combined practice- like or not?

I must have missed the announcement on the combined practices for preseason week 2 matchups.. Bears and colts, Ravens and philly, Dolphins and panthers, saints and pats, and I would assume the rest of the league as well.

I like the idea and cant wait to see what impact it has on tonights game.
I would guess the lines will benefit from getting some time to know their opposition.

To me it seems like a great opportunity for guys to matchup and coach themselves based on how they did in practice vs. a guy they will face in the game tonight.

We can see how fast the RBs hit the holes , knowing where the o-line is at an advantage and avoid areas where the matchups are not favorable.

I am also hoping it leads to some rope-a-dope, setting up certain looks and certain plays in the scrimmages and going a different way in the game.

I think it benefits a rebuilding team like the Bears a lot more to go against a better team for some reps but it helps everyone as the other team still has to play against a different scheme than they see everyday at practice.

It's very helpful to us, not so much to the Colts. If these become a regular thing it should always be one crappy team paired with one good team. So someone can benefit at least.

Is it always an NFC team paired up against an AFC team?

BringBackDitka54 said:

Is it always an NFC team paired up against an AFC team?

Click to expand...

It doesn't appear to be... The Texans and Broncos Practiced together this week.

Pretty cool idea in my opinion. Must be a league sponsored activity since all of this weeks match ups appear to have done it.

I think we should try to get a practice game every week through the whole season.

It breaks up the routine. Guys practicing against teammates is fine but you learn to defense your own players and that doesn't always translate well to the field.

It can help both teams so I like it. It does help a transitional team like ours, especially one where a lot of guys know each other. If a guy knows a buddy is on the bubble he might not do something that will expose him. You don't get that practicing against another team. I'm not saying any of the Bears are doing that intentionally but there is the natural desire to not make a fellow teammate look too bad in practice. Going against people on other teams more than just in pre-season games has to be a help in the selection process.

I guess it's good to practice against someone else? :shrug:

Too much of a chance someone does something stupid and injures themself in a fight.

I like it a lot and it should be more prevalent in the future as hopefully, the preseason gets shortened. There's really no reason for 4 preseason games when 1st stringers play maybe 4-5 quarters totals, and nothing in the final preseason game.

My idea would be to keep the Hall of Fame game, then all teams have a practice week with another team ending with an officiated scrimmage (may be televised if the teams agree). Then play what are now Weeks 2 and 3 of the preseason. Then instead of the 4th preseason game, another joint practice and scrimmage, focused on players on the bubble.

I think there are a lot of AFC vs. NFC joint practices because those teams don't typically face each other. You don't want to give away valuable gameplan or playbook information to a team you're going to see in a real game. Plus, there's the proximity thing. Bears/Colts, Eagles/Ravens are teams that are close in location but only play once every 4 years.