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Are new practice rules contributing to rash of serious injuries?
read more: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...les-contributing-to-rash-of-serious-injuries/Former NFL G.M. Bill Polian shared the concerns about which football people are buzzing. After pointing out that the league won’t know whether there’s a new trend until looking at the statistics, Polian offered three reasons for a premature correlation during ESPN’s NFL Insiders program.
First, Polian said, “We don’t do one-on-ones anymore in OTAs. And as a result when you come into camp and put pads on, you’re not used to doing the movements. And that can hurt to some degree.”
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Second, Polian mentioned that one of the two daily training-camp practices is merely a walk-through.
“You don’t develop conditioning by walking through,” Polian said. “You don’t need to go full blast, but jogging would be better.”
Third, Polian explained that, because there are fewer practices with live hitting, there’s greater intensity when it’s time to hit.
Polian said these various factors could be adding to player injuries, making it an “unintended consequence” of the new practice rules.
“Every other sport develops players, we’re not developing players,” Polian said.