Bart's take on the elimination of two-a-days. Don't count Bart Scott among those NFL players who would be happy to see the end of two-a-day practices during training camp. The Jets linebacker told The Star Ledger on Tuesday that scaling back the notoriously grueling practices would make NFL players too soft. "I think it’s wimping out; making football more soft," Scott said. "No reason to try and make camp easy. I get concerned you're making football players weaker because you don’t push them past that threshold." Practice for your fantasy football draft with a mock draft. Get involved here ... Owners reportedly agreed to eliminate twice-a-day sessions during training camp for health and safety reasons as part of the ongoing labor negotiations. Some non-contact walk-through practices, without helmets and pads, would be permitted in place of a second practice. "You're stealing reps from coaches," Scott said. "Two-a-days, it’s what football is all about," he said. "It’s about endurance, pain, will, putting yourself through something when your body is telling you it doesn’t want to go. Your mind controlling your body. That’s what camp is all about. With one-a-days, guys might not be in as good of shape as they would have been. Camp tears you down, and then a smart coach starts pulling back in enough time that allows players' bodies to build back up." Scott's teammate, safety Eric Smith, felt differently, calling the elimination of two-a-days "great." But he also was skeptical on if the change would improve player safety. "Less hitting is always less toll on your body, but I don’t know if it would improve player safety or not," Smith said. "A lot of these things are freak accidents that you can't really stop."
I get it's easier for me to say this as a fan than a player, and I totally get that veterans tend to loathe the two-a-days, but I think killing it in the CBA is weak. How can this be a "player safety" issue without some study, report, or even hint that the two-a-days cause injury.
Scott is right. In the end, less padded practice will make the game softer, encouraging poor tackling habits and creating more missed tackles. But the NFL wants football to be softer. Missed tackles means more scoring. Also, the stars are part of the product and the NFL needs those stars on the field. Can't have star players getting hurt in practice. The fact that they are hiding behind player safety is absurd. Poor tackling habits will result in more injuries than extra padded practices. They did no studies outside of, "This many injuries happen in training camp. Reduce the number of practices, reduce the number of injuries." I am willing to bet helmet-to-helmet hits will rise this season, because players do not get enough practice time.
Its a job, they may not like it but it has to be done. I can completely see why players would be against two a days, with that it mind it has been part of the job description for years now and the reasons for eliminating it are weak
I agree... what they should have said is "a player cannot train more than X hours each day in full pads & helmet". With the elimination of two-a-days the morning practice will be longer and at the end of it players will be mroe tired... and tired players = injury.
As a fan living a few miles from Cortland I would like to see 5-a-days so I have more flexibility in planning my visits to training camp. Duh. And any player making more than $10,000.00 PER SNAP should be REQUIRED to juice. Just saying.
I wish they would've done this a decade ago so I could've gotten out of practicing twice a day in high school. At least it seems like high schools would follow suit if the NFL is doing something like this. Hmm..
This practice or lack of, will increase injuies long term rather then reduce them. Players will not be able to stand up to the constant pounding thru out the season with out the proper conditionig. Most coaches know when to let up and not drive there players into the ground. A very dumb rule that will hurt the NFL in the long run.
I am not inclined to keep things the same for the sake of it, and if there was some evidence that two a days brings some substatantial cost to it, then getting rid of it would be one thing. But I think Scott is probably right here.
"You're stealing reps from coaches," Scott said. "Two-a-days, it’s what football is all about," he said. "It’s about endurance, pain, will, putting yourself through something when your body is telling you it doesn’t want to go. Your mind controlling your body. That’s what camp is all about. With one-a-days, guys might not be in as good of shape as they would have been. Camp tears you down, and then a smart coach starts pulling back in enough time that allows players' bodies to build back up." qft never thought id see the day college players had rougher camps
