Hidden Factor In Improving The Quality Of Play

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MikeMitchell
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Hidden Factor In Improving The Quality Of Play

Post by MikeMitchell »

The big thing for most detractors of spring pro football, is how do you get quality play from the "best of the rest" of non NFL players. Leagues like the CFL, AAF and XFL are going to compete with one another for the same talent. The CFL has 2 year deals primarily designed to keep players from moonlighting in other leagues, or being one and done. The AAF has their rostered players under 3 year contracts to keep them from going to the XFL. Both leagues have an open door policy, and will allow their players to go to the NFL, if the opportunity arises. Dozens of CFL players have bolted and signed futures contracts with NFL teams since January. That league is waiting to see what superstar QB Bo Levi Mitchell will do. Some of those futures contract guys, won't make an NFL roster in September, and head right on back to Canada.

So what's the biggest key in improving the quality of play. Besides the XFL expanding their pool to include high school and 1 or 2 year college players. The one area where the XFL can really improve the quality of their play is practice.

I know that sounds like a simplified answer but it's so true. The AAF just finished up a 30 day training camp. The same length of time that the original XFL took, to try and get their teams up to speed. I don't care if it's NFL or college level, you can't get teams to reach peak performance by working only 30 days. Especially brand new teams. The AAF also had quarterbacks switch teams in late November, they had to learn entirely new playbooks and get used to new teammates, couple that with their league losing assistants, 1 head coach and 3 offensive coordinators, just weeks before their season starts. That's not a recipe for quality play, especially right out the gate.

The one area that could benefit the XFL, if handled correctly, is getting their coaches and staffs in place early, and then immediately starting team related activities. If you can get a head coach and quarterback together working for 8 plus months. You can really set up the league to be ready to play well out the gate. Practice time and team time needs to be longer than just 30 days. Once the rosters are completely set by September, it should be go time for all 8 teams. The longer teams practice and study together, the better they will play when the real bullets start flying.

One of the biggest gripes of NFL coaches and teams right now, is how they are prohibited because of the CBA, from not only working with their players, but even having meetings with them. It's funny to hear newly hired NFL head coaches like Adam Gase, for example, say that he can't meet with his players until the voluntary mini-camps later this year. He is not legally allowed to go over the offensive playbook with his quarterback Sam Darnold until then. The XFL doesn't have to adhere to this rule. They don't have a CBA. I am not saying that they shouldn't look out for player health and safety by limiting two a days or padded practices but at least get these players and coaches working together at team facilities. It makes a big difference, especially when you are starting teams from scratch. The more time, these teams and coaches work together, the better they will be, when they eventually play.
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Re: Hidden Factor In Improving The Quality Of Play

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MikeMitchell wrote: Tue Feb 05, 2019 8:16 pm The big thing for most detractors of spring pro football, is how do you get quality play from the "best of the rest" of non NFL players. Leagues like the CFL, AAF and XFL are going to compete with one another for the same talent. The CFL has 2 year deals primarily designed to keep players from moonlighting in other leagues, or being one and done. The AAF has their rostered players under 3 year contracts to keep them from going to the XFL. Both leagues have an open door policy, and will allow their players to go to the NFL, if the opportunity arises. Dozens of CFL players have bolted and signed futures contracts with NFL teams since January. That league is waiting to see what superstar QB Bo Levi Mitchell will do. Some of those futures contract guys, won't make an NFL roster in September, and head right on back to Canada.

So what's the biggest key in improving the quality of play. Besides the XFL expanding their pool to include high school and 1 or 2 year college players. The one area where the XFL can really improve the quality of their play is practice.

I know that sounds like a simplified answer but it's so true. The AAF just finished up a 30 day training camp. The same length of time that the original XFL took, to try and get their teams up to speed. I don't care if it's NFL or college level, you can't get teams to reach peak performance by working only 30 days. Especially brand new teams. The AAF also had quarterbacks switch teams in late November, they had to learn entirely new playbooks and get used to new teammates, couple that with their league losing assistants, 1 head coach and 3 offensive coordinators, just weeks before their season starts. That's not a recipe for quality play, especially right out the gate.

The one area that could benefit the XFL, if handled correctly, is getting their coaches and staffs in place early, and then immediately starting team related activities. If you can get a head coach and quarterback together working for 8 plus months. You can really set up the league to be ready to play well out the gate. Practice time and team time needs to be longer than just 30 days. Once the rosters are completely set by September, it should be go time for all 8 teams. The longer teams practice and study together, the better they will play when the real bullets start flying.

One of the biggest gripes of NFL coaches and teams right now, is how they are prohibited because of the CBA, from not only working with their players, but even having meetings with them. It's funny to hear newly hired NFL head coaches like Adam Gase, for example, say that he can't meet with his players until the voluntary mini-camps later this year. He is not legally allowed to go over the offensive playbook with his quarterback Sam Darnold until then. The XFL doesn't have to adhere to this rule. They don't have a CBA. I am not saying that they shouldn't look out for player health and safety by limiting two a days or padded practices but at least get these players and coaches working together at team facilities. It makes a big difference, especially when you are starting teams from scratch. The more time, these teams and coaches work together, the better they will be, when they eventually play.

Agreed. The AAF has rushed to get it's product on the field, while the XFL is taking their time. Like you said with the XFL being the tortoise and the AAF being the hare, "Slow and steady wins the race". And the XFL is taking the process slow and steady to have a better product on the field in 2020.
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MikeMitchell
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Re: Hidden Factor In Improving The Quality Of Play

Post by MikeMitchell »

XFL_FAN wrote: Tue Feb 05, 2019 8:58 pm
MikeMitchell wrote: Tue Feb 05, 2019 8:16 pm The big thing for most detractors of spring pro football, is how do you get quality play from the "best of the rest" of non NFL players. Leagues like the CFL, AAF and XFL are going to compete with one another for the same talent. The CFL has 2 year deals primarily designed to keep players from moonlighting in other leagues, or being one and done. The AAF has their rostered players under 3 year contracts to keep them from going to the XFL. Both leagues have an open door policy, and will allow their players to go to the NFL, if the opportunity arises. Dozens of CFL players have bolted and signed futures contracts with NFL teams since January. That league is waiting to see what superstar QB Bo Levi Mitchell will do. Some of those futures contract guys, won't make an NFL roster in September, and head right on back to Canada.

So what's the biggest key in improving the quality of play. Besides the XFL expanding their pool to include high school and 1 or 2 year college players. The one area where the XFL can really improve the quality of their play is practice.

I know that sounds like a simplified answer but it's so true. The AAF just finished up a 30 day training camp. The same length of time that the original XFL took, to try and get their teams up to speed. I don't care if it's NFL or college level, you can't get teams to reach peak performance by working only 30 days. Especially brand new teams. The AAF also had quarterbacks switch teams in late November, they had to learn entirely new playbooks and get used to new teammates, couple that with their league losing assistants, 1 head coach and 3 offensive coordinators, just weeks before their season starts. That's not a recipe for quality play, especially right out the gate.

The one area that could benefit the XFL, if handled correctly, is getting their coaches and staffs in place early, and then immediately starting team related activities. If you can get a head coach and quarterback together working for 8 plus months. You can really set up the league to be ready to play well out the gate. Practice time and team time needs to be longer than just 30 days. Once the rosters are completely set by September, it should be go time for all 8 teams. The longer teams practice and study together, the better they will play when the real bullets start flying.

One of the biggest gripes of NFL coaches and teams right now, is how they are prohibited because of the CBA, from not only working with their players, but even having meetings with them. It's funny to hear newly hired NFL head coaches like Adam Gase, for example, say that he can't meet with his players until the voluntary mini-camps later this year. He is not legally allowed to go over the offensive playbook with his quarterback Sam Darnold until then. The XFL doesn't have to adhere to this rule. They don't have a CBA. I am not saying that they shouldn't look out for player health and safety by limiting two a days or padded practices but at least get these players and coaches working together at team facilities. It makes a big difference, especially when you are starting teams from scratch. The more time, these teams and coaches work together, the better they will be, when they eventually play.

Agreed. The AAF has rushed to get it's product on the field, while the XFL is taking their time. Like you said with the XFL being the tortoise and the AAF being the hare, "Slow and steady wins the race". And the XFL is taking the process slow and steady to have a better product on the field in 2020.
I'd love to take credit for the tortoise and the hare line. That was Mark Nelson's Vibe article. I did use the slow and steady wins the race line two weeks ago in the Ebersol/McMahon Alliance article, when comparing both leagues. So halfway decent minds think alike. ;)

It's cool to see XFLBoard and XFL2K.com working together. Nice to see 2K impressed with our work here, and posting our articles on their site. It's fans like you and sites like these, that keep the strong fan coverage of the league going.
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Re: Hidden Factor In Improving The Quality Of Play

Post by XtremeFanForever »

Not exactly sure how this would help quality of play but certainly couldn't hurt. Oliver Luck recently stated in an interview that when he was working for the European league they did a league-wide training camp. Said it was a great way to see ahead of time which teams were lagging behind in what areas (and which were excelling). Said he hoped to incorporate the same idea to the XFL.
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MikeMitchell
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Re: Hidden Factor In Improving The Quality Of Play

Post by MikeMitchell »

XtremeFanForever wrote: Wed Feb 06, 2019 2:43 am Not exactly sure how this would help quality of play but certainly couldn't hurt. Oliver Luck recently stated in an interview that when he was working for the European league they did a league-wide training camp. Said it was a great way to see ahead of time which teams were lagging behind in what areas (and which were excelling). Said he hoped to incorporate the same idea to the XFL.
Direct quote from former NFL and XFL linebacker Paris Lenon during the “This was The XFL” special on ESPN.

“Hard to get your team ready to play games in only 30 days.” I don’t care if it’s the NFL or College.”

It’s simple. The more time that teams work and practice together. The better they play, especially right out the gate. It’s even more essential in a brand new league than it is in an established league. You can improve the quality of your play by having teams work with each other for longer periods of time.

A most recent Houston Chronicle article on the XFL backs this up. Luck said that the league wants to install offenses early and have the first grouping of players work together before the huge league wide training camp. This idea is specifically designed to improve the quality of play.
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