NEW YORK — The Giants are taking more time to adjust to the three-hour West Coast time change than the Los Angeles Rams did to make the 11-hour switch for their season opener in Australia.

John Harbaugh is flying the Giants to L.A. on Saturday night for the team’s Week 2 Monday Night Football game at SoFi Stadium instead of the making the traditional day-before trip on Sunday to The Golden State.

The reason? Harbaugh said he picked it up from Andy Reid while working as a Philadelphia Eagles assistant from 1998 through 2007, and it’s designed to maximize player performance.

“I think it’s just been good,” Harbaugh said Wednesday after a walkthrough practice. “We did it in Philadelphia all those years, too. You get a chance to get your clocks set. We go out late so the guys are up a little later on a travel night two days before. We try to get them ready to be at their peak at night. That’s kind of the idea. The same thing we did at home [for Sunday Night Football in Week 1], but now it’s on the road.”

The Giants’ decision to fly out early is especially interesting in the context of the scrutiny the Rams received for their last-minute travel to Australia for last week’s 27-7 loss to San Francisco 49ers in Melbourne.

The 49ers traveled to Australia the week prior to their international Week 1 opener to get acclimated to the severe time change.

The Rams waited until that Tuesday night to board a 16-hour flight landing in Australia on Thursday morning. Then they got one night’s sleep and played the game at 10:35 a.m. local time Friday.

McVay contended that the Rams’ lack of execution was the reason for the loss, not their travel itinerary, even with some coaches caught yawning on the sideline on camera.

“I don’t believe that’s why we didn’t play well enough,” McVay said after the Super Bowl favorites fell to 0-1. “I really don’t. I’ll always make decisions that I think are best for the football team. It’s easy in hindsight to be able to say it was a miss, but those are responsibilities that I’ll take and you try to be able to look at it.”

One element McVay did say was lacking from the Rams, though, was their on-field communication.

“I didn’t think we communicated very well on both sides of the football,” McVay said.

And interestingly enough, veteran NFL defensive coordinator Wink Martindale told the New York Daily News that communication also is what he remembers was lacking during a 31-28 win in Arizona in 2023, when the Giants only flew in the day before.

“When we went out to play Arizona, we went out the day before, and it’s like you’re trying to catch up,” Martindale said on the Talkin’ Ball with Pat Leonard podcast. “We played better in the second half than we did in the first half in Arizona, because everything was lethargic from the play to the communication.

“The communication was the biggest thing that jumped out to me,” he added.

So Martindale, who worked for Harbaugh in Baltimore, said the Giants’ flight out West will be to their advantage.

Starting left guard Jon Runyan Jr. said Wednesday that “I don’t know if I ever felt jetlag from a game,” so last-minute travel has never made his body feel worse during a game.

“I think you’d feel it the next week, just in your day-to-day being more tired,” he said.

But he likes Harbaugh’s plan to ramp the team up to its peak on Monday night with some extra time to adjust.

“This is my first time doing it, and I guess it makes sense with a Monday Night game. Why not?” Runyan said Wednesday. “That’s a long almost six-hour flight out to LA. We have a walkthrough practice that next day [Sunday]. It’ll feel good on the body; not just getting off a flight, pretty much having a dinner, going to sleep and [playing].

“I feel like guys will take advantage of that first night we get there,” he continued. “And then we have that whole day [Sunday] with the practice, get some rest and recovery, and you got the whole day on Monday, too, to get your body going. I think it works out well and makes sense. West Coast Monday night game going out early. I think it’s a good thing.”

There’s no guarantee this strategy will produce results, of course. In 2023, after that Giants win in Arizona, they stayed out West for a Thursday night game at San Francisco to avoid the extra flights and time adjustments and got smacked, 30-12, by the Niners.

There is also a chance that the Rams’ energy will be unusually high for a team coming off an international game.

Due to their limited time in Australia, the Rams’ bodies shouldn’t have much adjusting to do to get back on Pacific Time after their 14-hour flight home. That was part of their strategy in flying there so late.

“We’ll make sure we’re ready to roll,” Stafford vowed after the disappointing season debut.

For the Giants, though, they have full faith in Harbaugh after he steered them so right to that 28-20 Week 1 win over the Dallas Cowboys. So quarterback Jaxson Dart said even though he doesn’t know the science of it all, he trusts his coach has the players’ best interests in mind.

“I haven’t really done this a lot, so I’m still trying to figure some of that stuff out,” Dart said of the early flight’s impact. “But whatever Coach Harbs says, I think it’s exactly what we should be doing. So I’ve got the confidence that it’s gonna put us in the right situation to be acclimated and prepared for the game.”

Tracy absent, two corners on side

The first Giants-Rams injury report won’t come out until Thursday afternoon, since they’re playing a day later than usual on Monday night. But running back Tyrone Tracy Jr. was not on the practice field in East Rutherford, N.J., for Wednesday’s walkthrough.

“Yeah, he’s sick,” Harbaugh said. “He had the flu. Bad flu deal, so hopefully be back [Thursday]. Expect him to be back [Thursday] if it clears up a little bit. He came in [Tuesday] morning not in good shape. They sent him home. You worry about this. You don’t want to get everybody sick. So that’s part of it.”

Tracy lost a fumble in the Giants’ season opener and played only two snaps in the game. After spending part of training camp in the doghouse, and Monday’s signing of running back Phil Mafah to the practice squad, it was worth asking Harbaugh how he’s approaching Tracy now on the roster.

“The number one thing [for] a ball carrier [is he has] got to protect the football first,” the coach said. “So that has to be clear and has to be important, because it affects their game so much. The other side of the coin is you don’t have a player who’s trying to do that. He’s trying to do the right thing.

“He had the ball in a good spot and their player did make a great play,” the coach said. “You have to acknowledge the fact he came out of nowhere like Superman flying through the air. Got his big, strong fist right on the football. So acknowledge that as well and just try to go forward and move it.”

The coach also noted that the Giants fumbled four times as a team, so they all have to work on it and emphasize ball security.

Elsewhere on the injury front, starting corner Deonte Banks and backup corner Paulson Adebo both were working with trainers on the side of Wednesday’s practice.

Banks, who left Sunday’s game with what the Giants called “cramping,” had a black sleeve on his right calf. Adebo’s issue is unclear.

Starting corner Greg Newsome II also arrived late to practice and appeared to be favoring his right shoulder or upper back, but he then joined the first-team defense on the practice field.

As far as the Rams, the Giants don’t know for sure if star defensive lineman Aaron Donald is playing his first game out of retirement on Monday night. But they’re planning for it regardless.

“We’re expecting him to play,” Harbaugh said. “We’re planning for him to be out there.”

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