Shaquill and Shaquem Griffin were sure to get as much sleep as possible on the Seattle Seahawks’ charter flight to London Wednesday evening but they did so under very different circumstances.
“I had the first-class seat where it lays all the way down like a bed, so I wasn’t used to that,” Shaquill said during the twins’ joint press conference. “I’m mostly in the back with the seats standing straight up, so my neck be hurting sometimes. This plane was really nice. Pete (Carroll) definitely made sure we were comfortable on this one.”
His twin brother Shaquem, however, didn’t get so lucky.
“The rookies didn’t have that seat, I don’t know what he’s talking about,” Shaquem explained with a smile. “We really were closed off, so it was cool, I didn’t get that experience of it. I was definitely comfortable, and I slept well. They had it blocked off, so we didn’t know what was going on with the vets.
“I’m pretty sure they were living good up there, but you know we got here safely.”
The Seahawks were certain to look after all their players on the long flight to London, providing them a sleep schedule the week ahead of the matchup and noise-canceling earbuds and face masks for the plane ride.
“You can see everybody dialed in as soon as we got off the flight,” Shaquill continued. “Everybody got their rest, we came in and got a quick meal and hit the practice field. You could see how everybody hit the ground running, so you could see the focus is still there. You can tell that everybody is having fun and just enjoying the experience of being here in London and out of the country, but you can see that we’re still here for business.”
Adjusting to the eight-hour time differential won’t be easy, but the Raiders, who are also traveling from the West Coast, must face the same set of circumstances prior to Sunday’s contest.
“And we brought a little bit of rain from Seattle so I think it might be raining a little bit in the game, so we did bring a couple things with us in our bag so you know that’s going to work to our advantage, (just) bringing a little rain,” Shaquill said.
The Seahawks and Raiders are slated to kick off at 10 a.m. PT Seattle time on Sunday.
