Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - Packer Plus
PETE DOUGHERTY
Packers can be thankful for relatively healthy start
Green Bay — The quest for the Super Bowl starts with good health, and the Green Bay Packers made it through the pandemic training camp in good shape.
With injuries, it’s not so much how many guys you lose as it is who and for how long. In that way, coach Matt LaFleur’s second camp is an extension of his first season, when the Packers rode their good health all the way to the NFC championship game.
Not that LaFleur got through camp scot-free: The Packers have lost one likely starter, rookie inside linebacker Kamal Martin, for at least six to eight weeks after he had knee surgery last week.
But he’s their only starting-caliber player with an injury of significance, and as the second inside linebacker he was going to be a part-time player anyway. The status of two other startertypes (right tackle Billy Turner and safety/linebacker Raven Greene) is in doubt for Sunday’s opener at Minnesota, but there’s no indication their injuries (Turner knee, Greene undisclosed) are enough to sideline either for more than a week or two.
Compare that with, say, the Philadelphia Eagles, who lost a Pro Bowl guard (Brandon Brooks) and young starting left tackle (Andre Dillard) to seasonending injuries in camp.
Or the Los Angeles Chargers, who lost one of their best players (safety Derwin James) for the season. Or the Cleveland Browns, who lost their secondround pick and likely starting safety (Grant Delpit) to a torn Achilles. Or the New York Giants, who already have lost two defensive starters (linebacker David Mayo and safety Xavier McKinney) to surgeries that will sideline them for a big chunk of the season.
Or even the Packers’ NFC North rival Chicago Bears, who lost starting cornerback Artie Burns for the season because of a torn ACL.
“This preseason was so different than what we’ve had in the past,” said
Brian Gutekunst, the Packers general manager, on Sunday. “You know, I think we were really healthy most of the way. This last week-and-a-half or so, we had some nicks that may affect us going into Week 1. But I thought Matt and his staff did a really good job … of just kind of monitoring our team, seeing where we’re at, kind of knowing when to push, when to pull.”
LaFleur can thank three factors for his team’s healthy start: his less-ismore approach to practice, a revised pandemic training camp that included no preseason games, and dumb luck.
The luck part will always be a part of the game, and there’s no controlling that. The less-is-more approach is the way the league has been trending for years, and LaFleur is toward the front end of the curve in running shorter practices and doing more jog-through periods to reduce hitting and his players’ susceptibility to soft-tissue injuries.
As for the way the pandemic changed the NFL’s offseason and preseason, there might be some lessons for coaches and GMs.
One is, the NFL needs preseason games, but not four. Talent evaluators like them, but they’re also important for young players trying to make it in the league.
“I didn’t realize I’d miss preseason games quite as much as I did,” Gutekunst said. “I don’t know if a lot of players will be happy to hear that. But for us scouts, on Friday mornings and Saturday mornings, when the new film comes in, we’re pretty eager to get on top of that and see how some of these young players are doing across the league. I certainly miss that, and it’ll be good to get that back next year.”
But yes, four preseason games are too many. Games injure players and wear them down. Two is probably the right number. With teams estimated to lose about $100 million each because of the pandemic, you can bank on owners exercising their right in the new CBA to add a 17th regular-season game next year. That will drop one preseason game from the schedule. The league probably won’t give up the cash that would go with dropping a second preseason game, but it should. Aren’t these owners trying to win championships? Injuries are a huge factor, and an unneeded third game means more injuries, both in the game and the practices thereafter.
“The injuries weren’t as bad in training camp (this year) as they normally are,” a scout with an NFC team told me Sunday. “We had a couple guys nicked up but nothing massive. Maybe the wear and tear on guys (in camp this year) wasn’t terrible. Maybe not having to play games wasn’t terrible. Maybe they’ve caught on to something. Maybe we don’t need to play four games, maybe we need to play two.”
There are lessons from the offseason too. This year there were no OTAs because of the pandemic. All work was in the classroom and done remotely.
A lot of coaches will instinctively balk at this suggestion, because for learning a scheme nothing beats getting on the field and playing full speed, even if it’s not in pads. But the league should either change the offseason rules or start the offseason program later.
One scout I talked with over the weekend suggested eliminating all offense vs. defense drills in the offseason and allowing only individual and position-group work at full speed. Any 11on-11 would be jog-through only.
“OTAs are no-padded practices but they’re physical,” he said, “there’s a lot going on. It’s very competitive.”
Another scout suggested starting the offseason program in late May instead of April to give the players more time to recuperate from the season. That’s not all that different than the schedule players had in the 1950s and ’60s.
“I think by the guys being off as long as they were, it allowed them to kind of rest their bodies,” the scout said. “No OTAs, no minicamps, that’s why you didn’t have as many injuries (in camp). I’d rather give the players more time off after the season.”
We’ll get a better idea of how camp affected players in the first month of the season. But the guess here is there won’t be more injuries than in the recent past.
The pandemic has been costly, but maybe it will spur some new ways of doing business in the NFL, too.