woodbuck27
08-07-2006, 12:57 AM
Sun, Aug. 06, 2006
Childress puts Vikings through physical camp
By Kevin Seifert
MANKATO, Minn. - Ice bags are everywhere. They're on Matt Birk's shoulders, balanced on Chad Greenway's head and wrapped around Jermaine Wiggins' knee. The injury list is growing, soreness is escalating and a few eyes are beginning to roll.
The first week of coach Brad Childress' inaugural Vikings training camp has registered as the most physically demanding in recent team history, featuring more live hitting and consecutive days of full pads than some prominent players have ever experienced. They recognize Childress' desire to evaluate them in gamelike conditions but are eager for a pullback that might not come until the end of this week.
"This is the most physical camp I've ever been associated with," cornerback Antoine Winfield said. "I've never been associated with tackling people to the ground in camp. It's a long season. You have four preseason games and 16 regular season games. We're definitely going to get enough hitting. But I understand where they're coming from. They want to see what we can do when everything is full-go.
"I can understand it from that aspect, but this is my eighth year in the league. I know how to tackle. So (in camp drills) I just try to get myself in position. I'm only 185 pounds. I can only take a certain amount of hits. I'm trying to last the whole season."
Winfield, fellow cornerback Fred Smoot, quarterback Brad Johnson and fullback Tony Richardson - a group that has combined to play 41 NFL seasons - all acknowledged the highly physical nature of Childress' training camp.
"The first week was a rough week," Johnson said. "There were more padded practices. It does wear on you. The coach wants to find out what kind of players he has, who's in it for the long haul.
"Obviously he'll back down in different situations, different tempos during the course of practices. But this past week has been pretty rough. But I think that's good for us."
Said Richardson: "We've done a lot of tackling-to-the-ground types of drills, but that's how you play the game."
The Vikings have practiced in full pads once a day since Aug. 1; Childress has paired each with a second daily practice in shells or shorts. They are not scheduled for a lighter day until Sunday, the day before their preseason opener against Oakland, and do not have a day off until August 15. If Childress sticks to his schedule, players will take part in 12 consecutive days of full-pads practices.
Those practices have fallen at the high end of the league's contact spectrum, carrying an intense, military-style tempo in which players almost constantly are on the run. NFL teams conduct full-pads practices at varying levels of physicality, ranging from minimal contact to "thud" (hitting an opponent squarely but keeping him off the ground) to full "live" tackling.
Childress has implemented at least one "live" period in each full-pads practice, including a brutal 35 minute stretch Saturday that produced several injuries. By Sunday morning, the tally of sidelined players had reached five - including running back Chester Taylor, defensive tackle Kevin Williams and Greenway. Childress said the level of contact has been necessary but vowed to monitor players to avoid wearing them down.
"We usually are going to have some segment that is live every day," Childress said. "There is no way around that. With training camp, somewhere, you're going to have to have some contact. You're going to have to let those guys be in their pads. They have to go through soreness of muscles not only from running and conditioning, but just having those pads settle up on them. "It has to be a balance. You have to be in tune when enough is enough - when you need to start to recharge them. I'm sensitive to that."
As of Sunday, the "recharging" had yet to begin. Smoot compared the past week to the approach of current San Diego coach and noted drill instructor Marty Schottenheimer, who coached Washington in Smoot's rookie season. Smoot said that current Redskins coach Joe Gibbs limited tackling drills to one or two practices per summer, and that predecessor Steve Spurrier never allowed his team to tackle during practices.
Like Schottenheimer, Childress has scheduled little down time for players during the day. Winfield estimates he has an hour in between practices to rest, and meetings typically last until 90 minutes before his 11 p.m. curfew.
"It's basically work, work, work," Winfield said. "I'm a little sore right now, and usually I'm not that sore during training camp. But I'm fighting through it."
Winfield paused and counted to himself for a moment.
"I think we break (camp) in another 12 days."
©2006 Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
Childress puts Vikings through physical camp
By Kevin Seifert
MANKATO, Minn. - Ice bags are everywhere. They're on Matt Birk's shoulders, balanced on Chad Greenway's head and wrapped around Jermaine Wiggins' knee. The injury list is growing, soreness is escalating and a few eyes are beginning to roll.
The first week of coach Brad Childress' inaugural Vikings training camp has registered as the most physically demanding in recent team history, featuring more live hitting and consecutive days of full pads than some prominent players have ever experienced. They recognize Childress' desire to evaluate them in gamelike conditions but are eager for a pullback that might not come until the end of this week.
"This is the most physical camp I've ever been associated with," cornerback Antoine Winfield said. "I've never been associated with tackling people to the ground in camp. It's a long season. You have four preseason games and 16 regular season games. We're definitely going to get enough hitting. But I understand where they're coming from. They want to see what we can do when everything is full-go.
"I can understand it from that aspect, but this is my eighth year in the league. I know how to tackle. So (in camp drills) I just try to get myself in position. I'm only 185 pounds. I can only take a certain amount of hits. I'm trying to last the whole season."
Winfield, fellow cornerback Fred Smoot, quarterback Brad Johnson and fullback Tony Richardson - a group that has combined to play 41 NFL seasons - all acknowledged the highly physical nature of Childress' training camp.
"The first week was a rough week," Johnson said. "There were more padded practices. It does wear on you. The coach wants to find out what kind of players he has, who's in it for the long haul.
"Obviously he'll back down in different situations, different tempos during the course of practices. But this past week has been pretty rough. But I think that's good for us."
Said Richardson: "We've done a lot of tackling-to-the-ground types of drills, but that's how you play the game."
The Vikings have practiced in full pads once a day since Aug. 1; Childress has paired each with a second daily practice in shells or shorts. They are not scheduled for a lighter day until Sunday, the day before their preseason opener against Oakland, and do not have a day off until August 15. If Childress sticks to his schedule, players will take part in 12 consecutive days of full-pads practices.
Those practices have fallen at the high end of the league's contact spectrum, carrying an intense, military-style tempo in which players almost constantly are on the run. NFL teams conduct full-pads practices at varying levels of physicality, ranging from minimal contact to "thud" (hitting an opponent squarely but keeping him off the ground) to full "live" tackling.
Childress has implemented at least one "live" period in each full-pads practice, including a brutal 35 minute stretch Saturday that produced several injuries. By Sunday morning, the tally of sidelined players had reached five - including running back Chester Taylor, defensive tackle Kevin Williams and Greenway. Childress said the level of contact has been necessary but vowed to monitor players to avoid wearing them down.
"We usually are going to have some segment that is live every day," Childress said. "There is no way around that. With training camp, somewhere, you're going to have to have some contact. You're going to have to let those guys be in their pads. They have to go through soreness of muscles not only from running and conditioning, but just having those pads settle up on them. "It has to be a balance. You have to be in tune when enough is enough - when you need to start to recharge them. I'm sensitive to that."
As of Sunday, the "recharging" had yet to begin. Smoot compared the past week to the approach of current San Diego coach and noted drill instructor Marty Schottenheimer, who coached Washington in Smoot's rookie season. Smoot said that current Redskins coach Joe Gibbs limited tackling drills to one or two practices per summer, and that predecessor Steve Spurrier never allowed his team to tackle during practices.
Like Schottenheimer, Childress has scheduled little down time for players during the day. Winfield estimates he has an hour in between practices to rest, and meetings typically last until 90 minutes before his 11 p.m. curfew.
"It's basically work, work, work," Winfield said. "I'm a little sore right now, and usually I'm not that sore during training camp. But I'm fighting through it."
Winfield paused and counted to himself for a moment.
"I think we break (camp) in another 12 days."
©2006 Star Tribune (Minneapolis)