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Do NFL Teams Play Worse After International Games?

No — the travel hangover doesn't show up in the data. Across every 2024-25 international game, returning teams averaged +23 yards ABOVE their own season baseline in their next game. The bye doesn't explain it either: teams that got the bye first came back +27, teams that flew straight into the next week came back +19. With only 24 team-samples we'd call it 'no detectable effect' rather than proven zero — but the burden is now on the jet-lag narrative.

How we know

We compared each team's plays and scrimmage yards in the game after an international trip to that team's own average in all other games that season (2024-25, regular season). The full schedule and the in-game numbers are on our international games hub.

more tested answers · player quarter data · 2025 records

Methodology: computed from nflverse play-by-play; a quarter's yards are the yards gained on plays snapped in that quarter. Averages use each player's games played, not team games. Updated 2026-07-29.

Open the live model — any player, any line, all four quarters →