“The team is excited about going,” said Toub. “I feel it with the players.”
But Toub isn’t sure he can share in it.
“I’m 63 now,” he noted, “so I’m not really excited [about] going 11 hours on a plane. But it is what it is.”
Both the Chiefs and Chargers will endure that trip before suiting up at Arena Corinthians, where field conditions became a major talking point in last year’s inaugural Brazil game between the Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles. The slippery surface caused problems for both teams, even forcing players to change cleats midway through the game.
While the league has assured both teams that conditions will be better, Toub is reserving judgment.
“[We’ll] take that for what it’s worth,” he said, “and we’ll see.”
Whatever they are, the team will have to deal with field conditions on the fly, since it will not have the opportunity to practice on the field. But that’s true for just about any road game, so Toub believes what they can learn in pre-game warmups will be enough.
“It’s going to be the same, I think, for both teams,” he reminded his listeners, “so there’s no advantage either way. It is what it is.”