It’s a long flight to Brazil. And the Eagles are about to experience it.
The Eagles on Wednesday will board a massive jet and take the 9 1/2-hour flight from Philadelphia to São Paulo ahead of Friday night’s season opener against the Packers.
And the entirety of the flight is coming during waking hours by design.
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“The best thing to do is get there, get a good meal, get a good night of sleep and hit the ground running on Thursday,” Eagles assistant GM Jon Ferrari said.
The Eagles have consulted with doctors, trainers and more to come up with their plan of attack for Brazil. And because there’s just a one-hour time difference, they aren’t spending much time in São Paulo. They will fly to Brazil on Wednesday and leave right after the game ends on Friday night.
But part of the plan is starting Thursday in Brazil after a good night of sleep. So the Eagles are encouraging their players to try to stay awake on the flight to São Paulo.
How will the Eagles occupy themselves for 9 1/2 hours on a flight?
NFL
We asked a bunch of them:
K Jake Elliott: “Oh man, probably a bunch of movies and probably bring a book along. I haven’t read a good book in a while.”
Do you have a book ready?
“I just started reading, actually, Covey’s grandpa’s book — ‘7 Habits of Highly Effective People.’ I think I’ll probably give that a deeper dive.”
LB Nakobe Dean: “I’m probably going to try to download some shows or movies or something. I usually don’t even watch TV that much, so I’m going to have my girlfriend recommend something. Other than that, I’m trying not to go to sleep. I’m going to try to stay up the whole time. If I get my wifi going good, I might try to play some chess with Mo (Moro Ojomo) and Nolan (Smith) on the iPhone, the iMessage games.”
P Braden Mann: “I don’t know which movies I’m going to download yet. I’ll just hang out with guys. I’m usually a movie guy on the plane. If we have a long flight like this, we’ll just try to come up with some games to play or do whatever on the plane. We can play some fun card games and whatnot, just anything to pretend we’re not on a plane.”
OLB Patrick Johnson: “I’m for sure going to download some movies, download the wifi. Probably get on social media, chill out. I do that on my off days anyway so that’s going to be nothing really different for me.”
Anything in particular?
“No, I’ve been watching everything. But anything that’s new out on Netflix or Hulu or Amazon Prime.”
RB Will Shipley: “I think there’s a bunch of things. I think I’ll probably go over the game plan a couple times, the protections a couple times. Definitely watch some Netflix. I’m sure they’ll have some wifi on there so I’ll keep in touch with my fiancé and my family members. And I think that will fill a good amount of it.”
What are you watching on Netflix?
“‘Prison Break.’ I just got into it. It’s amazing. It’s a bit of an older TV show but my fiancé and I, we’re binge watching it.”
Are you going to get in trouble if you skip ahead?
“Nah, I’m sure I can talk to her and maybe we can watch episodes and reconvene after and talk about what happened. And if she doesn’t let me watch them, then I’ll find something else.”
TE Dallas Goedert: “I think I’m going to take a couple naps maybe. But I’m going to start watching ‘Your Honor.’ I’ve gotten a lot of recommendations. It’s a Netflix show. I think there’s two seasons, so I should be able to make my way through that quite a bit. It’s a show, Avonte (Maddox) would know more, but it’s about judges, trials or something. Something to do with people in court. A lot of people say it’s real good, so I’m going to give that a shot.”
DB Avonte Maddox: “I’ll definitely probably take a nap. I’m going to download me some shows too. I’m not sure which shows. I’m not really watching one yet. But I’ll probably download a show and watch that.”
WR Britain Covey: “Well, I just bought a new book and I’m thinking of getting lost in it. It’s some fantasy book. I think it’s definitely meant for teenagers but I figure I can relate to my younger sibling-in-laws by reading it. It’s called ‘Sky’s End.’”
DT Thomas Booker IV: “Personally, I’ve been watching this show called ‘The Boys.’ I’ll probably watch some of that, along with some film. And then, they’re telling us to stay awake as long as we can but I think the sleep might get me. The Sandman might get me.”
OLB Bryce Huff: “Watch some film, probably watch a couple shows. Nothing that I’ve been watching. I think I’ll find out if I can download some stuff.”
DT Jalen Carter: “Sleep. That’s all. I’m probably just going to sleep the whole time. If I wake up, I might throw on a movie or something.”
LB Jeremiah Trotter Jr.: “Honestly, it’s probably going to be a mix of going over the game plan and watching movies and whatnot. Maybe take a nap. It’s the longest flight I’ve ever been on, honestly, so trying to figure out different ways to pass the time.”
QB Kenny Pickett: “Oh man. On the way home, I’ll be sleeping for sure because it’ll be at night. On the way there, Cam Jurgens recommended ‘The Wire,’ so I downloaded two seasons of ‘The Wire.’”
You’ve never seen it?
“I never did. And I’m a show guy so a lot riding on his recommendation. That will probably take up a lot of the time. We’ll study a little bit extra too.”
TE Grant Calcaterra: “Watch movies or shows. Some guys will bring cards, play some games and whatnot. I’m watching ‘Narcos’ right now. I’m almost done with that, so I’ll probably finish that. Beyond that, I don’t really know.”
CB Isaiah Rodgers: “I’ll probably start off with a movie. Then go to my music and then go to sleep. I plan on being real sleepy by the time we go out so I can sleep the whole entire flight if I could. But I plan on listening to music. I just go shuffle on the music.”
OL Trevor Keegan: “Uhhh, hopefully download some good movies or download a TV show. But I feel like I’ve watched every TV show so I’ve got to come up with something new. Either that, sleep or I might download Jetpack Joyride or something. Some games or something to get my mind off of it.”
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