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http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-ra...w-rams-sticking-to-modified-practice-schedule
EARTH CITY, Mo. -- Last week, the St. Louis Rams began tinkering with a modified practice schedule that changed the players day off and added more work closer to the game.
Rams coach Jeff Fisher said the team commissioned an internal study on which days are best to practice and which days are best to rest. After his team responded to the new practice schedule with a victory against the Seattle Seahawks -- though who knows if it really had any impact on the game -- it's no surprise that Fisher is sticking to the altered approach for at least another week.
“We’re going to see how it works this week," Fisher said. "Coaches are adjusting today and tomorrow. We’re going to stay with it this week and then we’ll go from there. I think it’s going to work. I don’t want to put anybody in a difficult position from a workload standpoint. Unless you’ve gone through it a week or two, so we already started preparing last week for this week’s change. But I definitely know that I feel confident that a day off on Thursday is really going to help to bring the players back as we near kickoff.”
The new-look schedule involves a Tuesday practice, a departure from the previous schedule in which Tuesdays were the players' day off. Tuesday's practice is not a full practice but more of a light workout in which the team does most of its install for first and second down for the week. That leaves Thursday as the day off for players. Wednesdays call for a fully padded, full-work practice and Fridays offer a little longer, more physical practice than in the past.
Under the new schedule, the Rams also are abandoning the same old Saturday walkthroughs. While those days won't bring a full practice so close to the game, it will be more uptempo than just a walkthrough. That's similar to what Chip Kelly's Eagles do.
“We did that here this past Saturday," Fisher said. "A little bit more, a little more up-tempo. You’ve got to get them going and get the functional movement rather than just shut down completely. It appeared to work out pretty good for us.”
Moving forward, Fisher hasn't fully committed to the new schedule, as he still wants to evaluate its impact on the coaching staff. Traditionally, Monday and Tuesday are sacred time for coaches to game plan for the next opponent. Throwing a practice into the mix can throw that timing off and make the workload bigger. Fisher actually considered making the switch last year but decided against it in part because he felt like he didn't give his staff enough time to adapt before making the change.
This time, Fisher let the coaching staff know the change was coming in the offseason so they could begin preparing for it. So far, the new plan seems to be a hit with players, who say that it's helpful in making them turn the page to the next week quickly rather than dwelling on a loss or celebrating a win and also allows them to have two chances to have longer, more physical practices during the week.
"I love it," linebacker James Laurinaitis said. "Having Thursday off, a couple of days closer to the game, it allows you to kind of ramp up twice during the week, I think that’s the idea. Ramp up Wednesday, it’s a hard work day, Thursdays off, we practice a little longer and harder on Friday than you would in the past then have a little more of a jog tempo on Saturday than a true walkaround thing. I think it makes a lot of sense."
Chances are good the Rams will stick with the modified schedule the rest of the season but if they beat Washington this week to get to 2-0, it's pretty much a certainty.
EARTH CITY, Mo. -- Last week, the St. Louis Rams began tinkering with a modified practice schedule that changed the players day off and added more work closer to the game.
Rams coach Jeff Fisher said the team commissioned an internal study on which days are best to practice and which days are best to rest. After his team responded to the new practice schedule with a victory against the Seattle Seahawks -- though who knows if it really had any impact on the game -- it's no surprise that Fisher is sticking to the altered approach for at least another week.
“We’re going to see how it works this week," Fisher said. "Coaches are adjusting today and tomorrow. We’re going to stay with it this week and then we’ll go from there. I think it’s going to work. I don’t want to put anybody in a difficult position from a workload standpoint. Unless you’ve gone through it a week or two, so we already started preparing last week for this week’s change. But I definitely know that I feel confident that a day off on Thursday is really going to help to bring the players back as we near kickoff.”
The new-look schedule involves a Tuesday practice, a departure from the previous schedule in which Tuesdays were the players' day off. Tuesday's practice is not a full practice but more of a light workout in which the team does most of its install for first and second down for the week. That leaves Thursday as the day off for players. Wednesdays call for a fully padded, full-work practice and Fridays offer a little longer, more physical practice than in the past.
Under the new schedule, the Rams also are abandoning the same old Saturday walkthroughs. While those days won't bring a full practice so close to the game, it will be more uptempo than just a walkthrough. That's similar to what Chip Kelly's Eagles do.
“We did that here this past Saturday," Fisher said. "A little bit more, a little more up-tempo. You’ve got to get them going and get the functional movement rather than just shut down completely. It appeared to work out pretty good for us.”
Moving forward, Fisher hasn't fully committed to the new schedule, as he still wants to evaluate its impact on the coaching staff. Traditionally, Monday and Tuesday are sacred time for coaches to game plan for the next opponent. Throwing a practice into the mix can throw that timing off and make the workload bigger. Fisher actually considered making the switch last year but decided against it in part because he felt like he didn't give his staff enough time to adapt before making the change.
This time, Fisher let the coaching staff know the change was coming in the offseason so they could begin preparing for it. So far, the new plan seems to be a hit with players, who say that it's helpful in making them turn the page to the next week quickly rather than dwelling on a loss or celebrating a win and also allows them to have two chances to have longer, more physical practices during the week.
"I love it," linebacker James Laurinaitis said. "Having Thursday off, a couple of days closer to the game, it allows you to kind of ramp up twice during the week, I think that’s the idea. Ramp up Wednesday, it’s a hard work day, Thursdays off, we practice a little longer and harder on Friday than you would in the past then have a little more of a jog tempo on Saturday than a true walkaround thing. I think it makes a lot of sense."
Chances are good the Rams will stick with the modified schedule the rest of the season but if they beat Washington this week to get to 2-0, it's pretty much a certainty.
