Dan Quinn is aware of a sneaky advantage Commanders have over the NFL and it starts with the Ravens game

One of the most important aspects of an NFL schedule is the travel logistics. Teams can face daunting stretches where they travel all over the place and it can certainly affect gameday performance if things aren't handled correctly.

And these days, half the league now has one extra road game on its schedule, each year, since the league moved to a 17-game slate back in 2021. Road preparations are even more important than they were before.

The Commanders have to go on the road just like everyone else, but they have an under-the-radar advantage over the rest of the NFL when it comes to the next two months: The furthest they'll have to travel from Ashburn, Virginia is 4-1/2 hourrs to East Rutherford, New Jersey when they play the New York Giants in Week 9.

They won't have to get on a plane until December 15, when they travel down South to take on the New Orleans Saints. On top of that, five of these next eight games (excluding the New Orleans matchup) are at home and they even have a bye week before the Saints matchup. Therefore, the Commanders will be traveling light for nine straight weeks:

• Week 6: at Baltimore
• Week 7: vs. Carolina
• Week 8: vs. Chicago
• Week 9: at New York
• Week 10: vs. Pittsburgh
• Week 11: at Philadelphia
• Week 12: vs. Cowboys
• Week 13: vs. Titans
• Week 14: BYE

The advantage to this is simple: time. Not having to fly cross-country, or even to the Midwest helps and it allows players to rest more, watch more film, train more, or whatever they want to do with the extra time. The whole travel process is a lot simpler, therefore, everything else that comes along with it should be easier.

"I don't know how many road games I got to go on a bus, you know, to the game. So that's pretty good gig," Dan Quinn told reporters on Wednesday. "We're not, you know, flying from Dallas over to BWI [Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport]. So going into that and having your time zones in the same spot for a while, I don't know if it's like an advantage, but it's certainly not a disadvantage.

"When you go on the road and coming back and getting your body clock back into order, that's a big deal, but it it helps you on the next week. Sometimes those late nights; 1am, 2am arrivals, you know, make it more challenging."

Baltimore is only about an hour-and-a-half away from Ashburn, so it'll be a very short trip, this week. For a team that is still growing and finding its footing despite being 4-1, this is about as best as one could ask for outside of the opposing stadium being right next door.

It should help and we'll see just how much it does in what is certainly the Commanders' biggest game of the young season.