The Vikings coach is upset at the NFL for a short week's trip to the L.A and here's why he's right



[ad_1]

The guys who make the NFL schedule may want to avoid Mike Zimmer at the next league meeting because the Vikings coach is not happy with them now.

Specifically, Zimmer is upset that his team has to travel to Los Angeles for Thursday's game against the Rams. Basically, not only are the Vikings dealing with a short week, but they will lose nearly six hours of preparation as they have to travel to the West Coast (flight four hours plus travel time to the airport and check in your hotel , etc., etc.).

At a press conference Tuesday, Zimmer made it clear that he was not happy with the situation.

"Yes, it's a problem," said Zimmer, via the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

Zimmer seems to have two problems with the NFL planning office. First, the Vikings never had to play a short home game during his four seasons as a Minnesota coach.

"We have not played a home game for a week since I've been here for five years," Zimmer said.

During Zimmer's time in Minnesota, the Vikings played five games on Thursday. Although the Vikings played one of those at home, this match came after the Vikings played Thanksgiving.

The other problem of Zimmer is that traveling across the country for a short week puts your team at a disadvantage.

"That's what it is, we go out and play the schedule as they do," Zimmer said. "I know the statistics for a short week on the West Coast and all the rest of it." One of the reasons we go out [Tuesday]we did a study on the preparation of a match over a short week, all those things. "

More NFL

These statistics to which Zimmer refers to painting an ugly image for the Vikings in view of Thursday's game, that is why he is quite right to be upset. Since the reincarnation of Thursday night football In 2006, only 10 teams had to do what Minnesota is doing this week: two time zones to the west for a Thursday game.

During these 10 games, the visiting team went from 0 to 10 and failed to cover the spread every 10 times. We touched on this travel topic earlier this week and if you click hereyou can see what happened in each of these 10 games.

The only advantage of the Vikings is that their players seem eager to return to the field after losing 27-6 to the Bills. Kyle Rudolph seems very happy to play Thursday.

"The best thing about this is that we play in four days, so you do not have time to wonder how badly we played," Rudolph said via the team's official website. . "The best way to bounce back after such a bad performance is to play well.Luckily, it's not necessary to wait seven days to play well."

Receiver Adam Thielen seemed to agree with taking Rudolph.

"If something, [the Buffalo loss] it's easier to go out on a Thursday night because we want to come back to the field and show that we are not the team we showed [against the Bills]"Thielen said.

If the Vikings were to win, they would be the first team since the New York Giants in 1995 to fly two time zones to the west over a short week and win a victory. Twenty-three years ago, the Giants won 10 to 6 against the Cardinals. From 2006 to 2017, this travel scenario only occurred 10 times. However, this will happen twice in 2018. In addition to the Vikings, the Packers will be in this situation when they will be heading to Seattle for a match from Thursday to the 11th week.

[ad_2]
Source link