All 3 West Coast teams playing early East Coast NFL games pulled off surprising Week 2 wins

One of the most common betting axioms is never trusting a West Coast team playing in an early kickoff on the East Coast. Jet lag is very real, and most squads that have had their circadian rhythm disrupted usually struggle to play three time zones ahead without getting a chance to acclimate properly.

Week 2 of the 2024 NFL season firmly bucked this trend.

All three West Coast NFL teams playing in an early afternoon East Coast kickoff on Sunday won. That includes the Los Angeles Chargers, who destroyed Bryce Young's embarrassing Carolina Panthers, the Seattle Seahawks, who outlasted the New England Patriots in overtime, and the Las Vegas Raiders, who surprisingly outlasted the Baltimore Ravens in a thrilling comeback upset.

Talk about taking an accepted narrative and putting it in the trash:

Now, the more pertinent question moving forward becomes this: is any of this kinda unprecedented West Coast success sustainable?

Well, let's be honest for a second. Most West Coast teams playing in the East don't get gifts like facing off against the hapless Panthers and a mediocre Patriots team. The Raiders are, of course, an exception going against a better Ravens roster on paper. I'd venture to guess that in more evenly-matched games, West Coast squads will continue struggling through the rest of 2024 if they have an early kickoff on the Eastern seaboard.

Don't buy this week's West Coast success as something indicative of a larger trend. Some poor West team will get absolutely demolished later this year, seemingly without even trying. Not everyone can play some of the more uninspiring teams in football. A lack of sleep (usually) prevails over all.

Still, it was pretty cool to see three separate squads beat the all-encompassing specter of jet lag. It's quite an achievement.

This article originally appeared on For The Win: All 3 West Coast teams playing early East Coast NFL games pulled off surprising Week 2 wins