Jonathan Rand: The Proof is in the Pads
 

http://www.kcchiefs.com/news/2005/06...n_the_padding/

RAND: The proof is in the padding
Jun 28, 2005, 6:38:08 AM by Jonathan Rand



After a spring of voluntary workouts and mini-camps, Chiefs coaches have seen a lot to like. Yet, in one key respect, they haven’t seen anything. That’s because of one four-letter word that means so much in football. Pads.



Many a coach has been fooled by a top-notch athlete who turns out to be much less than a top-notch football player. NFL personnel experts still get fooled every year. They see highly-regarded college players who show tremendous speed, strength and agility during workouts and can’t resist drafting them. But so many of these workout warriors lose their luster once they put on pads and start knocking heads with an opponent.

And while nobody gets into the NFL without being a decent athlete, plenty of NFL stars would never be confused with Olympic prospects. If you look at sore-kneed Chiefs tackle Willie Roaf hobbling around on the practice field, you might almost feel sorry for him. Once he gets in pads and gets the adrenaline flowing, he’s a future Hall of Famer.

And there are plenty of offensive linemen in the NFL who look like they ought to be in a sauna trying to melt their big bellies. But once they get in pads, they’ll make a defensive lineman built like Arnold Schwarznegger look overmatched. You may recall that pro wrestler Brock Lesnar was a washout as a defensive lineman with the Vikings last summer.

This is why Chiefs’ coaches try to temper their optimism, which bubbled over in recent months. Dick Vermeil and defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham love what they see from their newcomers, especially the rookies and defensive players. But they’re quick to qualify their praise by pointing out that they haven’t seen these players in pads.

Football is the only major sport in which coaches have to worry whether Dr. Jekyll in shorts will turn into Mr. Hyde in pads. It’s hard to believe that a little basic equipment can make such a difference.

Pads, for one thing, can drastically affect a player’s speed. A player who runs like greased lightning in drills may lose his edge in pads while a player with average speed in drills may gain an edge in pads. There is speed and then there is game speed.

When players run through drills without pads, there’s no real hitting, which is the sport’s greatest equalizer. While big hitters who are too slow to catch anybody are pretty useless, a good athlete who’s a big hitter is better NFL material than a great athlete who’s not very physical.

You’ve probably noticed over the years that world-class track athletes have a notoriously high failure rate in the NFL. They’re accustomed to running in straight lines, not down-and-ins. Nobody is supposed to knock them down before the finish line. Track stars are often tried at wide receiver but find that pads slow them down and make it harder to catch a ball.

It’s mind-boggling to see how many superior athletes come and go through an NFL training facility each year. Weekend warriors would kill for just a bit of their raw speed, strength and agility.

All NFL players are athletes but not all athletes are NFL players, and coaches spend a lot of their time trying to make that distinction. So Vermeil, Cunningham and the rest of the Chiefs’ staff will have concrete opinions about the newcomers once training camp starts, right?

Nah, they’ll tell us they’ve got to see the new guys under game conditions.

Is this a spinoff of Kotex fits...period??

The only questionmarks on this defense about playing in pads should be Derrick Johnson and Kendrell Bell.


Derrick Johnson simply because he is a rookie and has to adjust to NFL game speed, and Kendrell Bell because he hasnt played in a while.


Knight and Surtain played all of last season. There is no question that these two men will be ready to bring it on gameday when the pads are on, so Im getting pretty tired of the "We havent seen them in pads" talk.


Theyve seen them play in pads, because thats the reason they are here. Because they have a reputation for getting things done on the field when it counts.

Bell, when healthy was a dominant player as well. All 3 of these guys are former pro bowlers, So I dont really understand the BS about how they shouldnt get carried away, because they havent seen them in pads. As if every ounce of their football skill will suddenly just disappear once they suit up.

Was this the best Rand could come up with? Does he get paid for this junk, or does he write for free? How many lame articles on "pads" do we need to read this offseason?

:shake:

I think it's more applicable to guys like Battle, Mitchell, and Fox, who all seem to look very athletic in shorts but look lost in pads...

I'm not worried about Bell being afraid of hitting someone.
I would like to see how DJ does in pads, though.

yep ... especially at the linebacker position

guys like Mitchell seem to drop and guys like boomer/maz/scanlon get better after the pads go on.


interesting to see if Fox is just an athlete or a player




we'll see

Fox was by far our best LB in preseason last year. I remember several times thinking "damn, #97 can hit." He was really hampered by the injury.

Who among us COULDN'T have written that piece???

(gochiefs doesn't count)

There should be a 3 x 5 photo of William Bartee attached to this article.

As much as it might pain me to pipe up for the meatpeeker.......He was a sportswriter for a college paper, and I read a couple of his articles that weren't bad. He could not only have written that article, but probably better.

...now, if you'd only have said dp4me...

i realize your on the "fox pimp wagon" this year ... and that's cool, i don't say your wrong.

but why wasn't he on the field when all the injuries started happening at linebacker?

Caver even went in before him

hell we've had nothing but injuries at linebacker for how long ... and Fox hasn't pissed a drop.



btw- kcchief.com has derrick johnson listed as starting middle linebacker right now :spock:


Left Outside Linebacker
S. Fujita
F. Jones

Middle Linebacker
D. O. Johnson
K. Bell
K. Mitchell
F. Jones

Right Outside Linebacker
K. Bell
Q. Caver
K. Fox

After the injury, he fell victim to Vermeil's famous doghouse. Reportedly, he got into a fight with Beisel in the film room...

i hope your right ... heck, i just want somebody to step up


i know Fox is a big looking muther ... IIRC he was 97 and when he hit someone at first i thought he was a defensive lineman. :)

Coming out of college last year, he was described as one of the most explosive LB's in the draft...he drew similar comparisons as did Thomas Davis this past draft. He did look good last preseason and then he got hurt. After that Crybaby just seemed to have it in for him.