The Los Angeles Rams' trip to Australia in Week 1 was such a nightmare that Sean McVay never wants to go back. The Rams created a bold travel plan for the game, and it totally backfired. McVay's team arrived in Melbourne just one day before the game, which didn't give the players enough time to adjust to the 17-hour time difference and it showed.
The Rams got run off the field in a 27-7 loss to the 49ers. During a press conference on Thursday, McVay was asked how his team has processed the Week 1 loss. He would prefer forget the Australia game ever happened.
"I want to see us be present right now and move forward," McVay said. "That game is so far. … It's almost like you try to do the 'Men in Black' thing where you say, 'Hey, I don't remember what happened. That was so long ago.'" The "Men in Black" thing McVay is referring to is the Neuralyzer that the agents use to wipe your mind.
Not only does McVay want his mind wiped of all memories of the game, but he also doesn't want to make any new memories in Australia because he never wants to play there again. "We're not playing in Australia ever again, I hope," McVay said. "Not because it wasn't a great atmosphere, that'll get taken out of context." To be fair, there's not much to take out of context here: McVay simply doesn't want to play in Australia ever again, and by publicly stating that fact, he's probably hoping the NFL will take that into account when creating future schedules.
The problem with McVay's wish is that the Rams hold the international marketing rights in Australia, so the NFL could certainly send them Down Under again in the future. The good news for the Rams is that there are three other teams that hold marketing rights in Australia -- the Eagles, Seahawks and Raiders -- so the NFL might look to send one of those teams for the next game that's sent Down Under (and there will definitely be another game). It's not clear yet if the Australia game will be an annual thing, but the NFL has already said there will be future games.
The NFL commissioner made that clear during an interview back in April. "There's no question that we're going to be playing here again," Roger Goodell said of playing Australia. "Our view is that we're coming here for the long term.
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