Time Zone Trends
By Kevin Rogers
VegasInsider.com
There isn’t a great deal of travel in the NFL compared to the NBA, MLB, and NHL due to the length of the season. However, flying across the country for a Sunday afternoon game isn’t the easiest task as many of these teams going either from the east coast to west coast or vice versa have struggled. The numbers were very telling last season that these teams struggled from a straight-up standpoint, but did those numbers translate from the against the spread perspective?
For the purposes of this discussion, ten teams that play in the Central and Mountain Time Zones were not included since they never travel more than two time zones during the season. These teams include the Bears, Cowboys, Broncos, Packers, Texans, Colts, Chiefs, Vikings, Saints, and Titans. The Cardinals are the exception to the rule since the state of Arizona doesn’t observe Daylight Savings Time as September through November this team plays on Pacific Time at home. From November through January, the Cardinals are on Mountain Time, so we’ll include them as one of the 22 teams that can travel three time zones.
In 2015, teams that play in the Eastern Time Zone traveled three time zones 16 times, as these clubs won straight-up only four times. However, these squads posted an 8-8 ATS record, as the only team that won twice out west was Cincinnati, who beat Oakland and San Francisco, while covering in a loss at Arizona. East coast teams that were listed as favorites compiled a 2-4 SU/ATS mark, but the underdogs struggled with a 2-8 SU record in spite of covering six of 10 times.
Flipping it around with the five teams that traveled from west to east (Cardinals, Raiders, Chargers, 49ers, and Seahawks), those squads put together a 6-10 SU and 9-6-1 ATS record in 16 opportunities last season. The ‘over’ hit in 11 of 16 games, as the Cardinals and 49ers each went 3-1 to the ‘over’ when traveling to the east coast. San Francisco was winless in four trips to the east coast, falling to the Steelers, Giants, Browns, and Lions with three of those defeats coming by double-digits.
This season, there are 43 situations in which teams travel three time zones, but that number has been jacked up due to the AFC East facing the NFC West and the NFC South taking on the AFC West in interconference play. With the Rams moving from St. Louis to Los Angeles this season, that makes for more opportunities of teams traveling across the country. The Rams, Cardinals, and 49ers all travel to the east coast four times each in 2016, while the Seahawks venture to the east coast for three contests.
The Buccaneers avoided long road trips in 2015, but Tampa Bay heads west for three separate trips this season. In Week 2, Tampa Bay travels to Arizona, one week after the Cardinals host the Patriots. The Bucs venture to California twice in a seven-week span, going to San Francisco in Week 7 and San Diego in Week 13. The Falcons also have it rough with three games on the west coast, including twice to the Golden State. Atlanta heads to Oakland in Week 2 and Los Angeles in Week 14, while making a trek to Seattle in Week 6 one week following a trip to face the defending champion Broncos in Denver.
Three times in 2016 teams will play consecutive games on the opposite coast, but all will likely remain there for those two weeks. The Panthers head west in Week 12 to battle the Raiders in Oakland, followed by a playoff rematch in Week 13 at Seattle. The Raiders travel to Florida for back-to-back games in Weeks 7 and 8 against Jacksonville and Tampa Bay, while the Dolphins go to California for contests against the Chargers in Week 10 and the Rams in Week 11.
Not one team in the AFC North (Bengals, Browns, Ravens, and Steelers) travels more than two time zones this season. The Giants are the only NFC East squad that doesn’t venture west of Texas, but New York battles Los Angeles in London in Week 7 (Cowboys excluded being in Central Time Zone).
As the Rams return to Los Angeles for the first time since 1994, the landscape of travel changes with no more trips to St. Louis. Four eastern teams make the longer trip from what would have been eastern Missouri to southern California this season with the Rams’ move as the Bills (Week 5), Panthers (Week 9), Dolphins (Week 11), and Falcons (Week 14) all travel to Los Angeles this season.