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Why do you wear helmets in practice?

It's like the first step in the overall process of having a player acclimated to eventually wearing all his gear. Next, will be shoulder pads and jersey before they move into pants loaded with thigh, knee, hip and tailbone protection.
 
not only that...Sometimes when you first get your helmet it doesn't fit right, and your neck isn't used to carrying the extra weight which sometimes causes headaches and stiff necks....But after a while of wearing it you get used to it
 
whoa I was looking at pictures of people wearing helmets in practice and wondering why they wear helmets in the hot sun and then I see Ben wreck without wearing his helmet.

that's creepy man.
 
The way that these OTAs and mini camps are run these days it is nearly full speed anyway. Besides with all of the hand work by the linemen it helps to keep fingers out of each others eyes. Recievers, backs and QBs need to get used to seeing the ball with a mask on in front of their faces.
 
Helmets are very tight on your head. When you wear them they put slight pressure on parts of your head. This pressure causes head achs and take some time to get used too. Once you start to wear them regularly for a couple of weeks you get used to them and it no longer happens. The helmets are also heavy. Your neck has to hold quite a bit more weight. When you start to get tired you muscles start to hurt incuding your neck. By wearing the helmet you are getting you neck back in shape and used to carring a helmet around. There are no real exercises that mimick wearing a helmet and actually wearing the helmet isn't hurting anything. Therefore every practice before the season starts without pads includes helmets. Once the season starts if they get a practice without pads they will usually wear basball caps because it allows the head and neck to rest.
 
I assumed it was to get used to seeing things through a face mask, but I had no idea about most of this stuff. This thread is quite educational.

How much longer until the season starts?
 
xtruroyaltyx said:
not only that...Sometimes when you first get your helmet it doesn't fit right, and your neck isn't used to carrying the extra weight which sometimes causes headaches and stiff necks....But after a while of wearing it you get used to it
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Man that reminds me of my first time at football practice in high school - Sheesh what a headache!!! Playing with a helmet was truly strange the first few times until your eyes adjust and you see thru the grill clearly.
 
done88 said:
Once the season starts if they get a practice without pads they will usually wear basball caps because it allows the head and neck to rest.
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Ah yes... that's right I see no helmets with pads during the season too. I guess I can understand the splitting of developing/conditioning then. It just seemed odd looking at it.

The safety issue: I thought about that first, but then you don't get a lot head cuts when you play flag football. I don't think they do that much tackling in the first camps ( without pads ).
 
Today they dint wear helmets:

www.houstontexans.com news

Practice report
June 12, 2006
By Carmine Pirone
HoustonTexans.com



One more and done: The Texans began their second mini-camp Monday without their helmets and instead had an intense walk through with a long team period. Houston’s second mini-camp was originally scheduled to go through Wednesday, but Gary Kubiak announced Monday that Tuesday will be the team’s last get together before training camp begins in earnest on July 27 th. Kubiak was pleased with Monday’s workout, but he was pretty clear about his sole objective over the next two days.

“It (practice) was good,” Kubiak said. “There was a couple of things we wanted to get done these last two days before we take a break this summer and I want to make sure we’re all healthy when we walk out of here tomorrow so we took the helmets off, but we still got a lot done.”

Some may think that practices that don’t even include head gear are easy, they’re not. Kubiak has spent the past few weeks trying to determine if the team can have an intense practice without pads, or in Monday’s case, helmets. Over the course of a long NFL season, it’s critical that teams can take it easy on their bodies and if the last few weeks have been a tryout for his new team to see if they can handle it, the new head man seems to have given the Texans a passing grade.

“I think we’ve learned how to practice without pads,” Kubiak said. “That’s important because I’d like to be able to do that. That was important from a tempo standpoint. What we expect, how we meet, how we come out here ready to practice, our tempo, the way we task them mentally, I think they responded well. The key will be that we can’t start over when we come back July 27 th.”

Landing a leader: Even with Houston’s long NFL tradition, some fans forget that the Texans will be competing in just their fifth season when the NFL kicks-off this fall. That hasn’t escaped Kubiak. High on the list of priorities when the Texans reconvene at the end of July will be finding some veteran leaders.

“I think the key to this team is that we find leaders,” Kubiak said. It’s such a young team, only four years. There are guys that have been here for a long time that people just look to when times are tough and we’ll find those people. We’ll establish those people in training camp. I feel good about that. It’s going to be a tough go ahead of them. It’s a tough division and we have to get ready to go. But we’ve had a good summer and we’ll finish strong tomorrow and we just have to maintain that when we come back.”

Shopping list: Like every other NFL team at this time of year, the Texans will be watching the NFL transaction wire closely over the next month in the hopes of adding some key additions before training camp. Kubiak addressed some of the team’s needs Monday.

“We’re going to continue to look,” Kubiak said. “I’ve talked about a veteran running back. We’re going to continue to look for a veteran fullback and this team, I think, will continue to look for a returner type, receiver guy. There won’t be a day where Rick (Smith) and I don’t see what’s going on.”

That veteran running back could be New Orleans’ Michael Bennett. It’s been widely speculated for some time that Houston has had interest in acquiring the six-year veteran out of Wisconsin. Kubiak confirmed that interest Monday.

“We’ve talked to them over and over again. To my understanding, he’s basically been their starting back over the offseason because Reggie (Bush) has missed some time and I don’t even think Deuce (McCallister) has worked so their not just going to let their starting running back go at this point. He’s a fine player and I’m sure we’ll talk to them throughout the summer, but it remains to be seen.”

Walter no more: One of the most improved areas of the Texans offense this fall will be the receiving corps. With a healthy Andre Johnson and with the addition of Eric Moulds, the Texans have one of the better one-two punches in the NFL. But another receiver has been making a name for himself over the past week. Kevin Walter came over from the Bengals this past offseason in a move that didn’t exactly make headlines.

However, Walter is already displaying an uncanny ability to get open and could slide into the slot as the Texans’ third wide receiver. It’s a role he’s interested in.

“I’m trying to strive to be the best receiver I can possibly be,” Walter said Monday. “I can only control how hard I work and I’m going to work hard and whatever that place is on the depth chart, that’s their (the coaches) decision.”

Walter was buried on a crowded Bengals depth chart since coming out of Eastern Michigan and he didn’t hold anything back when asked if he thought that this season might be his chance to make a name for himself.

“Most definitely,” Walter said. “But every year is a chance, a chance to go out there and prove what I can do. Hopefully, I’ll get a little more opportunity to show what I can do as a receiver, but I’m also going to bust my tail on special teams. Whatever they ask me to do, whatever coach asks me to do, I’m here to do it 100 percent.”

Walter also said he’s already seen improvements in the new Texans’ offense.

“From day one until now, we’ve made great strides on offense. I think we’re going to continue to do that well into training camp and the preseason and we’re going to work hard and get better from there.”
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Hulk75 said:
Why helements?.............People like to keep there brains were they are.:cool:
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..........and to get them more comfy with wearing them on those special occasions....................like when riding their MURDERCYCLES!:crutch:
 
Houston’s second mini-camp was originally scheduled to go through Wednesday, but Gary Kubiak announced Monday that Tuesday will be the team’s last get together before training camp begins in earnest on July 27 th. Kubiak was pleased with Monday’s workout, but he was pretty clear about his sole objective over the next two days.
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Interesting decision by Kubiak. Not only is he cutting this session short (which a lot of teams probably do as a reward) but he is not going to take advantage of the extra mini-camp the Texans could hold because he is a new head coach. I hope that is really a reflection of how the players have been performing and their progress rather than just a management ploy to express confidence and therefore build player confidence.
 
infantrycak said:
Interesting decision by Kubiak. Not only is he cutting this session short (which a lot of teams probably do as a reward) but he is not going to take advantage of the extra mini-camp the Texans could hold because he is a new head coach. I hope that is really a reflection of how the players have been performing and their progress rather than just a management ploy to express confidence and therefore build player confidence.
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Same thing I was thinking when I read that story I-Cak. Personally I would have taken the extra sessions and used em for more tutoring of focus players like DC, Rosenfell, the WR corp and RB's on plays in the playbook and variations.

But I also understand the whole "Time to digest and apply" arguement from a players standpoint. Its hard to apply everything your reading all at once when things are new - I call it soaking in time.

My hunch is with a few of the starting unit allready banged up, perhaps he wanted to make sure all the potential "Starting players" got a little extra rest/extra time to go over the playbook and helping to make sure as many players can be healthy enough to participate in full on training sessions in July to evaluate everyone before he starts making some serious roster cuts.

I have a hunch Kubes sent them all home early with some "Summer School" homework for the next month too esp David Carr.
 
TwinSisters said:
With it being so freakin hot... why do they wear helmets in practice when they are not in full pads anyway?
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Practice is fast paced and guys are flying around everywhere. The potential for a good smack to the head is a high risk....thus.....the helmets are needed....even when they aren't in pads. If they don't use helmets I think they have to scale back the activity.
 
infantrycak said:
Interesting decision by Kubiak. Not only is he cutting this session short (which a lot of teams probably do as a reward) but he is not going to take advantage of the extra mini-camp the Texans could hold because he is a new head coach. I hope that is really a reflection of how the players have been performing and their progress rather than just a management ploy to express confidence and therefore build player confidence.
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Kubiak said his main objective in OTAs was to teach the team to practice (meaning to practice the way he wants them to practice). There's been alot of info on the boards from people who have been at some of the practices and there's also been alot of info from different coaches that appears to indicate that they accomplished their goal and are pleased with the result.

Kubiak has shown that he only runs practice as long as it's needed. When the objective is met to his satisfaction....practice is over. And I wouldn't imagine he sets his standards low.....he seems to push the envelope.
 
I really thought they just wore them to look cool. :tease:

Actually, wearing a football uniform really does take some getting used to, especially in the heat.
 
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