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Another team.
While the Jets cancelled their practice on Thursday to have a four-hour roundtable on social issues, some teams went on with their practices, and one of them were the San Francisco 49ers.
49ers coach Kyle Shanahan was asked by somebody in the Bay Area media if the team considered cancelling practice like some other teams.
“No, I usually follow the lead of our players on that,” said Shanahan. “If they wanted to not practice, we definitely would have done that. No one brought that to my attention. I opened it up to them, and it’s not what they wanted to do.”
As we mentioned yesterday, the Pittsburgh Steelers also practiced on Thursday.
“We didn’t give any real consideration to not practicing today,” said Tomlin. “We desire to have an impact, more so than statements. We want to be proactive in our behavior and thoughts. I continue to appreciate the heart and spirit of wanting to participate and express themselves. That is their right. They will continue to be supported by us as long as it’s done thoughtfully and with class.”
So this makes you wonder which Jets players pushed the team to cancel a valuable practice (especially this summer), instead of having meetings about societal issues, but also practicing.
Especially since the team was already off on Friday. It was a scheduled off-day.
NFL training camps were already a challenge under the Collective Bargaining Agreement, even during a normal year, with limited padded practices, and no more two-a-days. For the younger fans, two-a-days were something that existed before the 2011 CBA. NFL teams actually had two practices a day in training camp – one in the morning and one in the afternoon, and they were often both padded practices. How crazy does that sound?
So now, with the strict practice rules in the summer and spring, it’s hard to prepare for the season during a normal season, so this summer is even more challenging for coaches in terms of preparing for the season.
“Team preparation is a never-ending math problem, with practice time limited by restrictions impacted by the players’ union,” said one former NFL GM.
Two days in a row with no practice is far from ideal this summer.
Sam Darnold could use the work with some of his new receivers like Chris Hogan.
Also with the Jets’ new-fangled offensive line could use the work.
It’s going to be fascinating to see how the Jets come out of the gate this season with so little preparation and no preseason games.
How is this going to look? Who knows?
I can’t wait to see this in Buffalo.
How are the Jets going to play preparing under these unusual circumstances?
It’s a big mystery.
And eschewing a valuable practice probably won’t help.
Perhaps we will find out over the next few days which players pushed for the practice to be cancelled.
The media had no access to players Thursday or Friday.
August 28, 2020
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