Midday practices highlight Packers' training camp schedule

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When it comes to his team’s training-camp schedule, Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy has experimented with just about everything except having his guys practice in the middle of the night.
This summer, he’s trying yet another approach as he embarks on his 13th season in charge, which kicks off with the team’s first practice at 11:30 a.m. on July 26.
To be clear, there’s actual science behind McCarthy’s scheduling decisions; he uses metrics and data — about everything from his players’ exertion levels and heart rates (when at rest and when active) to global positioning systems that monitor how much distance his guys cover during each practice — to determine what approach he wants to take.

“It’s like anything, we have comparables — data, analytics to compare,” McCarthy said as minicamp wrapped up this week. “Trust me, I know exactly how many reps Aaron Rodgers has taken in practice and in games over his tenure. It’s all calculated. That’s very important in this conversation. At the end of the day, you’re going to get your team ready to play.”
Early in his tenure, McCarthy’s camps alternated between day-night doubleheader practices (one early morning session, one evening/nighttime session) and mid-afternoon single practices. Then, when the NFL did away with two-a-days, McCarthy went to a mix of those various practices. And in recent years, McCarthy dumped most of the nighttime practices and went with morning practices to start camp before shifting to what he called his “in-season schedule.”
Now this summer, he’s trying something else: A camp with almost exclusively midday sessions. After players report to St. Norbert College in nearby De Pere on July 25 for physical examinations, fitness testing and the first team meeting of camp that evening, they’ll have 14 regular, open-to-the-public practices — and all 14 will begin between 11:15 a.m. and 12:15 p.m.
The anomaly is the team’s annual Family Night practice inside Lambeau Field on Aug. 4, which kicks off at 7:30 p.m.



It marks the second straight year the Packers have had just 15 open-to-the-public practices in camp. Since NFL owners agreed to the current collective bargaining agreement with the NFL Players Association in 2011, practices for all 32 teams have been curtailed. In the Packers’ case, the team held 21 open practices in 2011 and 2012; 20 open practices in 2013; 17 open practices in 2014 and 2015; and 16 open practices in 2016.

The July 26 and 27 practices will be at 11:30 a.m. and in helmets and shorts, in accordance with NFL rules. The first in-pads practice is set for Saturday, July 28 at 11:15 a.m., and the players will have July 29 off, as the NFL requires.
The team also won’t practice on Wednesdays throughout the month of August, as part of McCarthy’s STAA Program (Soft Tissue Activation and Application), in which players do yoga, have massages and do other preventative/maintenance activities aimed at reducing injuries.
After the week of July 30, the team won’t have more than two practices per week. The Packers open preseason play Aug. 9 against the Tennessee Titans at Lambeau Field.
Training-camp festivities kick off on July 21, when former right tackle Mark Tauscher and former kicker Ryan Longwell will be inducted into the Packers Hall of Fame.
The annual shareholders meeting is set for its first prime-time gathering on July 25 at 7 p.m., and the “Packers Experience,” a festival celebrating the team’s 100th season, begins on July 26.

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Glad they have the STAA program up and running in August. Hopefully it helps limit the injuries this year. MM places a high priority on suppleness.
 
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How about you screw the analytics and go back to teaching basics and technique. Your analytics didn't tell you Hundley was gonna suck...
 
Glad they have the STAA program up and running in August. Hopefully it helps limit the injuries this year. MM places a high priority on supleness.
Bunch of Bullcrap. Green and gold rah rah blal blah isn't going to put this team over the top Bud. Hard work in the weight room and on the practice field wins titles. All we have now is filler from a bunch of lousy reporters.
 
Bunch of Bullcrap. Green and gold rah rah blal blah isn't going to put this team over the top Bud. Hard work in the weight room and on the practice field wins titles. All we have now is filler from a bunch of lousy reporters.

I've been trying to work the word suppleness into a thread and this was the perfect chance!
 
McCarthy said. He called it "one of our best offseasons as far as the amount of work we were able to get done and the quality of the work."

Every year is the best so far in some weird sub-category; best this year in amount of work done and quality.
It seems that the better the offseason the worse the results. Just once you would like the big oaf to come out and say the whole offseason was lousy: GM acquisitions were useless, the rookies struggled to learn anything, and the veterans were lazy. Oh, and the coaches' anal retentiveness was causing copious amounts of heartburn and constipation. sb(tc(
 
After a while, listening to "coach speak" from McCarthy becomes nauseating. This summer should at least get him a nomination for an Emmy, or Oscar. The guy has done nothing to make us believe that anything will change this year, except the offer of a new excuse (defense still learning), to explain failure.
 
TC is a freaking joke now. With only being able to put them in pads a few practices and few games there is zero way to get these guys ready for the season. Even former players say that these guys need to put on pads and hit in camp as there is zero way you can learn by just putting on t-shirts and shorts and play patty cake with each other in drills.
 
Bunch of Bullcrap. Green and gold rah rah blal blah isn't going to put this team over the top Bud. Hard work in the weight room and on the practice field wins titles. All we have now is filler from a bunch of lousy reporters.


While i agree with 99% of this i dont have a problem with yoga and "soft tissue" stuff. Whatever that conists of. If it promotes flexability and keeps guys off the ir who cares. There is more to it then just banging and clanging in the gym. Diet should be huge for these guys also. Agility is needed for the perimeter players. I get your point though.

As far as practices times. Yawn. Who cares. Mac is worring way to much on that crap. Granted my ideal time to workout is 3pm, as a profession it shouldnt be a big deal to these guys. I would even say stick with am to keep the knuckheads from being out all night. (Like that ever worked) the articles for the next month are be some real yawners ha
 
I agree with players spending more time in muscle development programs that create supple muscles, not bulk. I've always believed that the extreme bulking these guys are doing today leads to more injuries, not lessening them. The number of hammies, and other muscle strains that develop point us in that direction.

I do believe that they need to redefine what's acceptable as far as contact practices. I believe tackling, blocking, and pass rush are essential drills. They need to be focused in such a way to help improve those skills and create a better game atmosphere for runners and QBs as well.

This idea that you can judge a guy's ability by having him walk through drills without seeing how he reacts in contact drills and scrimmages is not conducive to creating good football players.

We're reaching a point where a lot of players "talk a good game," but don't deliver. I call it the "video game players." It's like playing Madden, and being super good at it, so thinking you can put on pads and do the same thing on the field. It just don't work that way.

Granted, I still believe that a lot of the game is learned in the classroom, but you still have to execute the action, and to do it, you need to learn through repetition of action.
 
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