Vita Vea’s Interesting Take On Training Camp And Football
August 7th, 2024
Talks football shape.
It wasn’t that long ago that training camp had live hitting, full-padded practices each and every day.
And this here corner of the interwebs was up and running when the NFL did away with two-a-days in training camp after the 2010 season.
(Shoot, Joe remembers former Bucs linebacker Scot Brantley talk about how he had three-a-days when he played — all under the brutal Florida summer sun!)
All in the name of player safety and keeping guys on the field, training camp practices since (and worthless preseason games) are almost unrecognizable. Underwear football is a thing in training camp. Players are scolded for tackling a guy to the ground. It’s common for a starter to log just a handful of snap in the worthless preseason games. Maybe.
So even though it was a passing sentence, Bucs defensive tackle Vita Vea made an interesting point yesterday about being in football shape.
“There’s obviously nothing you can do to get in football shape,” Vea explained. “It takes being in it to get used to it.”
That’s a helluva point. Has the NFL softening training camps — and Joe gets why — been a double-edged sword? Yeah, you may save guys wear and tear initially. But when the season starts are their bodies truly ready for the punishment?
Does a soft summer lead to injuries earlier in the season when players’ bodies aren’t in full football shape — yet they are expected to play 110 percent like they are?
Obviously, Joe’s no orthopedist or trainer. But Joe thinks it is fair to ask if training camps, which have become watered down in an effort to help players, actually hurt players in the not-so-long run?
August 7th, 2024 at 7:15 am
Go read the book The Yucks about our first two seasons. This team practiced two a days starting in early July and were exhausted by season’s start. I think that was a large part of 0-14.
Now I don’t know what the right amount of preparation is but it’s certainly different for every player. How does that work collectively? Does your coach know how to prepare his team to play? That’s the question I ask every time I watch my teams play. Arians certainly did. I feel pretty good about Bowles. Not so much about my college team.
August 7th, 2024 at 7:23 am
“and worthless preseason games” ahhhh hell no! meet me at Whiskey Wings at high noon Joe. We’ll rumble out back then I’ll buy you a beer.
August 7th, 2024 at 7:48 am
They finally realized that dehydration causes the body to shut down and doesn’t recover for months. By the time the actual season came along the players had no legs because of practicing in extreme heat daily. The original thinking was we had an advantage being used to it, but in reality all of the players bodies were completely shutting down.
August 7th, 2024 at 7:56 am
It seems when teams sit their players in pre-season, they get off to a slow start. I believe it’s because they aren’t ready to play. Broken tackles, poor timing and more injuries.
I would love to see a comparison of how many injuries occurred in the first 3 regular season games since this soft pre-season policy began vs. the previous year’s injuries.
August 7th, 2024 at 8:37 am
Good call Mercer. I just ordered a copy of the Yucks.
August 7th, 2024 at 8:38 am
So, whats the premise? If they get hurt in training camp going full go or in game 3 of regular season they’re still hurt for xx weeks or out for the season.
I guess we could argue…if they get hurt in training camp they can maybe get back earlier in the season? Maybe getting hit by camp meat at full go gets them prepared to be hit by a top 10 linebacker in week 2? Better full contact reps in training camp leads to better play in the first couple games instead of the poor tackling and skill we often see in the first 2 games?
I don’t know. It’s their collective bargaining agreement. They put their body on the line. They end up woth the disabilities like CTE and trouble walking. We shell out a lot of dough comparable to our incomes whether you buy a season ticket, one game ticket, YouTube Sunday Ticket or just go to the bar for 12 wings a couple beers.
August 7th, 2024 at 8:49 am
Now the regular season is 17 games plus post season. These guys can only extend so much. Its probably better to start a little slow and finish strong, then to start fast and burn out before the playoffs.
August 7th, 2024 at 8:50 am
Good point Joe about training camps possibly being watered down in an effort to help players, but could do more harm. Agree with others too. Bucs Guy – Yes, it would be great to see a comparison of injuries.
August 7th, 2024 at 8:53 am
More and more players have watched dudes like Brady –they’re staying in shape year round now, makes your career last longer too
August 7th, 2024 at 9:02 am
Exactly right, Beeej!
August 7th, 2024 at 9:36 am
Just put flags on them and get it over with.
August 7th, 2024 at 10:06 am
The slackened off-season schedule also means players can’t work on tackling and, just as importantly, *being* tackled until they’re in full-speed games where the potential for injury is much greater.
August 7th, 2024 at 10:13 am
Hopefully one of the statistics guys in this comment section could do a comparison with the previous practice policies of the NFL.
August 7th, 2024 at 10:31 am
They should be allowed to have a few padded practices in the Spring but I like watching the Stars play during the season. For the record, If you ever played football at any level in your life you know that practicing football more than once a day is too much on the body, it’s counter productive for recovery and should never be allowed again.
August 7th, 2024 at 10:57 am
Good article Joe. There’s both pro’s and con’s to sitting out preseason games.
August 7th, 2024 at 10:59 am
:sigh:
Back in The Day two-a-days were a bonding ritual, guys gutting it out under the summer heat.
But back then, most players had an off-season job because there was a fraction of the $$$ in the game for players. There were no off-season team workouts. A couple of weeks after the last game, you’d get a letter in the mail from your position coach about the off-season weights and conditioning program. Maybe a phone call or two. That’s it.
TC was for getting back in shape.
August 7th, 2024 at 11:02 am
The NFL and college ball will constantly battle this back and forth between hard hitting physical game and safer, softer NBA on grass. The answer to me is obvious – less pads, leather helmets. Look at Olympic Rugby. You can tackle a human with a human. Hard shell equipment just makes the hitting unnaturally harder. Ask anyone that had played playground ball and then organized football with gear.
August 7th, 2024 at 11:51 am
Unfortunately there is no right or wrong way. Every player is different. They try to take 70 players and stick them all in the exact same box on how to prepare and it does not work.
Some would probably thrive hitting every single day and others don’t need it all.
Joe always claims how worthless the preseason games are, but for everyone who is not a starter, they are vital.
If they truly cared about player safety, they’d keep a 16 game schedule instead they are expanding to 18 games.
Stupid. Watering down the league by creating more injuries and a worse product to watch.
August 7th, 2024 at 11:54 am
2-a-days 45 years ago when summers were comparatively enjoyable – sigh
August 7th, 2024 at 12:55 pm
Tom R
2 a days were not much more than 10 years ago in most High Schools & Colleges.
August 7th, 2024 at 1:49 pm
Bad tackling is the worst part of the new NFL
August 7th, 2024 at 2:33 pm
My goodness, a lot of skirts in here.
August 7th, 2024 at 7:37 pm
This is why I’ve thought it always made sense to have starters play a few snaps in preseason.
Gotta get those first few hits at game speed to get your head back in the game and ready for punishment. I remember Evans saying something g similar a few years ago.