The Patriots are away – far away – this Sunday when they face off against the St. Louis Rams.
In an effort to globalize the game of football, the NFL has scheduled games overseas in London and that’s where the Patriots will hope to put a royal beat down on the Rams.
But a trip across the pond can offer a lot for a team. We saw the Celtics bond overseas in 2007, and they went back this season. Now the Pats head there – albeit in a completely different situation and shorter time period. Even so, Tom Brady sees it as a chance to come together.
“I think there’s definitely an element of that, yeah,” Brady said. “Yeah, I think you’re together for extended periods of time, which is always fun. People are away from all their other commitments, certainly. At a home game, there are a lot of commitments that different players have, so when you go away, sometimes it’s really nice for the players to get some rest, to get some extra preparation, that extra time with your coaches. On this particular trip, we have more time than that.”
The Patriots will take the red eye flight tonight. The Rams, however, are already in London. Rams coach Jeff Fisher elected to “put the travel behind us and the time difference behind us and get settled”.
Brady and the Pats hope to do the same upon arrival.
“We’re leaving a few days early and it’s going the opposite direction, so I think it’s going to be important to get there and kind of get used to the environment a little bit,” Brady said.
It’s a big game, too. If the Patriots bring home a victory, they’ll be 5-3 heading into their bye week. It may not be the record everybody envisioned, but they’d be in first place in the division with one of the best records in the AFC. If they lose, though, look out. At 4-4, they’ll want to either bury themselves deep inside the Gillette Stadium walls, or go somewhere far, far away.
“But [the Rams] are going to make us earn it,” Brady said. “This is a good team that provides a lot of tough challenges and we’ve already lost to two of these NFC teams, which they’ve actually beaten.”
