Boot Camp No More

I find all these workout restrictions quite funny. I played HS Football in TX and it was absolutely ruthless. We had weeks of actual 3 a days before school or the season even started. We also had to workout all summer. Keep in mind that it is over 100 degrees in TX in August. As a bunch of kids, it was very tough, but it was expected and no one cared. “it just made us tougher”. Now you have guys making millions and are in peak physical condition that complain about practices. I’m pretty sure parcells has his guys in better shape than I was in HS.

Sounds like he is doing the same thing as Saban in Miami. Saban told Peter King that an expert told him, that if you want to keep your players as frest as possible then they need two eating and two drinking sessions between practices. So that will be a 9:00 AM and 7:00 PM practice one day followed up by a 3:00 PM practice the next day.

Hey Cash- Is big Bill going to make someone cry on the first day of practice like Saban? That was the saddest thing I think I’ve ever seen.

Josh-Good old days syndrome-in Kansas we only had 2 practices per day but hauled hay after each practice.

Those good ole days were only about 6 years ago for me. But the hay, man that’s tough. I believe you’ve got me beat. Hauling hay is harder than practice for sure.

Gentlemen, try cutting okra and tobaco in the hot Florida sun. We still had hard practices and played the game without whining or you became a spectator.

Josh points out that these guys makes millions to play a game. I wish they would act like it.

High School football in the South is tough, that’s why the best football players come from Texas, Florida, and the rest of Dixie + Cali.

But it’s also not a full time job and wasn’t being taught 8 hours a day.

Every day, the players are in class, reviewing film, lifting weights, and eating (how do you think they get to 300 lbs).

I actually agree with the concept of limited scrimages. Injuries are the number 1 enemy to a successful season. Full-on practaces with safety measures (no slobber-knocking) are sufficient. Ass whoopin’ is saved for the real deal.

That being said, I just finished reading Spag’s article (10 MUSTS). Number 1 was the 3-4.

My take is this…Jimmy Johnston revolutionized NFL defenses with the emphasis on speed and rotation. It’s what made the ’90s Boys so great. Bill Parcells and the evolution of the 3-4 relied on the same. Get the best athletes on the field.

This group of talent that has been assembled is unquestionably the best talent we’ve had in a decade. We’ve got 6-7 very good – to great – athletic linebackers. We’ve got 3 lineman. Assuming Spears, Canty, and Ratliff (whom I less optimistic…real project) are the real deal (which I believe they are) then we’ve got a 3 – man line rotation.

Great schemes are made by the best talents. Not the other way around. I am truly excited to see this group go. With the secondary (which I am truly excited) holding the fort, these guys are gonna go. I mean, pin your ears back, let’s get nasty, GO.

When’s the last time you could say that about the Boys!

One other hint of talent evaluation. SI recently ranked the Boys 5th in the NFC. Only downgrade was Bledsoe and the offense.

I still believe we’re 2 parts of a triplet away.

I hope Bledsoe proves us all wrong. We’ll know the first pre-season game. You always see it then.

Josh and Darryl,

I don’t think any of the players are complaining. And even if they were, I don’t think Parcells would care. He’s not exactly known for being a soft touch. If he cut back 40% on his practice schedule, there must be new data showing alternating one-a-days with two-a-days is more effective.

I know. I played high school ball in Texas too. The practice temparatures didn’t drop below 90 until the end of October. They also gave us gatorade back then for water breaks that has about five to ten times the sodium that it does now. Turns out it was bad for you to take in that much sodium.

Times move on. We learn more about conditioning effectively.

Rafael,

Here is the quote from Saban I was speaking of:

decided to run his summer practice schedule this way. On one day, he will practice at 9:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. The next day, he’ll practice at 3 p.m. He said experts on intense physical activity told him the way to keep his players freshest the longest was having two meals between every practice and two significant drinking periods between every practice.[/QUOTE]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writers/peter_king/training.camp.diary/2.html

That’s probably the same thing Parcells is doing.

I dont see how this will work for the switch to the 3 man line. Inst BP a fundamentalist kind of guy how could a bunch of guys that never learned the 3-4 possibily learn it with less time on the field. also.. Fighter15 you remember the pats from last year there defense was desemated from injuries but the injured players where replaced with fundamentelly sound players so this leads me to saying that not having a fundamentally sound team is a teams number 1 problem not injuries

Thanks Cash,

I’m going to put the link in an update on the main page.

Geno-I don’t think Bill will be any less taxing on the players time or minds, Just more classroom stuff and less on field. I like your point about the replacements being fundamentally sound and I worry that the new sched will reduce the attention to that(but I have faith in BP to work it out)

the biggest thing that worries me the most is what someone has already said. we have 4 new guys on defense and about 4 true rookies. the things is. they all are rookies to this 3-4. and we have a new QB (that doesn’t bother me as bad) vinny learned the system over the summer. and riveria is a leader. so not so worried there. but the defense is the only thing that scares me. i hope that we just don’t forget the 4-3 totally. i still would like to see spears,glover,fergueson, and ellis on the front seven.

Sean,
  i too have faith in BP but as time goes on i am becoming a doubter in this 3-4 alignment being successful this year. I understand that they will be watching video and all that but that is no comparison to practicing in real life against real people and unlike the pats it is our starters not our backups that need to become fundamentally sound in this defense the cowboys do not have that luxury. I must add that i now think that a D will being playing most downs in the 4-3. But then again i thought dallas had the stuff to go all the way last year

I have a question tho it is a bit off topic i read that the rookie QB that plays for the niners signed a 6 year deal… I thought that rookies where only aloud to sign 5 year deals this year due to the nfl’s collective bargan with the players union(i think thats what its called) some thing about they are only aloud to go 2 years past the agreement. Does anyone know anything about this or did i read something wrong.

Louisiana weather is much like Texas weather in the summer. I played when we didn’t get gatorade or water during practice. We did get some ice about twice a practice. The coach always told us that to much water would make us sick and inhibit our play. We were sure eager to get that ice though. We did two a days for two weeks prior to school and most of it was conditioning. The hot games in the south from week 1 thru about week 8 or 9 took a lot out of you. I began my senior year at 6’2" 225 lbs and by the time the 4th game roll around I was down to about 205. I had to eat almost four times a day to keep that weight. Never did get back to 225 the rest of the season. With conditioning being less important, I can see more emphasis being placed on game prep,

The one-per-day is poor for us fans. Oh well. I’m traveling there during a one-per-day campaign.

Why is it that everyone seems to believe that we have no experience with the 3-4. Ferguson is one of the premier 3-4 nose tackles. Glover made the pro-bowl in the 3-4 as a nose tackle. Canty played 4 years of it at Virginia. Dat Nguyen played it at A&M. Spears is an ideal DT in the mold of Seymour, NE.

If we dug deeper, I’m sure a few of the other players have experience as well.

Last point, the ROLB is a two-point stance DE. Thornton, Ware will do well. Only issue is coverage (which I’m sure will be addressed/mitigated). The other OLB is a classic strong side LB. Not much difference.

Coordination and timing would have been a problem in the 4-3 as much as the 3-4 with the rookies. The rest of the personnel (other than maybe Ellis (whom I have always believed was a better run-stuffing, clog the middle DE than a pressure guy)) will be fine. They’re young and impressionable

THIS JUST IN…We signed canty and barber to five year deals.what im wondering about is they are saying that the contracts can be void after three years, whats that about? Why not just keep them for five they could be major players. the rest should be done by saturday LETS GO DALLAS

jess:

With the CBA problems, the front office and the players agents need to agree on 5 year deals, with the money expended on signing rookies in the last year going up and up they need to be a little more creative, so they put into the equation incentives, if the player reachs the incentives, he reducts his contract years, the salary cap burden becomes higher but the contract time is shortened. Kind of addition by substraction…

Geno,

The Collective Bargaining Agreement does NOT limit the length of any contract. What it DOES limit is the number of years that the signing bonus can be prorated. So, a player can theoretically sign a 20-year contract, but the signing bonus would only be spread out over the first 5 years. That is what the 49ers have done with Alex Smith — 6-year contract, 5 years for the signing bonus.

I would agree with BP that a longer camp was better for just the reasons he gave. As for the players being pampered, I would tend to agree with that also; although someone did make the point that nowadays they DO spend MUCH more time watching film and attending classes.

As for how rough things were back in the day? Try this on for size:
Old time practice regimens. 100 degree heat. Live 6 miles from the high school. No ride available to you. Ride bike to practice in morning. Ride bike home to eat lunch. Ride bike back to afternoon practice. Ride bike home. Before morning practice, milk cows and shovel manure. Get home from afternoon practice, irrigate crops or buck hay. Get up and do it again the next day. My uncle was a hardcore SOB. I was lucky enough to live in town and be able to get a ride to practice, even though I played my high school ball in the days of no water and awareness of heatstroke.

James-Sounds like you got your cardio work in, and I bet you got no days off when it came to the cows.

Sean,
That weren’t me, it was my uncle a generation before in the early 50’s. I can’t even imagine having to do what he did so he could play ball. My grandfather had no sympathy about taking time off from chores for sports. (Classwork yes, but anything else forget it!) So my uncle still had to do all his assigned farm work or he would get his ass kicked. Uncle probably had enough talent to play college ball somewhere but quit playing after high school to take over the farm. My dad said to hell with the whole smash and moved to town as soon as he finished high school! LOL! And yes, the #$@^$&#^ cows REFUSE to give you a day off. They don’t call them “bossy” for nothing! I spent enough working summers on the farm to get a good taste of what it’s like.

Sorry James I misread your post. I had a friend in HS who’s step dad made him move a big pile of rocks around the property by hand just to keep him busy. Man these rocks had to weigh 30-40 lbs a piece X 70-80 rocks X moving them 20-30 yards each day. The only days he didn’t have to move move the rocks was when he was able to haul hay with me(he loved to haul hay!). That was parenting before Ritalin was invented.

Sean,
As harsh as it sounds, I am convinced that; generally speaking, kids these days would all be better off without the Ritalin. The previous generations survived all that brutal treatment, otherwise we wouldn’t be here would we? If not taken TOO far, stuff like that just makes you tougher.

Also, I thought that was a very interesting post about the diet and practice schedule that Saban is using and that BP has apparently copied. Never heard of it before. I wonder where Saban got it from and who did the research?

James,
I agree with ya on that.

During the press conference BP said that during the old sched they were not able to watch all the film from the previous practice. Maybe this new sched will allow them to catch and correct on the fundamentals that are not getting picked up and maybe missed in the old sched.