KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Kansas City Chiefs will head to Sao Paulo, Brazil this week to begin the regular season against the Los Angeles Chargers.
There is drastic adjustments for players when it comes to getting prepared for international travel.
According to Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes, the Chiefs past experiences playing internationally has prepared them for the challenge, but it isn’t easy.
“I just look at the time of preparation that people did. They try to do it so it’s not any problem with players or coaches. They try to keep us out of it,” Reid said.
“The work that goes on behind the scenes is crazy. You’re moving up, basically, a whole crew to go down there for a couple days. It’s quite a challenge. You got different medical staffs that aren’t quite as familiar with what we’re doing. It’s an interesting process, but our guys have gotten pretty efficient with it over the years.”
This will be the Chiefs fourth international game under Reid, with games in London, Mexico City, Germany and now Brazil.
“I’m super excited,” Mahomes said. “It’ll be a great experience and great chance to show who we are worldwide. I know the fanbase in Brazil is extremely is excited as well.”
Mahomes particularly credited the team’s experience with Germany has helped him with adjusting his body with the long flight and time difference.
“I think it’s gonna be a similar effect as Germany, except Germany you were way ahead, so it won’t be as crazy as far as how you figure out your sleep. I think it’s about managing the plane ride and keeping yourself moving whenever you have opportunities to, but the trainers and coaches have really done the research and they understand what we need to do, so now it’s just going out there and playing football.”
Something else working in the Chiefs favor has been their unconventional schedule over the past few seasons. Last season, they played on six of the seven days of the week.
“I think the blessing that we’ve had over these last few years is we’ve had a lot of crazy schedules. You kind of go with the flow. You trust in the decisions that our operations and our coaches kind of plan for us throughout the offseason, then we just try to execute that at a high level,” Mahomes said.
The Chiefs kickoff against the Chargers on Friday at 7 p.m.
