Bart Scott thinks the NFL is for wimps.
The New York Jets linebacker believes canceling two-a-day practices during training camps as part of the coming labor agreement will turn players into sissies. In a previous life, Scott was probably a gladiator who urged more lions and more spears.
“I get concerned you’re making football players weaker because you don’t push them past that threshold,” Scott told the Newark (N.J.) Star-Ledger. “I get concerned with the same thing with the quarterback stuff, that they turn it into flag football. They turn it into little pansy stuff.”
There is no right way to conduct training camp. Marty Schottenheimer’s camp was brutal with two-a-days every day plus bull-in-the-ring sessions, and the Washington Redskins opened 0-5 in 2001. Conversely, Jim Zorn’s 2008 spa treatment in which quarterbacks dodged large inflated balls instead of linebackers resulted in a 6-2 start.
Redskins coach Mike Shanahan has a solid balance that soon will be replicated leaguewide. The morning practice is physical, but the afternoon work is more of a teaching session.
If ever there is a training camp that needs less hitting, it’s this one. With no offseason workouts, minicamps and organized team activities, players will be confused and vulnerable. That’s a bad combination for 300-pounders roaming the field unchecked.
More than half of the 90 players on the field won’t have seen a Redskins playbook before camp. How are they going to memorize a phone book in a few weeks without walkthroughs? Coaches must devote more practice time simply teaching plays.
The whole point of offseason camps and study sessions is to know the plays instinctively and not hesitate. That’s everything on the field. Need a half-second to think through a play and it’s already over. This is how people get hurt by being blindsided.
Injuries will be bad enough this preseason. What’s the number of hamstring pulls and torn ACLs? The injured reserve’s over/under may be six players before the first regular-season game.
NFL practices are no longer death matches. Stephon Heyer and many former Maryland Terrapins who came to the Redskins always said coach Ralph Friedgen’s three-plus hour workouts in College Park were far tougher than those in Ashburn. Indeed, Friedgen seemingly lost more players to injuries in practices than games. However, Friedgen’s teams were rarely outplayed in the fourth quarter.
Fans love the popping of pads, but that’s not what wins football. Being the smarter and more talented team does. It doesn’t hurt to own opponents late in games like the Hogs did during three Super Bowl runs, but it’s not essential.
How will players get ready for the regular-season without banging? Don’t worry. They’ll be fine. Something says LaRon Landry doesn’t need more than a few practices to lay someone out. And nobody’s calling him a sissy.
Examiner columnist Rick Snider has covered local sports since 1978. Read more on Twitter @Snide_Remarks or email [email protected].
