The Bucs couldn't keep to their mandated sleep schedule because they were too hype about the Rays

Professional athletes are finely-tuned machines. When you're playing at the highest level, performing feats of physical magic, nothing -- from how you practice to what you eat to how you sleep -- is unimportant.

That goes double when you're about to travel some 3,000 miles and multiple time zones to London, as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are for their game this Sunday against the Panthers. To ensure that the trip caused as little disruption to their bodies and minds as possible, the team even went so far as to plan out a meticulous sleep schedule for each player. There was just one problem: someone forget to tell a bunch of medical professionals that it's awfully hard to sleep when your baseball team is making a run in the postseason.

You may have already heard that Tampa tight end O.J. Howard was at Tropicana Field for the Rays' win over the Astros in Game 4 on Tuesday -- he was the one who casually snagged that foul ball with his bare hand.

What a snag!!@Buccaneers TE OJ Howard catches a foul ball with 1 hand at the Rays playoff game tonight! (via @MLBONFOX) pic.twitter.com/JZrEVg3bR5

— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) October 9, 2019

As it turned out, Howard wasn't even supposed to be there. He was supposed to be getting his rest, the better to prepare his body to play a football game on a different continent. Getting spotted on national TV would've gotten him in trouble ... except, well, his head coach was also watching the Rays.

#Bucs HC Bruce Arians said that the team’s sports science staff has set up a sleep schedule for everyone to prepare their bodies for the London game. Said he broke protocol because he was up watching the Rays.

“I know O.J. Howard did too because he was at the game” ??

— Trevor Sikkema (@TampaBayTre) October 9, 2019

But hey, Howard wasn't just cheering on his team -- he was conducting, uh, valuable professional research!

On a more serious note, we asked Howard about being at Game 4: “We can be like the Rays, we can bring a playoff atmosphere to Tampa Bay. It was awesome.”

— Trevor Sikkema (@TampaBayTre) October 9, 2019

Good save, O.J.