BLOG: Ravens Travel Day
Have you ever wondered what goes on the day before a game? I've been through the process a few times in my day, so here is a little insight on the Ravens' itinerary today.
Around 11:00am, the Ravens will kick the day off with meetings for an hour or so, followed by an hour long walkthrough. The team will then eat lunch before boarding the bus for the train station. For short trips like this, teams will charter a train in lieu of a plane. The team arrives in Philadelphia and gets checked into the hotel around 5:00pm and players will usually be on their own until around 8:00pm, when the second round of meetings start. Special Teams meetings are first and then the guys will break off into their Offensive and Defensive meetings. The entire team will come back together for a meeting before having a snack around 9:30-10pm tonight. This isn't your typical bedtime snack though; Haloti Ngata and Terrence Cody are big guys who like to eat; pasta, burgers, chicken, and ice cream are just a few of the things that will be on the menu. After this everyone heads upstairs to hit the hay, with a bed check usually coming around 11:00pm.
There may be a few differences, but the eve of an NFL game is pretty much the same for every team around the league. The routine will be changed slightly once Week 1 rolls around, but not that much. In fact, the biggest change will be the number of hotel rooms the Ravens need to reserve.