Physical, but not physical enough
By Jerry McDonald
NAPA _ Yes, the Oakland Raiders are being more physical this year, making good on a promise of smashmouth football by a head coach who made his living doing just that.
They’re hitting more than they did under Norv Turner, and considerably more than in the final year of Bill Callahan, where the term “backing them off” was seemingly a daily occurence and where veterans were often given entire practice sessions off to rest their weary bones.
Art Shell even restored the pit drill, with a single runner attacking a narrow gap with one blocker against one defender. Shell, however, did this only for one day, and said he will not do it again until next year. The drill elevated the intensity of practice, the players seemed to enjoy it, and it made those who participated demonstrate the fundamental skills of blocking and tackling within full view of their peers.
My question to Shell was that if the drill was so great, why not do it again?
In one breath, Shell said he didn’t consider the drill to be all that threatening physically, but in the next he said the Raiders would not do it again until the third day of training camp next year.
With all due respect to Shell . . .
Nonsense.
I met a guy at the local gym who played college football at UCLA in the early 1970s and spent some time with the Miami Dolphins under Don Shula. He described training camps that began July 6 in withering heat. Pit drills _ or “Oklahoma” _ as it is also known _ were part of the daily program. There were large rosters, daily scrimmages, drinking water was frowned upon and players were essentially dragged off the field when they were too hurt to play.
Thankfully, football is less barbaric and has come along way since then. You’d like to think at least part of it is basic humanity. Part of it is better understanding of physiology. Part of it is undoubtedly economics _ players simply make too much money to be run through a butcher shop twice a day under a broiling sun.
All in all, that’s a good thing. As much as it would be great if everyone were as tough as Jim Otto, you don’t want everyone walking like Jim Otto.
Bill Walsh was one of the first to popularize shorter practices, stressing quickness, and keeping players fresh. Another good innovation, but it seems that things have gone too far the other way.
The day John Madden was at Raiders camp, he was lamenting about how poor the tackling is in the NFL as opposed to when he was coaching. He felt that had a lot to do with the elimination of contact in practice, and drills like the pit drill. In fact, one of the first things Madden did was ask Shell if he were going to use it at training camp.
Shell did indeed, and no lives were lost, no bodies were broken. In reality, players are much less likely to be hurt than in scrimmages and drills where players can roll up from the back or side, ruining ankles and knees.
In a recent column in the Boston Globe by veteran writer and former Oakland Tribune scribe Ron Borges which went into detail on the Oklahoma drill, it told the story of a Raiders practice when defensive line coach Earl Leggett came to an offensive linemen and said it was time test the mettle of a rookie defensive end.
The lineman, wrote Borges, went after the rookie, “slamming his fists under Long’s chin, snapping his head back as if he’d been hit by a Mike Tyson uppercut.”
Long was knocked backward, and running back Kenny King went by untouched.
The Raiders learned a great deal about Long by the way he reacted, woozily bringing himself to his feet and screaming “Let’s do it again,.”
As for the lineman who took Long to school, the Raiders already knew plenty about him. His name was Art Shell and he was well into a career which would land him in the Hall of Fame.
Bits and pieces from Monday’s practices:
— Oakland’s and second-team offenses went 5-for-8 on goal line situations scoring touchdowns. The first of which demonstrated the mobility of quarterback Aaron Brooks. Brooks did a reverse pivot to his left, leaving Danny Clark grasphing for air, and connected with Marcellus Rivers in the end zone.
— Veteran Rod Smart, predominantly a special teams player with Carolina, may have a role as a runner-receiver out of the backfield. Smart has looked good in two-minute situatuions catching balls over the middle and breaking free for yardage. Offensive coordinator Tom Walsh complimented Smart’s understanding of offensive football while talking with beat writers Sunday.
— Place kicker Sebastian Janikowski hit six of seven field goal attempts starting at 37 yards and going back to 53. The only miss came when his timing was thrown off by a slightly high snap from Adam Treu.
— Wide receiver Jerry Porter began the morning practice but didn’t finish it, apparently because of his calf strain. Porter was at the second practice and caught some balls ind drills, but did not participate in scrimmage situations.
— Offensive coaches couldn’t have been happy with the number of balls on the ground in the second session, with Rivers, Kevin McMahan and James Adkisson among the offenders.
— Second-year quarterback Andrew Walter struggled with his passing in scrimmages during the second session, overthrowing some passes with others heading into the ground with the nose at a disturbing downward angle.
— Justin Fargas continues to run hard and make a case for himself as a legitimate backup, but fumbles are again beginning to become an issue.
— Second-year defensive back Stanford Routt has come on in the last two days and got considerable time with the first nickel group with Tyrone Poole out because of a slight hamstring strain.
Routt, tentative as a rookie out of Houston last season, was being urged in the morning session to be more aggressive by defensive coordinator Rob Ryan.
“Routt _ take a shot at the pick,” Ryan said.
— Defensive tackle Warren Sapp saw little action in the second session, probably getting some time off. It’s likely that Shell will want his veteran leaders with the team even when they’re not practicing. In the Callahan regime, particularly, players of Sapp’s stature who were excused from practice spent the time in their rooms, rather than helping school their younger teammates.
— Raiders owner Al Davis will speak at a press conference in a Napa Marriott meeting room today at 12:30 as a prelude to the is weekend’s Hall of Fame ceremonies. Davis will introduce inductee John Madden.
Posted on Monday, July 31st, 2006
Under: Oakland Raiders, Training Camp 2006 | 11 Comments »