Commanders rookies will report to training camp on July 18 and veterans a few days later, so we are legitimately one month away from football returning – and Brian Mitchell, for one, is looking forward to the joint practices Washington will have with the Dolphins and Jets ahead of preseason games.
“I remember when we had a practice against the New England Patriots back in Richmond, and you were like, ‘whoa,’ because they came in there looking professional as hell and looked that way against us,” B said. “I am looking forward to these this year; the practice last year against the Ravens, I loved it; yeah, they get into fights, but it’s about the experience and what you get out of that.”
Players ‘cut deals’ in camps and practices against teammates, but not so much in joint practices, because they don’t want to be shown up – so as B often says, iron sharpens iron.
“You become a better football player, because you're still smart enough to not do something stupid, so you both learn something from that and you get better,” B said. “Training camp these days has become something to get through, and made it where a lot of people are not as good as they would ordinarily be if they had to go against competition.”
Doc, in for JP Finlay again Tuesday, reminisced with Brian about some of his camp days, and coined the term ‘lingerie Olympics’ for what training camp looks like in the current day – so he’s feeling the same as Brian.
“I just love to see some football, and that’s why I always reference it as tackle football; it's not just football, it's tackle football, and at some point, whether you like it or not, you have to practice tackle football,” Doc said. “I think this group gets it and we'll get to see some of it.”
“I guarantee you this year, it will be higher intensity than it was before, because I've seen intensity in the minicamps and the OTAs and no pads that was higher than some of the intensity last year in pads,” Brian replied.
“I get pushback from a lot of people that it’s not like it used to be – damn straight, and we're not winning like we used to either, are we? So maybe you should want them to get back to how it used to be, go out there and practice a little harder, get a little faster and things like that to get it to be like it used to be when you were cheering on Sunday instead of wanting to throw stuff through the wall.”
And to Brian, no matter what the era, football still is what it is.
“I don't care what year it is: it is still a violent sport that you must be ready to play, and if you’re not preparing yourself for the violent sport, you're setting yourself up for failure, point blank,” Brian said. “Coaches, and people who sit in offices with a coat and tie on, they are not you out on that field; you have to protect yourself, and it starts in the offseason. You should be torturing yourself a little bit making it as hard as it could possibly be, because when the season starts, it’s too late then to get ready for it. You’re gonna get hurt trying to catch up.”
Listen to the entire conversation above!
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