How has the jet lag impacted the 49ers this week ahead of Dolphins game?
· Yahoo Sports
The San Francisco 49ers have had a different week of preparation than usual ahead of their Week 2 game against the Miami Dolphins, as they’ve had to deal with the aftermath of their Australia travel.
After their Thursday night game last week, the 49ers are back to playing on Sunday this week, and head coach Kyle Shanahan acknowledged it did take a few days after returning to get back to normal with the jet lag, which was the biggest challenge of the week.
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“The biggest challenge when we first got here was getting over the jet lag, just like it was when we went out there,” Shanahan said to NBC Sports Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco. “But we got the extra days to do that. We got back Friday. Saturday, Sunday was pretty rough. Monday wasn’t great. But by Tuesday we felt normal. Saw the players on Wednesday, none of them were complaining. So once the week started, I felt that was over.
“And I always feel whether it’s Australia, whether it’s the Greenbrier, we go places for a week, usually once a year, but it’s always a challenge when you get back to get the focus. I think one of the benefits to being in a hotel all week, you never want to be away from your family too long and stuff like that, but when you are in a hotel, you have nowhere else to go. You get back from practice, you’re done with your meetings, and your bedroom’s upstairs. There’s no family waiting for you at home, for the players, for the coaches, so you’re all kind of just around there. So you just hunker, hover around, you talk football a little bit longer, players are around longer. There’s nothing to do but just focus exactly on that game.
“And I always think when you come back, then you got your family you haven’t seen in a week, you just got other things, you go home at night, and it’s just about regaining that focus that everything is about those 3.5 hours on Sunday. And it’s something you got to work to and get ready for, but that’s what I’ve experienced the most when we’ve done it the weeks away.”
With people overcoming jet lag, Shanahan did notice that things were slower earlier in the week before the team was back to normal by the start of practices on Wednesday.
“I think [the team’s response] has been great,” Shanahan said. “When I saw them Monday, it was just to review some of the game and stuff meeting-wise. I thought we were dragging a little bit. But by the time that we got to Wednesday, which is the first real day, guys were great in the meetings, attentive. We’ve had 3 good days of practice and guys are ready to go.”
The NFL has had international games in the past, but this has definitely been the biggest adjustment for a team, which is why we’ve seen both Sean McVay and Kyle Shanahan speak up about their frustrations. The Rams, who had a much different travel schedule, looked flat in Week 1. We’ll see now how the 49ers respond as a major favorite against the Dolphins in Week 2.