The NFL Work Week: Day by Day

Contrary to popular belief, NFL players don't just show up on Sundays and put on a uniform-- but it would be nice (I will get into this later and blow your mind with a story). Instead, these guys spend countless hours in the film room, training room, weight room, and then head to the practice field before they are prepared to go out on game day and sacrifice their bodies. So, in saying that, today let's look at a typical NFL work week. MONDAY: For most teams, meetings start at around noon the day after a game. If you have any type of injury whatsoever, you have to be in the training room by 8:00 am to by evaluated by the trainers, doctors, and coaches lurking around the cold tubs. They want to know who is hurt and why. Plus, if you are really banged up, it might be time to invite some players in for a workout-- to replace you. Some guys hit the weight room, some guys roll in red-eyed and noticeably hung over, and some guys are already sweating the meetings.  The meetings start with a team meeting, where the head coach will speak for awhile (and if your team has just lost, the head coach's speech can take awhile), followed by a special teams meeting. This one can be rough. Get blown up covering a kick and every single one of your teammates will see it, most likely in slow motion. And the special teams coach will chew your butt for not making the play. After this monstrosity is over, you head to either an offensive or defensive team meeting, hear a lecture from the coordinators and finally break down into position groups-- where you watch game film for three hours.  Once all the meetings and lectures are over, you head out onto the field for a "corrections period" (go over all of the mistakes you made) and then condition and shut it down for the day. The clock usually strikes 5:00 pm when you hit the showers.  *NOTE: As the season progresses and you are winning games, coaches will reward you with "Victory Mondays," where you get the day off. TUESDAY: If you read my piece yesterday about the so-called "Off Day" in the NFL, then you already know this, but I will briefly break it down for the newcomers. Tuesdays are the mandatory off day for the players via the NFL Players Union. You aren't required to show your face at the facility, but most guys still come in and lift, get treatment, and get a jump start on film study for the next opponent. In the afternoon, most guys do community service (hospital visits, school visits, speaking engagements, etc.) and sneak in a movie or a round of golf. It is a beautiful thing my friends.  WEDNESDAY: The work week speeds up on Wednesday, the day the game plans come out. Special teams meetings usually begin at 7:30 am and last for an hour.  The team meeting follows that for a half an hour (or an hour if Joe Gibbs is the head coach-- 10 minutes if Steve Spurrier is the head coach). You talk goals for the week and what to expect for practice. You follow up this with your respective defensive and offensive team meeting where you install your 1st and 2nd down packages. This meeting is long, brutal, and usually runs for close to 3 hours.  Next, you head outside (or to the indoor facility if you play up north) for a walk-through in shorts. You jog through the play script for the practice and then head back in for lunch, shove as much food as you can in your face, get taped, and then head back upstairs for another meeting. Most of the time you watch the tape of the walk-through (brutal, I know) and then finally hit the practice field around 2:00 pm.   Practice is long, detailed, and the hitting is pulled back (not that much contact during regular season practices). Once practice concludes, you head back in, hit the shower, the training room, the cold tub, the weight room for a quick pump, and then up to the meeting room-- again. Watch the practice film, and then go home, finally. For most teams, this is around 6:00 pm, but for some (Joe Gibbs' Skins teams for instance) you are looking at pushing 7:00 pm when you walk in the front door of your house-- starving.  THURSDAY: Thursday schedules in the NFL pretty much mimic the Wednesday schedule, but this is the day when your 3rd down packages are installed, as well as the kick-off and kick-off return games (you always start with punt protection and return on Wednesday). You know it is going to be the same day, almost like Groundhog's Day, but as a DB and a WR, expect to run all afternoon in practice. Offenses work on the passing game and DBs do what they do-- chase them around the field for three hours. For me, this was the night of our "Seven O'clock Club" in D.C., where me and a couple of guys would get together after practice, drink a few beers, and complain like we were the hosts of The View on ABC. It was our night to vent about what we were doing as a team. You have to love football politics. FRIDAY: The favorite day of the NFL work week. Everything is compressed (meetings, walk-through, etc.). Get in, work hard, and get out. Players are dismissed around 1:30 pm in the afternoon. You install the red zone package on both sides of the ball, review the kicking game, and really start to prepare mentally for the game. Most units stay after practice and watch film together for awhile and then head home, or off to a massage, lunch, or the driving range. Fridays were my night to catch dinner out with my wife. Lots of guys hit the town on Friday nights and have a good time doing it. Why not, they are only human. In my book, happy hour is for everyone.  SATURDAY: Today is the official walk-through day of the week. Players come in around 8:00-9:00 am, catch the film of Friday's practice, and then walk through the key points of the game plan in sweats out on the practice field. You head home, get in a nap or some family time, and then report to the team hotel if you are playing at home, or head to the airport if you are on the road. You watch film with your respective units Saturday night in the hotel, catch up on the big college games, rent a movie, and go to bed-- because Sundays are what you get paid for. And that's it. Come Monday it starts all over again-- unless you were a member of the 2003 Washington Redskins under Spurrier. He offered us a deal: beat the Bears in Chicago in week 16, and there would be no practice the following week. That's right, show up at the hotel on Saturday night and play the Eagles the next day. No preparation, game plans, nothing. I am not kidding you. What a deal! We lost on a last second field goal....

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