Game Week Is Here

There is nothing like the the first day of official practice in the National Football League. Hopes are high, records are even, and in every locker room across the league someone is talking about going to Tampa this year to play in the Super Bowl.

Translation: Game Week is upon us.

The dreadful preseason is over, lockers have been cleaned out, and the guys that are going to help this team win will roll into the parking lot this morning with energy, determination, and intensity. Today’s practice is for real. This week’s game is for real. Even more important– the mistakes are real this week. It is about time that a football game counted around here isn’t it? You bet, and the coaches and players feel the same way. As we sit back, flip another burger on the grill, drink another cold beer, and get ready for our fantasy drafts on this Labor Day, these players in the NFL will get in another day of preparation as the regular season officially kicks off.

It is a beautfiul thing. You pull into the parking lot knowing that the game this Sunday (or Thursday for the Giants and Skins) is the most important game of the season. It is the one you circled on your calender, the one you thought about before you went to bed at night, and the one the media talked about all summer. When you watched film in the off-season, you watched your first opponent. You studied their tendencies, receivers, blocking schemes, and so on. You know when you take the practice field today, your teammates will yell “Game week” during stretch, when they break the huddle, and at the end of practice. It is here– finally.

For players (the ones who make the roster) it is a reward for surviving training camp. Think about it: for five weeks (six for some teams) you have beaten on your teammates and yourself, lived away from family, and watched hours and hours of film– on yourself. It is time to watch film of someone else. Time to hit someone else in the mouth in a real game. Time to earn that big paycheck. Game plans are handed out today– real ones. Forget about the skimpy folders you get during the third week of the preseason when you pretend to game plan an opponent (common practice in the league to simulate a game week in the preseason). Today, players will receive countless folders and pages filled with schemes, run and pass game principals, and straegy for this weekend. It is sacred, and it costs plenty to replace ($10,000 dollar fine for losing this baby). The coaches worked all off-season on this one game plan. Win the first game– that is the goal of every team this week.

The training camp practice schedule is gone as well. Those two-hour practices are a thing of the past. Regular season practices are epic in length and the intensity is enormous. Mistakes are magnified and the passion is easily seen. Sunday creeps up fast in this league, so time is precious, and every minute of it is used on the practice field. There is no standing around.  There is so much to put in, some many new shcemes to install, because there is no reason to hide anything anymore. The preseason shadow games are over. The vanilla packages on offense and defense are over. Now is the time to install those exotic blitz packages and reverse passes that you have been hiding in the off-season vault. Coaches suddenly turn into mad scientists in the meeting rooms, and opposing players are game-planned. How do we stop this guy or how do we shut down this play? The chess game of the NFL starts today.

Speaking of meetings, it is a welcome sight for players to walk into a meeting room and not stare at a screen where the offense and defense are wearing the same colors. No more watching film of your own quarterback (the one you can’t hit), or watching special teams practice against your own buddies. Now, the guys you play against are free game– ready to be hit with immense force. Meetings will be longer, the schemes will be more intense, and those days of falling asleep in the back of the room are long gone. This stuff is necessary for success.

Even the dress code is different this week for the guys boarding planes. The best looking tailored suits you will ever see will be pressed and cleaned this week. Hey, like I said, it is for real this time around, all the way down to the tie you pick out for the road trip. Massages will be scheduled, and players will get into their weekly routine.

Today, that preseason stuff is for the birds. There is a reason these guys make the big bucks that they do– for weeks like this. Welcome to Game Week and the regular season my friends.