LONDON—Looking at pictures of the Redskins’ arrival at their downtown hotel made me wonder if the team did the right thing in trying to make the week as close to a “regular” week as possible.

The players were quiet and obviously tired as they arrived. Some people can sleep on a plane, some can’t. It appears that there are more Redskins who can’t. And less than four hours after that video was taken they have to be out on the field practicing to make their final preparations for a game that will be played about 48 hours after those busses pulled up.

It’s not a regular week so trying to pretend that it is amounts to ignoring reality when reality is not convenient. That rarely ends well.

Some teams head across the pond immediately following their games on Sunday. They get here on Monday and they get a week to get used to the five-hour time difference from the East Coast. By the time Friday rolls around they are ready for a crisp practice and their body clocks are normal when they take the field on Sunday.

Should the Redskins have taken this approach? Would it have been better for them to come here straight from Detroit and do their work here?

Perhaps but there really isn’t any evidence to suggest that a less jet lagged team is necessarily the better team on Sunday. You don’t have to go back any further than last week, in fact, for some anecdotal evidence to the contrary. The Rams came out early the week and the Giants rolled in Friday morning like the Redskins did. Final score, Giants 17, Rams 10.

To be sure, that result may have had more to do with Case Keenum (4 interceptions) being the Rams’ quarterback than it had to do with any sleep patterns.

This week, both teams are working at an equal let lag disadvantage. The Bengals also arrived Friday morning so it should just cancel out.

But if the Redskins have a flat, sluggish performance on Sunday, something they can do for Sunday 1 pm Eastern games in the states, there will be those who question their scheduling for the week. While it may end up being a much-discussed topic it seems unlikely that time zone adjustment will be a factor in the outcome of the game.