How Patriots plan to attack jet lag issue in Germany

FOXBOROUGH – Mac Jones is a creature of habit.

During the NFL season, the Patriots quarterback gets on a regimented routine. He precisely plans out his days with scheduled sleeping and awake times. His routine also involves his diet (when to eat), practice, workout, recovery, and when to watch film. It all leads up to Sunday where he wants his body ready to play.

This week, in preparation for playing in Frankfurt, Germany, Jones changed his routine to acclimate his body before the team’s plan lands on Friday morning. That’s why when the Patriots quarterback left Gillette Stadium around 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, he was headed home to go to sleep. At that point, it was around midnight in Frankfurt.

“I have a game plan and it’s already in effect,” Jones said. “They talked to us about it a little bit and all that stuff. At the end of the day, stick to your routine but maybe move it up or move it back depending on how that fits for you. I’ve definitely done that.”

The Patriots departed from New England on Thursday evening and landed in Frankfurt around midnight Eastern time. However, they arrived in Germany around 6 a.m. Central European Standard Time. That’s why Jones went to bed earlier and earlier every night leading up to the flight. His goal was to avoid jet lag before the Patriots Sunday matchup against the Indianapolis Colts.

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The Patriots plan of attack for this weekend is different from the Miami Dolphins. Last week, Mike McDaniel took his squad to Germany for the week to give his players plenty of time to acclimate to the new time zone. That was different from the Kansas City Chiefs.

Kansas City coach Andy Reid took his team down to Germany on Thursday evening, which is the same thing that Bill Belichick is doing with the Patriots. In the end, the Dolphins plan of attack didn’t give them an advantage since the Chiefs won, 21-14.

Belichick said the Patriots did the same thing when they played in London in 2012.

“Well, we get there on Friday morning, so Thursday night is sleeping on the airplane,” Belichick said. “We’ll lose six hours, or whatever it is. Friday, minus the six hours between the end of practice on Thursday and the start of the day on Friday. So, similar situation to what we had in our other games in London, so we’ll be on that kind of schedule.

“We’ve obviously experienced it, looked at other teams in other situations, and tried to gain as much as we can from that. It is what it is. You can’t change what the situation is, but you try to minimize it and do the best you can with it. So, that’s what we’ll do.”

The Patriots staff spoke with players this week about things they could do to avoid jet lag come game time. For David Andrews, that meant trying to sleep on the plane on Thursday and then not going to bed after practice on Friday.

The Patriots center said he’ll make sure not to connect to WI-FI on the Patriots team plane. That way, he’ll have no choice but to try and close his eyes.

“Both teams are dealing with it. It’s not like the Colts are based out of Germany. There’s not really one big advantage there for either team. It’s just part of it,” Andrews said. “Talked about things we can do – we practice on Friday but then not going right to your room and passing out. You got to try to stay away and acclimate to that time schedule. Things like that.

“If you don’t have WI-FI there’s really nothing else to do besides try to sleep. That’s what I try to do – even going out west or some of the longer, Miami and Texas trips. I think you try to sleep and try to get as much as you can on Thursday night and then really, Friday and Saturday obviously, hopefully get on that schedule and get some rest.”

The Patriots are scheduled to practice around 2 p.m. in Frankfurt on Friday. It’ll be 8 a.m. back in Foxborough when that occurs and the team will have been in Germany for eight hours by that point. When the Patriots play on Sunday, it’ll be 9:30 a.m. back home, but 3:30 p.m. in Frankfurt.

For most of the players, other than Slater and Jalen Mills, who both played in London, this will be a new experience.

“Just try to get some sleep. I think that will help,” Hunter Henry said. “I don’t know how it’s going to be yet. I haven’t done an overseas game. I’m just going to have to take it step by step. Try to attack my sleep and recovery as much as I can.”