Chiefs Pantalones
08-04-2005, 05:26 PM
GRETZ: Changing Face of Camp
Aug 04, 2005, 6:16:59 AM by Bob Gretz - FAQ
RIVER FALLS, WI – This is not your father’s training camp that Dick Vermeil is throwing here in the north woods.
The Chiefs will not bang against each other on Thursday. They won’t have practices or meetings. They have the day off. Trips to the Twin Cities and any movie theater within 30 miles are planned. Some guys are heading off for a day of fishing. Football will be on the back burner for 24 hours at least. Rest and relaxation are a priority.
The Chiefs are joining just about every other team in the NFL in altering the routines that have been part of the training camp plan for the last 25 years or so. The goal now is to carve out recovery time, allowing the players to sooth their aching bodies from one practice to another.
That’s why the most veteran players on the Chiefs roster work only one practice a day. Willie Roaf will physically take part in fewer than half of the practices scheduled before the team breaks training camp. It’s the same for players coming off any type of injury situation from last season.
This trend is going on around the league. In St. Louis, Mike Martz said an injury study by the NFL was the reason he scheduled two light practices for his team on their sixth day of camp. According to Martz, over the last five years days six and seven have shown a spike in fatigue injuries. He also moved the afternoon practices inside the Rams facility, where it’s air conditioned.
“Having two heavy practices (a day) is more for coaches than it is for players,” Martz told reporters in St. Louis. “Repetition, repetition, repetition … it’s what we’ve all been drilled on. But repetition’s fine if it’s at a different pace too.”
Down in Miami, new coach Nick Saban scheduled three practices for every two days. One day the Dolphins work at 9:30 a.m. and then 7:30 p.m. The next day, they practice at 3 p.m. Saban told reporters that experts on intense physical activity told him that players would be fresher if they had two meals and thus two chances for fluid intake between every practice.
Battling the heat in Jacksonville, head coach Jack Del Rio has the Jaguars in 11 night practices. Plus, the Jags are one of several teams using the CorTemp Ingestible Corey Body Temperature Sensor. Made by a Florida company, a player swallows a pill about the size of a multi-vitamin. The pill is actually a sensor that monitors core body temperatures for 24 to 36 hours. A sensing device held by a trainer receives signals from the pill, revealing body temps.
In Baltimore, Brian Billick scheduled just five days where his Ravens will have two practices. He cut back in the days leading up to the first pre-season games. “I want to get back to a normal routine as quickly as I can,” Billick said.
With Cincinnati, Marvin Lewis hasn’t eliminated practices, but he’s moved more of them to under the lights because it gave his coaching staff more time to work in the classroom with players after the morning practices.
Even the old school Bill Parcells has made adjustments, cutting the number of double session days from 15 to nine. With 12 players on the roster at 30 or older, Parcells hopes that will allow them more recovery time.
Fewer practices may keep players fresher, but it also provides fewer opportunities for some of the no names and younger players to make an impression on the coaching staff.
“When you only have one practice a day, that means you only have one time a day to really show what you’ve got,” said Chicago Bears DE Michael Haynes. “I think that’s really going to narrow the team down. I don’t think the coaches are going to have to make too many decisions. Things are going to be very clear cut.”
Fewer reps in practice will also show itself in the early season; that’s one thing the Chiefs have to be concerned about. They must be prepared to get off to a fast start because of their tough four-game stretch to open the season. That’s why Vermeil has reserved the right to make adjustments in the schedule over the last few weeks, in case he and his coaching staff think the team hasn’t progressed to a certain point.
Ultimately, what any coach hopes to get done in training camp remains the same as it did 20, 40, even 50 years ago. Parcells put it best in the days before the Cowboys opened their training camp in California.
“I want to get the right guys on the team,” Parcells said. “I told the team this morning that I am hopeful we will have a team that will subordinate their egos for their greater good. What we’re supposed to be trying to do here is put a team together. I’m not interested in guys who have their own self-interest. If you look at the team that’s been winning lately (New England), you see a team that reflects that pretty well.
“I just want a team that plays the right way. That’s as simple as I can put it.”
Aug 04, 2005, 6:16:59 AM by Bob Gretz - FAQ
RIVER FALLS, WI – This is not your father’s training camp that Dick Vermeil is throwing here in the north woods.
The Chiefs will not bang against each other on Thursday. They won’t have practices or meetings. They have the day off. Trips to the Twin Cities and any movie theater within 30 miles are planned. Some guys are heading off for a day of fishing. Football will be on the back burner for 24 hours at least. Rest and relaxation are a priority.
The Chiefs are joining just about every other team in the NFL in altering the routines that have been part of the training camp plan for the last 25 years or so. The goal now is to carve out recovery time, allowing the players to sooth their aching bodies from one practice to another.
That’s why the most veteran players on the Chiefs roster work only one practice a day. Willie Roaf will physically take part in fewer than half of the practices scheduled before the team breaks training camp. It’s the same for players coming off any type of injury situation from last season.
This trend is going on around the league. In St. Louis, Mike Martz said an injury study by the NFL was the reason he scheduled two light practices for his team on their sixth day of camp. According to Martz, over the last five years days six and seven have shown a spike in fatigue injuries. He also moved the afternoon practices inside the Rams facility, where it’s air conditioned.
“Having two heavy practices (a day) is more for coaches than it is for players,” Martz told reporters in St. Louis. “Repetition, repetition, repetition … it’s what we’ve all been drilled on. But repetition’s fine if it’s at a different pace too.”
Down in Miami, new coach Nick Saban scheduled three practices for every two days. One day the Dolphins work at 9:30 a.m. and then 7:30 p.m. The next day, they practice at 3 p.m. Saban told reporters that experts on intense physical activity told him that players would be fresher if they had two meals and thus two chances for fluid intake between every practice.
Battling the heat in Jacksonville, head coach Jack Del Rio has the Jaguars in 11 night practices. Plus, the Jags are one of several teams using the CorTemp Ingestible Corey Body Temperature Sensor. Made by a Florida company, a player swallows a pill about the size of a multi-vitamin. The pill is actually a sensor that monitors core body temperatures for 24 to 36 hours. A sensing device held by a trainer receives signals from the pill, revealing body temps.
In Baltimore, Brian Billick scheduled just five days where his Ravens will have two practices. He cut back in the days leading up to the first pre-season games. “I want to get back to a normal routine as quickly as I can,” Billick said.
With Cincinnati, Marvin Lewis hasn’t eliminated practices, but he’s moved more of them to under the lights because it gave his coaching staff more time to work in the classroom with players after the morning practices.
Even the old school Bill Parcells has made adjustments, cutting the number of double session days from 15 to nine. With 12 players on the roster at 30 or older, Parcells hopes that will allow them more recovery time.
Fewer practices may keep players fresher, but it also provides fewer opportunities for some of the no names and younger players to make an impression on the coaching staff.
“When you only have one practice a day, that means you only have one time a day to really show what you’ve got,” said Chicago Bears DE Michael Haynes. “I think that’s really going to narrow the team down. I don’t think the coaches are going to have to make too many decisions. Things are going to be very clear cut.”
Fewer reps in practice will also show itself in the early season; that’s one thing the Chiefs have to be concerned about. They must be prepared to get off to a fast start because of their tough four-game stretch to open the season. That’s why Vermeil has reserved the right to make adjustments in the schedule over the last few weeks, in case he and his coaching staff think the team hasn’t progressed to a certain point.
Ultimately, what any coach hopes to get done in training camp remains the same as it did 20, 40, even 50 years ago. Parcells put it best in the days before the Cowboys opened their training camp in California.
“I want to get the right guys on the team,” Parcells said. “I told the team this morning that I am hopeful we will have a team that will subordinate their egos for their greater good. What we’re supposed to be trying to do here is put a team together. I’m not interested in guys who have their own self-interest. If you look at the team that’s been winning lately (New England), you see a team that reflects that pretty well.
“I just want a team that plays the right way. That’s as simple as I can put it.”