Zak Keefer

zak.keefer@indystar.com

Jet lag, anyone?

We’ll see.

Come October, the Indianapolis Colts will be the first team in NFL history to not have a bye week after playing a game in London. And the surprising part: The Colts chose this.

According to Peter King of The MMQB, the league asked the Colts if they wanted the bye following their Week 4 game in London vs. Jacksonville. The Colts deferred, instead telling the league they’d rather have it later in the season. The NFL obliged; the Colts’ bye week doesn’t arrive until Week 10, in mid-November.

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That means the Colts will face off against the Jaguars in London on Sunday, Oct. 3, return to Indianapolis after the game (arriving roughly a 2 a.m. Monday) then have to prepare for the Chicago Bears, who visit Lucas Oil Stadium that next Sunday.

The Colts’ decision makes sense on a couple of levels. Both coaches and players prefer having a bye later in the season as to opposed to earlier in the year, and when you throw in the fact that the Colts will play not four but five preseason games (with the Hall of Fame Game) this season’s going to feel a lot longer than last year. A break in mid-November will come at the right time.

Dr. Robert Klizman, a sports medicine orthopedic surgeon with Indiana University Health, however, said the extra travel time -- approximately four hours longer than a West Coast trip -- could be a factor.

"The biggest issue here is travel time, which cuts into the time that would normally go towards training and recovering from injuries," said Klitzman, who, coincidentally, just got back from Spring Break trip to London last week. "Being in a confined space for several hours only adds to stiffness and soreness, which can slow recovery and cause injuries to linger. I had a stiff neck but I didn't just get beat up in a football game. Just imagine how these professional athletes-who are considerably larger than me-would feel."

The London game, beyond the long travel, isn’t any more taxing on a team than a Monday night game, or the quick turnaround required for Thursday Night Football. All told the Colts will play three prime time games in 2016, down from five each of the past two seasons.

IndyStar reporter Dana Hunsinger Benbow contributed to this story. Call IndyStar Colts Insider Zak Keefer at (317) 444-6134 and follow him on Twitter: @zkeefer.

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