Ali Marpet: “It’s About How We Practice”
December 2nd, 2016
Joe can already see the smile on the face of Derrick Brooks, the iconic Hall of Fame Buccaneer who always preaches that winning is achieved daily, not just on gameday.
Joe heard second-year manbeast guard Ali Marpet talking on the Buccaneers Radio Network this week and immediately thought of Brooks.
Marpet was asked why/how all this talk of family unity and other Buccaneers intangibles actually translates to the football field.
“I think it’s about how we practice. That’s huge for us,” Marpet said. “I think that we started to practice a little bit better. I think we’re starting to cut it loose a little bit better, which is big for us. I think when we play tight, we don’t play well. And there are times that you can tell during practice and just in the locker room before the game that, you know, we’re ready to play and we’re ready to cut it loose.”
Joe’s dad coached basketball and football (which could explain some of Joe’s many issues) and had a favorite saying. He’d tell his teams in practice: “That switch you plan to flip during the next game, flip it right now.”
Marpet’s comments on practice are a strong sign. Usually, everything you do in practice, from the approach to the work rate to the execution, correlates to game performance.
December 2nd, 2016 at 10:53 am
I’ll be watching the Charger game from the French Quarter. Any know of a good sports bar there, aside from Huck Finn’s?
Should be interesting to see what Bourbon Street looks like when the Saints-Lions game empties out…
December 2nd, 2016 at 10:59 am
I never believed “practice makes perfect” I always believed “perfect practice makes perfect”, I hope these guys believe in that too.
December 2nd, 2016 at 11:00 am
Marpet has concisely pointed out 2 of the pillars of the losing culture under prior coaches.
an area of consistent failure under the “loose” coaches that followed Gruden (Rah, Lovie) was that they played very sloppy and were consistently bad at situational football. I think that points to poorly spent practice time
Schiano’s bucs were probably prone to penalties and mistakes in big spots because of a) the tightness Ali cited, and b) a sleepyhead at QB setting a poor tone for his team
December 2nd, 2016 at 11:02 am
Be careful brother, lots of crime. I been there once, saw lots of purse snstchingd and pick pockets. One guy came up to me while I had my wallet out buying a hot dog, he was gonna snatch it, I told him I would catch him, I am a distance runner. He left me alone. Hot dog guy said he dies that crap dll the time.
December 2nd, 2016 at 11:21 am
^Cool story man…😌
December 2nd, 2016 at 11:33 am
Seems we have a good balance of accountability / corrections / focus on technique & discipline and playing loose & having fun at the same time.
It’s been really cool to hear the coaches speak of adjustments and actually see it take place on the field and the players buying in