RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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NFL training camps are not what they used to be. Full two-a-day practices are. So are practices that can drag on as long as the head coach deems necessary.
So, when New York Giants coach John Harbaugh was asked during mandatory minicamp how physically and mentally demanding this summer’s training camp will be, he responded with a question of his own:
“Is there a rating scale for that? Give me the rating scale. What is the scale?” Harbaugh asked. “Vince Lombardi being 10 and whatever, it won’t be that. It won’t be Lombardi-esque or anything like that.”
Would it be an eight if a Vince Lombardi camp was a 10?
“I guess it will be 8,” Harbaugh said.
Practice rules outlined in the Collective Bargaining Agreement don’t allow anything close to a Vince Lombardi-level practice. Or, even the practices Harbaugh took part in as a young NFL assistant coach.
“In the old days, you used to be able to say we’re going to have a great practice no matter how long it takes. There’s a certain motivation to that,” Harbaugh said recently in an exclusive interview with Big Blue View. “I mean, you could be out there three hours, three and a half hours, and at times we were in Philadelphia with Andy Reid.
“I mean, we practiced a long time. That was Andy. That was Mike Holmgren. That was Bill Walsh. I mean, these are the great coaches in the NFL. Historically, they’ve had that.”
That all went away in the 2011 CBA, forcing coaches to adjust.
“The rules are good because the time limit that they put on it is about right,” Harbaugh said. “You can definitely get it done in that amount of time.
“You’ve got to be smart about it. But you’ve got to definitely pack the minutes. You’ve got to make the most of the time. When we’re not on the field, like what we tell the guys, is we spend probably more time in practice preparation and more time in practice recovery than any team in the league. There’s no way another team does as much as we do. So if they do, I’d like to see their schedule.”
There were obvious differences in the spring from how other recent Giants coaches had run practice:
In rookie minicamp, draft picks took reps during team periods. That had not been the case under Brian Daboll.
In OTAs and mandatory minicamp, first- and second-team players took the majority of the reps in team drills. Those of us who get to watch practices on occasion have become accustomed to seeing front-line players take a couple of reps and then watch third- and fourth-team players who likely won’t make the roster do much of the work.
Practices generally lasted the full amount of time allotted by the CBA. In minicamp, that meant that for the first two days the Giants were on the field for the maximum 2½ hours.
“The way the practices are organized, they’re organized to be about, if everything goes perfectly well, you’re looking at, and I’m talking about the long practices, they’re organized to be whatever, like if it’s a two-and-a-half-hour practice, they’re really about 2:10, 2:15 as far as if everything went well,” Harbaugh told Big Blue View. “So there’s a little built-in time for repeated reps, or for extending something out to get it right.
“So the idea is it takes a certain amount of time to get it right. We’re not in a hurry to get off the field. We’re in a hurry to get things right.”
With Harbaugh, everything is about maximizing each. It is about attacking each day with an “enthusiasm unknown to mankind,” which is something he said in his introductory press conference.
A quote that I used in my recent piece on players and coaches reacting to working with Harbaugh is appropriate.
“To me, it’s like if it’s worth, if we’re all going to be here, we’re doing something that we feel like is meaningful and important,” Harbaugh said. “Then, to me, that goes through eternity. If you want to look at life that way, which is how I look at it, then let’s go, man. Let’s give it everything we got. Let’s be over the top for that.
“We’re not trying to be too cool, too cool for school, or act like this is just another day, or this is like old hat. Nothing is old hat. Everything is new. Everything is a new day, a new opportunity, just to be your best. Talk to them all the time. I mean, being your best is really hard to do. Doing your best is really hard to do. It takes a lot. You got to really be intentional about that.”
The schedule for the 10 practices at The Greenbrier hints at what is to come for Giants players. There will be four initial practices, a day off, and then six consecutive days of practice before the team heads back to East Rutherford, N.J. That six-day stretch is the longest allowed by the CBA.
Sixteen (16) padded practices are allowed during the preseason. Expect the Giants to use them all. Padded practices are allowed on three consecutive days, with a three-day break in between such padded stretches. Again, no one should be surprised if Harbaugh maximizes chances to use those three-day periods.
One thing is certain. West Virginia is not going to be a vacation for anyone around the Giants.
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