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The Los Angeles Rams’ practice schedule leading up to their Week 14 game against the Philadelphia Eagles has been altered due to the presence of wildfires in California.
According to ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez, the Rams will not practice on Wednesday due to poor air quality caused by the fires in Ventura Country. Instead, the team will hold a walk-through. More info:
Rams will gauge the air quality at the facility on Wednesday to decide whether they need to practice elsewhere on Thursday. And they pretty much have a place in mind if that's the case. A Wednesday walk-through, which will take place near their facility, isn't a big deal for them. That's what Wednesdays have basically become for them anyway, with several veterans taking rest days midweek. They're in pads on Thursdays. That's the big one for them.
Unlike the Rams, the Eagles’ schedule hasn’t been impacted by the wildfires. The Birds are lodging in Costa Mesa this week and practicing at the Angel Stadium of Anaheim. That’s well south of where the fires have taken place.
The #Eagles are practicing about 100 miles away from the Ventura County wildfires. This is something to watch, though. Santa Ana winds are causing fires across southern California. pic.twitter.com/BvlM7S5UtQ
— Aaron Kasinitz (@AaronKazreports) December 6, 2017
After losing to the Seahawks, Doug Pederson and players alike mentioned that the Eagles haven’t had good weeks of practice leading up to their last two games.
Q. You talked last night about, and one of the players mentioned, that you didn't think it was a great week of practice. Can you tell us a little bit more about that?
DOUG PEDERSON: Well, we obviously pride ourselves in our work and getting our work done during the week. I feel strongly about -- you win games during the week, and sometimes things come up and as a coach, you're always maybe a little more nervous than you should be, the way we practice. I just think that the way -- probably in the last couple of weeks -- what you saw probably previously to the last two weeks, you didn't see the penalties. You didn't see the turnovers. You didn't see some of the negative things that have been going on. And to me, that's a direct correlation to how we practice during the week. So that's what I mean by that. And we've got to get that erased this week.
The team will be looking to correct those issues while away from their normal practice environment at the NovaCare Complex in South Philly. The Eagles decided they’d rather stay out on the West Coast than make four cross-country trips in the span of two weeks.
The Eagles and Rams are set to play at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in L.A. on Sunday at 4:25 PM Eastern.
Below are some crazy scenes from the fires out west. Here’s hoping for everyone’s safety.
Los Angeles near the Getty Center looks like Mordor right now. pic.twitter.com/ET6f1gkmre
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) December 6, 2017
fire in Southern California pic.twitter.com/WrcypiotW9
— Ram Bhakt -MARCOS (@dsanjeebkumar) December 6, 2017