Lions are Prepared to Play in the Altitude in Denver
On Sunday, the Lions will take on the Broncos in a Week 16 road matchup.
Head coach Matt Patricia was asked Friday during his media session about his teams preparation playing in high-altitude.
By most accounts, acclimating to the mile-high air takes at least nine days.
For professional sports teams, that is not feasible. Experts say to avoid the negative effects like poor sleep or dehydration, teams should arrive as close to game time as possible.
"I think the one thing that I think most of the research has shown that if you go out a couple days ahead of time, that really doesn’t do it. If you’re going to go try to go acclimate, you’re going to have to do that at least a week, at least a couple days in advance," Patricia said.
Patricia expressed that dehydration is a major factor that affects athletes playing in Denver. Muscles tend to fatigue quicker and athletes dehydrate much sooner playing in altitude.
“You know, altitude is a little bit interesting out there. The biggest thing that affects you in Denver is really the dehydration. That’s really the biggest part of it with where they are," he said.
Patricia added, “We have a couple hydration protocols that we go through, depending on the guys. A lot of our guys, they sweat at different rates through the course of the week. We monitor their weight from that standpoint of just how much they’re losing, whether it’s practice or just their general hydration levels through the course of the week. Whether it’s extra electrolytes, whether it’s IVs, Gatorades, constant hydration, just being around, things like that. Making sure we’re monitoring what they’re doing when they get up in the morning from that standpoint – how much they are putting into their bodies after practice."
Injury Update
Linebacker Christian Jones, defensive tackle A'Shawn Robinson and right tackle Rick Wagner were declared out for Sunday's game against the Broncos on Friday's injury report.
Running back Bo Scarbrough and linebacker Devon Kennard were listed as questionable.
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