Getty Images

In their first road trip under new head coach Adam Gase, the Miami Dolphins are making an early departure for Seattle.

The Dolphins plan to leave for Seattle following practice on Thursday. The flight from Miami to Seattle serves as the longest intracontinental trip on the NFL schedule. It’s a trip Miami hasn’t made since 2004. The last time the Dolphins played in Seattle, Jerry Rice scored the first touchdown of the game for the Seahawks.

Gase said the decision was made with the hope of getting the team fully acclimated before kickoff on Sunday.

“Just kind of some of the research that we did with guys from other sports, as far as guys going from East coast to West coast,” Gase said with Seattle reporters on a conference call Wednesday. “With this being the first game of the year we were actually able to do it and we felt like if we could get out there a day earlier than we normally do, we felt like we had a chance to get our guys out and practice, but we could use that Thursday as a travel day. We were able to do a short meeting on Thursday, jump on the plane, get there. We’re going to do one thing so we can get guys kind of moving around a little bit, then practice Friday and Saturday do our walk thru. We just wanted to try to give our guys the best chance they could to feel as good as they could heading into Sunday.”

The trip to Seattle comes three full days before the game against the Seahawks. Some teams in recent years have remained away from home for a full week surrounding back-to-back lengthy road trips. Many teams leave two days early for lengthy cross-country flights. However, the opening week added the additional flexibility for an additional day in Seattle to adjust to the three time zone difference.