The Penalty Box: Football Teams Need To Practice
October 11, 2022 at 10:40 p.m.
The Penalty Box: Football Teams Need To Practice
By Roger Grossman-
To be more specific, I saw a lot of teams that sure looked like they hadn’t done much since the last game. Heck, some of the teams in the NFL don’t look like they have done much work outside of the time between kickoffs and final whistles of their games this whole season.
Why is that? Pretty simple—they don’t have to do much physical work outside of the games.
Let me explain.
The NFL and the NFL Players Association have agreed-upon rules about how much you can practice per day and how many hours you can practice per week.
Those rules include, in detail, what drills can be done, how many hours of practice time can be in full pads and how much of that time can include full contact.
And the general purpose for those rules is for player safety, and we all are good with that, aren’t we?
Players want to stay health so they can play, win games and sign contracts that make them money.
Coaches want their best players to be available to play so they have the best chance to win and the coaches get to keep their jobs.
Owners want their most valuable human assets to play and earn the money that they are being paid, not standing on the sidelines in street clothes making the same amount as if they were playing.
But we must always remember Newton’s Third Law, which says that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. That means when you do something, it will automatically set off a series of related events that will follow.
The example of this I like to use is when you go fishing, and you cast your line and the bobber hits the water, the ripples that peel away from that bobber keep expanding and moving across the water for a while.
The “ripples” in the case of the NFL reducing the workload and the contact drills for their teams was clear and immediate—the tackling was not good. In fact, it was really bad and has gotten worse since.
But a second set of ripples have taken off from the originals.
It starts with the reduction from four preseason games to three.
Four preseason games meant starters and regulars would play in at least two of those games for at least a whole quarter or maybe a half in those games.
Moving to three preseason games meant the most important players would play less, because you had 25-percent less time to evaluate players 40-70 on a roster and figure out who should make it, who should be on the practice squad and who just isn’t going to have a chair to sit in when the music stops.
And the most recent set of ripples we have seen is that coaches and GMs held out their starters completely from any preseason action. Some guys who were playing on new teams didn’t see any live action with their new teammates until Week 1 of the regular season.
Imagine a police officer who is given uniforms but never meets any of his fellow officers or dispatchers before their first shift.
Imagine a teacher who didn’t do any student teaching before his or her first day in class.
Imagine a radio announcer who had never had never put a head set on before being asked to be the play-by-play announcer for your favorite team.
Sure, it could happen, but it probably won’t play out very smoothly.
What should we expect when we see players and teams do little or nothing in the preseason? We should expect the product to not meet the standard that has been set for it.
And it’s not.
Now, your response is “well, Roger, they have played five games already. Shouldn’t they be getting better by now?”
Great question!
“No”, is the answer.
When you go from doing nothing to playing at full speed, you are more likely to get injured. Injuries have their own ripple effect. Player A gets injured, Player B replaces him but isn’t as good as A is, so things don’t go as well. Then lineman J gets hurt, and now your quarterback is working with a bunch of guys who they have been in meetings with and practiced with but never have not played against another team with, and you cannot expect much to work right.
Bottom line: NFL players and teams MUST take the preseason seriously. They MUST do a better job of getting their people ready to play in Week 1 than they are right now. Too many teams playing poorly. Too many teams looking disorganized. Too many teams have more questions than answers.
Too many teams that need to practice more.
Way. Too. Many.
To be more specific, I saw a lot of teams that sure looked like they hadn’t done much since the last game. Heck, some of the teams in the NFL don’t look like they have done much work outside of the time between kickoffs and final whistles of their games this whole season.
Why is that? Pretty simple—they don’t have to do much physical work outside of the games.
Let me explain.
The NFL and the NFL Players Association have agreed-upon rules about how much you can practice per day and how many hours you can practice per week.
Those rules include, in detail, what drills can be done, how many hours of practice time can be in full pads and how much of that time can include full contact.
And the general purpose for those rules is for player safety, and we all are good with that, aren’t we?
Players want to stay health so they can play, win games and sign contracts that make them money.
Coaches want their best players to be available to play so they have the best chance to win and the coaches get to keep their jobs.
Owners want their most valuable human assets to play and earn the money that they are being paid, not standing on the sidelines in street clothes making the same amount as if they were playing.
But we must always remember Newton’s Third Law, which says that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. That means when you do something, it will automatically set off a series of related events that will follow.
The example of this I like to use is when you go fishing, and you cast your line and the bobber hits the water, the ripples that peel away from that bobber keep expanding and moving across the water for a while.
The “ripples” in the case of the NFL reducing the workload and the contact drills for their teams was clear and immediate—the tackling was not good. In fact, it was really bad and has gotten worse since.
But a second set of ripples have taken off from the originals.
It starts with the reduction from four preseason games to three.
Four preseason games meant starters and regulars would play in at least two of those games for at least a whole quarter or maybe a half in those games.
Moving to three preseason games meant the most important players would play less, because you had 25-percent less time to evaluate players 40-70 on a roster and figure out who should make it, who should be on the practice squad and who just isn’t going to have a chair to sit in when the music stops.
And the most recent set of ripples we have seen is that coaches and GMs held out their starters completely from any preseason action. Some guys who were playing on new teams didn’t see any live action with their new teammates until Week 1 of the regular season.
Imagine a police officer who is given uniforms but never meets any of his fellow officers or dispatchers before their first shift.
Imagine a teacher who didn’t do any student teaching before his or her first day in class.
Imagine a radio announcer who had never had never put a head set on before being asked to be the play-by-play announcer for your favorite team.
Sure, it could happen, but it probably won’t play out very smoothly.
What should we expect when we see players and teams do little or nothing in the preseason? We should expect the product to not meet the standard that has been set for it.
And it’s not.
Now, your response is “well, Roger, they have played five games already. Shouldn’t they be getting better by now?”
Great question!
“No”, is the answer.
When you go from doing nothing to playing at full speed, you are more likely to get injured. Injuries have their own ripple effect. Player A gets injured, Player B replaces him but isn’t as good as A is, so things don’t go as well. Then lineman J gets hurt, and now your quarterback is working with a bunch of guys who they have been in meetings with and practiced with but never have not played against another team with, and you cannot expect much to work right.
Bottom line: NFL players and teams MUST take the preseason seriously. They MUST do a better job of getting their people ready to play in Week 1 than they are right now. Too many teams playing poorly. Too many teams looking disorganized. Too many teams have more questions than answers.
Too many teams that need to practice more.
Way. Too. Many.
Have a news tip? Email [email protected] or Call/Text 360-922-3092