Dan Campbell on Physical Practices: 'You Have To Get Them Prepared'
The Detroit Lions will don pads on Tuesday evening for what is shaping up to be a competitive and gritty practice, ahead of the team's final preseason contest with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
"It’s a changeup," Lions head coach Dan Campbell replied, when asked why practice was being held in the early evening on Tuesday. "I always as a player enjoyed night practice, and everybody I was ever around did. So, I think it will be good. We’ll be full pads, it’ll be, we’ll be going. And, really, it’s going to be our last really good 'Detroit vs. Detroit' practice we’re going to have for camp.”
One of the early scenes on the debut episode of "Hard Knocks" that caught the attention of viewers was running back Jamaal Williams discussing with the team donning pads and being physical early in training camp.
On Monday, following the team's first preseason victory since 2018, Campbell was asked how being physical in practice can potentially aid players in staying healthier throughout the course of a long NFL season.
Campbell explained, "You think about everything that the tendons and the joints and the muscles go through on impact and to be able to -- the body is highly adaptable, if you do it the right way. But, if you don’t put them under that stress, and you’re not getting that intensity and really some of those collisions, and you’re getting 20 of those in practice, and then you go out and play 75 plays, I mean, you can only imagine how much more intense it is.
"So, you’re setting them up for, and that doesn’t mean it’s, certainly, it’s not fireproof. But, you play the odds, you do the best you can with what you’ve got in front of you. I just think as long as this game still has pads, you have to do some of that. You have to get them prepared.”
