apple strudel
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Honest question. I don't know too much about their practice sessions other than 1) they are very regimented, and 2) they are more physical than a lot of other teams' practices. At least this is my understanding. From what I've read, Belichick is on the opposite side of fence from the George Siefert theory that you tone things down in practice and save your team for game day. The Patriots practice as hard or harder than game situations so that they are prepared for the games and that the games seem easier than practice. In general it is a philosophy I agree with. You always train for a task that is more difficult than the real thing if you want to really succeed at it. But in this case there is a potential downside to that approach that may mitigate or even erase its benefits.
What is this potential downside? Injuries. This team always has a lot of injuries and this year it appears to be catching up with us (we'll know more as the season plays out, of course). So where do all the injuries come from compared to other NFL teams? I don't know, but I suspect one possibility is the practice philosophy. Players seem to get hurt mysteriously a lot, so I suspect (cannot prove) that practice is the source of a fair amount of these injuries.
My question is really two-fold. 1) Does our practice philosophy, as I understand it, lead to more injuries? 2) Is there some other way to get the benefits of physical practice sessions while mitigating the injuries? For kicks I'll throw out option 3: the Patriots don't really suffer more injuries than the rest of the league. I'd be surprised if that is true, though.
What is this potential downside? Injuries. This team always has a lot of injuries and this year it appears to be catching up with us (we'll know more as the season plays out, of course). So where do all the injuries come from compared to other NFL teams? I don't know, but I suspect one possibility is the practice philosophy. Players seem to get hurt mysteriously a lot, so I suspect (cannot prove) that practice is the source of a fair amount of these injuries.
My question is really two-fold. 1) Does our practice philosophy, as I understand it, lead to more injuries? 2) Is there some other way to get the benefits of physical practice sessions while mitigating the injuries? For kicks I'll throw out option 3: the Patriots don't really suffer more injuries than the rest of the league. I'd be surprised if that is true, though.