Star players are falling like flies in the National Football League this preseason. Michael Vick gone with a broken leg. Chad Pennington sidelined with a broken wrist. Jeremy Shockey out of action with a fractured rib. Kim Herring lost to a bum forearm. The list goes on and on and on. How does a team actually keep players on the field these days?
While the Washington University football team is a long way from the NFL, they still have insight as to how teams at all levels try to avoid injuries without sacrificing preparation. Washington University assistant football coach Pedro Arruza said, “Some guys get in trouble because they don’t condition over the summer the way they need to condition”
“It is apparent some of these guys work harder than others,” Arruza continued.
Indeed, the Bears, like thousands of football programs around the country, have an off-season workout program that attempts to ensure that players stay in game shape even in the heat of summer. University coaches set out detailed plans for players where ” every guy gets a book and everything is outlined in he-diet, running and lifting,” Arruza said. They also hold off-season programs to further ensure that their players are game-ready come the first weekend in September. As Arruza noted, “Attendance was tremendous at our off-season program.”
Conditioning alone cannot prevent injuries. Many are freak accidents. Some old injuries just never heal. Arruza said, “if a guy gets hurt during the season and then the problem is not taken care of in the off-season, and it kind of lingers into the following year,” said Aruzza. Then we see recurrent problems.”
Besides preparing off-season workout regimens, the coaching staff also has to be very careful during the preseason. They do not want to baby the team, but at the same time, they do not want to practice the team into the ground. “You’ve got to know when to back off the kids,” said Arruza. “Again, there is a fine line between pushing the kids and pushing too hard and we try to do a good job of that, making sure we are pushing the guys, but at the same time you don’t want to be overly cautious because obviously you go to push them and get better.”
While football teams always must be worried about injuries, Arruza still stresses repetition in practice. “My feeling is that we’ve got to get better and the only way you get better is by giving those guys work,” said Arruza
Without reps and snaps, starters get rusty and may lose touch with the intricacies of an offense or defense. Take the 2002 St. Louis Rams. “Last year [Rams coach Mike] Martz comes in, backs way off in camp and backs way off in the preseason and his starters hardly get any work,” said Arruza, “Then they come out and lose their first five games.”
This is proof that holding back your starters does not work and in the long run will handicap a team. “You can’t be overly cautious,” said Arruza. I know we are going to get a little banged up, but we got to go ahead and do this because that guy is not going to be ready to play for me. I’ve got to play my guys.”