They might have a point

While I don’t support what this AFC Team is doing with their spring practices, I can almost understand it. The players are in school right now, not on stage . . .

I was not at the OTA’s today because I was at the NFL Owner’s Meeting in Charlotte. I will be at all the other open practices the rest of the spring.

But it’s always tough for me to see the type of coverage these practices receive.

I read tweets today about Christian Hackenberg getting picked off.

“Hackenberg picked off by Darryl Morris on a tipped ball,” read one tweet.

“Hackenberg picked off by Josh Martin,” read a second tweet.

Man, do I hate this stuff.

Look, I’m not picking on the reporters. They have a job to do.

But it’s really unfair to be talking about this.

This was one of Hackenberg’s first practice in the NFL. He hardly knows the system, hardly knows the receivers, so what do you expect – Joe Montana?

Sometimes I wish they didn’t let us observe practices in the spring. The spring isn’t about style points, it’s about learning and conditioning.

I just don’t think players should be critiqued this time of year.

I always make the analogy that evaluating the performance of players in spring practice is like reviewing a Broadway show early in dress rehearsals, which of course nobody does.

I’m not sure if you heard the news from Buffalo about their new media rules for the spring – “Media cannot report who is on the 1st team, 2nd team, who is ‘rushing the passer, dropped passes, INT’s, QB completion percentage, etc,’ tweeted Tyler Dunne of the Buffalo News.

I wouldn’t be shocked if other teams follow suit.

Now I do think these rules are a little over-the-top. If you are going to let writers in, but basically not let them report anything they see, what is the point?

And if the Jets did this, they would get destroyed. You know how it is around here.

But one some level, I understand the Bills doing that.

I just think it’s beyond unfair to the players, especially the rookies, to be tweeting or blogging about bad plays they make in a teaching and learning environment.

I don’t mind critiques as much in training camp because that is when guys start competing in earnest for the 53 roster, and 10 practice squad spots. So in that environment, when some guys are competing for spots (aside from the locks), it’s okay to detail what they do in practice.

But OTA’s and minicamp, give them some breathing room to learn, get in shape and get the kinks out.

Honestly, I don’t give a rat’s behind how many picks or incompletions Hackenberg throws in the spring.

This guy is a major project, coming off a couple of bad seasons at Penn State where he was dealt a bad hand, and is just 21-years-old. To paraphrase that song from the 70’s, “He’s only just begun.”

He’s in first week of an trigonometry class. His head is spinning.

He needs to be cut a lot of slack, as do most players this time of year.

May 25, 2016

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