woodbuck27
07-31-2006, 10:28 AM
Packers adjust to new format - Many like fresh practice plan
By TOM SILVERSTEIN
tsilverstein@journalsentinel.com
Posted: July 30, 2006
Green Bay - Three days into Camp McCarthy, none of the Green Bay Packers players was complaining about the workload.
At least not that which takes place on the field.
Coach Mike McCarthy's strategy of allowing players long hours of recovery after each practice has made it seem as though camp is a stroll in the park. Things could be different a couple of weeks from now, but the 2-1-2 schedule (two practices one day, one practice the next) isn't exactly forcing players to scream uncle.
"I like the schedule," defensive end Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila said. "It's really body-friendly, player-friendly. You get time to recuperate. You get longer rests rather than going at it right away. It's different. I didn't know what to expect."
Most players come to training camp expecting to get worked to exhaustion. "Two-a-days" have been a staple of regular-season preparation in the National Football League for as long as anyone can remember, and the Packers have followed along consistently over the years.
On Sunday, the Packers completed their first two-practice day with an aggressive 2½-hour workout under the lights at Clarke Hinkle Field. Earlier in the day, they had a 75-minute workout without pads in the Don Hutson Center that was a review of their first two days of work.
McCarthy's aim is to have one long, fully-padded practice per day supplemented by a shorter, less physical workout every other day. In between practices, the players spend much of their time at the Packers' facility breaking down tape of the workout they just completed and correcting mistakes.
"Training camp provides so many great match-ups," McCarthy said. "From a technique standpoint, great teaching tape is established in training camp. There's so much to learn from a training camp in my experience, and in the back-to-back, two-a-day schedule you didn't get through all the film.
"So this structure is to make sure that we can get to see all the film, and the players see themselves playing."
Under previous coach Mike Sherman, the players practiced in pads just once a day and practiced twice every other day. However, there was an afternoon special teams practice every other day, so those who were assigned to those units practiced twice every day.
The major difference between the two schedules is that under Sherman, the two non-special teams practices held on the same day were separated by only four hours. In McCarthy's system, practices are eight hours apart and every "two-a-day" is followed by a single mid-afternoon practice the next day.
Players get free time between practices, but they also spend long hours in meetings. After the 9 a.m. practice Sunday, the players ate brunch and had two hours off to do whatever they pleased. At 1 p.m., meetings began, followed by dinner and then the evening practice. Curfew hits roughly an hour after the players come back from practice, and it's on to meetings the next morning.
"I like the double days," quarterback Aaron Rodgers said. "We're actually doing stuff all day. The first two days (with single practices) were pretty long. A lot of meetings and a lot of . . . meetings. I like the two-practice schedule."
In theory, the soft camp schedule should pay dividends later in the season when players' legs typically start to tire, and their bodies break down. But for years there have been teams pounding away at training camp and doing fine down the stretch.
One risk with McCarthy's system is that the Packers could run into a couple of more hardened teams come the start of the season and find themselves less prepared to compete physically.
"I don't know," wide receiver Donald Driver said when asked if the camp schedule might not prepare them well enough for the start of the season. "It would be hard to say. It will tell when the season starts. That's when it all tells what you did in training camp, whether you did enough or did too much."
If McCarthy is right, the rigorous off-season conditioning program most of the players took part in will take care of the physical preparation for the season. The weight-lifting program changed and workouts were ramped up during the voluntary camps in an attempt to make sure players were physically conditioned before they got to training camp.
"We did most of the grinding during the OTAs (organized team activities) and the minicamps," Gbaja-Biamila said. "Everything we're going through, we went through in OTAs. The whole objective is to keep us fresh. It makes sense. It seems logical."
From the July 31, 2006 editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
By TOM SILVERSTEIN
tsilverstein@journalsentinel.com
Posted: July 30, 2006
Green Bay - Three days into Camp McCarthy, none of the Green Bay Packers players was complaining about the workload.
At least not that which takes place on the field.
Coach Mike McCarthy's strategy of allowing players long hours of recovery after each practice has made it seem as though camp is a stroll in the park. Things could be different a couple of weeks from now, but the 2-1-2 schedule (two practices one day, one practice the next) isn't exactly forcing players to scream uncle.
"I like the schedule," defensive end Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila said. "It's really body-friendly, player-friendly. You get time to recuperate. You get longer rests rather than going at it right away. It's different. I didn't know what to expect."
Most players come to training camp expecting to get worked to exhaustion. "Two-a-days" have been a staple of regular-season preparation in the National Football League for as long as anyone can remember, and the Packers have followed along consistently over the years.
On Sunday, the Packers completed their first two-practice day with an aggressive 2½-hour workout under the lights at Clarke Hinkle Field. Earlier in the day, they had a 75-minute workout without pads in the Don Hutson Center that was a review of their first two days of work.
McCarthy's aim is to have one long, fully-padded practice per day supplemented by a shorter, less physical workout every other day. In between practices, the players spend much of their time at the Packers' facility breaking down tape of the workout they just completed and correcting mistakes.
"Training camp provides so many great match-ups," McCarthy said. "From a technique standpoint, great teaching tape is established in training camp. There's so much to learn from a training camp in my experience, and in the back-to-back, two-a-day schedule you didn't get through all the film.
"So this structure is to make sure that we can get to see all the film, and the players see themselves playing."
Under previous coach Mike Sherman, the players practiced in pads just once a day and practiced twice every other day. However, there was an afternoon special teams practice every other day, so those who were assigned to those units practiced twice every day.
The major difference between the two schedules is that under Sherman, the two non-special teams practices held on the same day were separated by only four hours. In McCarthy's system, practices are eight hours apart and every "two-a-day" is followed by a single mid-afternoon practice the next day.
Players get free time between practices, but they also spend long hours in meetings. After the 9 a.m. practice Sunday, the players ate brunch and had two hours off to do whatever they pleased. At 1 p.m., meetings began, followed by dinner and then the evening practice. Curfew hits roughly an hour after the players come back from practice, and it's on to meetings the next morning.
"I like the double days," quarterback Aaron Rodgers said. "We're actually doing stuff all day. The first two days (with single practices) were pretty long. A lot of meetings and a lot of . . . meetings. I like the two-practice schedule."
In theory, the soft camp schedule should pay dividends later in the season when players' legs typically start to tire, and their bodies break down. But for years there have been teams pounding away at training camp and doing fine down the stretch.
One risk with McCarthy's system is that the Packers could run into a couple of more hardened teams come the start of the season and find themselves less prepared to compete physically.
"I don't know," wide receiver Donald Driver said when asked if the camp schedule might not prepare them well enough for the start of the season. "It would be hard to say. It will tell when the season starts. That's when it all tells what you did in training camp, whether you did enough or did too much."
If McCarthy is right, the rigorous off-season conditioning program most of the players took part in will take care of the physical preparation for the season. The weight-lifting program changed and workouts were ramped up during the voluntary camps in an attempt to make sure players were physically conditioned before they got to training camp.
"We did most of the grinding during the OTAs (organized team activities) and the minicamps," Gbaja-Biamila said. "Everything we're going through, we went through in OTAs. The whole objective is to keep us fresh. It makes sense. It seems logical."
From the July 31, 2006 editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel