combined two days,” he said. “It was a lot of information, but we’ve got a lot of smart guys. We can handle it. All that’s left to do is review and clean up the mistakes from practice. See if we can switch up some things, add some things, and execute the game plan.”
The Patriots practiced again though on Friday. They worked out at DFB Campus, which is the home of the German national soccer team. As the Patriots had some time to kill following their flight, they were advised not to do one thing in particular.
“We were told not to nap when we got off the plane so we’ll be tired and could sleep tonight,” Rhamondre Stevenson said. “We got to the hotel, settled in our rooms, got breakfast, and then we were straight to meetings.”
In fact, it seemed like the players were advised to get their shuteye on the plane.
“I slept the whole way,” Peppers said. “I had a pretty good gameplan, and I executed it, too.”
Peppers also gave out some pointers to anyone who might be flying to Europe overnight in the near future.
“Don’t take a nap before you get on a flight,” he said. “Try to get you a good meal and take a little bit of melatonin. You’ve got to have one of the seats that turn into a bed too, that definitely helps.”
Patriots running back Ezekiel Elliott credited the coaching staff for making their schedule “look like our normal workweek schedule,” noting that the only difference was traveling on Thursday instead of Saturday for a road game.
Belichick and the coaching staff also had a message for the team upon their arrival.
“Just enjoy it,” Peppers said of Belichick’s message. “At the end of the day, we know we’ve got a job to do and that’s to come away with a win. Nothing’s more important than winning.”
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