I'll admit that it's kind of hard to discuss things that can affect winning a football game when your team does so much to try and NOT win football games. I mention this because the primary talking point of the week has landed in our laps courtesy of Josh McDaniels travel plans. The Denver Broncos apparently won't be leaving for London until Thursday, with their arrival press conference scheduled for Friday at lunch time in London.
The 49ers have a whole lot of issues to deal with, so it's hard to get excited for something potentially benefitting the team in a given game. However, the jet lag factor would seem to be an issue. It seems like the Broncos figure the less time they spend in London, the less chance for distractions getting in the way of their preparation. Getting a chance to prepare in your own city and sleep in your own bed would seem to be a plus in their mind.
On the other side of things the 49ers left for London last night and arrived this morning. This is counted as a home game on their schedule, and it would seem like this travel itinerary would be the closest to giving this a home town sort of feel. The team is staying just outside London, although public transportation does make downtown London readily accessible to the players. Will this lead to distractions? How long until we get a picture of Vernon Davis standing next to the Buckingham Palace guards? Speaking of which, I definitely think we'll need a picture of one of those guards with somebody holding a 49ers jersey in front of him.
Looking at this in the perspective of actually trying to win the game, which process would seem to be an advantage: the 49ers decision to leave straight from Charlotte and get into London Monday morning, or the Broncos plan to practice in Denver and leave for London at the end of the week?