When the Dallas Cowboys and Baltimore Ravens head to Brazil this week, both teams will be dealing with a travel situation that no other NFL team has ever had to face. The NFL has essentially turned the Cowboys and Ravens into guinea pigs this week. For the Cowboys, they'll be the first team in NFL history to fly at least 5,000 miles for a game and not get a bye the following week.
The flight from Dallas to Rio de Janeiro will cover roughly 5,220 miles, meaning the Cowboys will cover nearly 10,500 miles round trip. As for the Ravens, they'll be covering 4,781 miles on the flight from Baltimore to Rio. Baltimore also won't be getting a bye in Week 4.
Every other NFL team that has ever covered that kind of distance during the season has always gotten an extended break before their next game. For instance, the Rams flew 5,456 miles to London for a Week 7 game against the Jaguars last season, but they got a bye in Week 8. The Rams and 49ers made NFL history when both teams flew more than 7,800 miles to Australia for their Week 1 game in Melbourne, but they got 10 days of rest before their next game (the Rams actually got 11 days since they didn't play until Monday night in Week 2).
The NFL has held two prior games in Brazil, but both of those games were played in Week 1, so the teams involved got extra rest heading into Week 2. That won't be the case for Baltimore and Dallas. After playing in Rio, the Cowboys and Ravens won't be getting a break because both teams are scheduled to play in Week 4.
The Cowboys will hit the road to face the Texans, while the Ravens will host the Titans. The game in Rio will be kicking off at 5:25 p.m. local time (Rio is one hour ahead of Eastern Time), which means both teams likely won't be on a flight back to the United States until after midnight. The flight from Rio to Dallas is more than 10 hours, so the Cowboys might not be back in Dallas until nearly noon on Monday.
Before this week, the farthest any team had traveled without getting a bye came last year when the Broncos made a 4,670-mile trip to London in Week 6 to face the Jets before flying home to face the Giants in Week 7. The Broncos won both games, but they went 0-2 against the spread (They were favored by seven over the Jets and by 7.5 over the Giants). The 2021 Dolphins are the only other team that traveled at least 4,400 miles for a game without getting a bye the following week, and here's how their two games played out: The Dolphins had the same exact issue as the Broncos in their first game back.
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