| | By Doug Brien
Special to ESPN.com
Editor's note: What is life in an NFL training camp like? Kicker Doug Brien takes you inside the camp of the New Orleans Saints with his weekday diary for ESPN.com.
Tuesday, July 25
THIBODAUX, La. -- People often ask me how I spend my time in practice during training camp. With all of the hours we practice, people wonder if I actually kick a football the entire time. The answer is no; I do not kick throughout each and every practice. Kickers are kind of like baseball pitchers -- we need to keep our arm or leg fresh. We concentrate on the quality rather than quantity of repetitions. If we kick too much during training camp, our legs will not be ready for a long season come September.
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| Brien |
I probably average about 15-20 field goals per day. On days that we practice twice, I kick during the morning session and our other kicker, Shayne Graham, kicks during the evening session. Each practice, we have a five-minute "team field goal period" in which one of us kicks. We typically warm up for about 15 minutes and then attempt five to eight field goals with the team. These kicks are charted and timed so that the coaches can monitor our performance. The punters' kicks are also charted and timed for the same reason.
When the team practices punt, punt return, kickoff or kickoff return, we kick during those periods as well. In a standard practice, we have a team field goal period and two other special team sessions that last 10 minutes each. We also spend a lot of time working on kicking and punting drills. I throw Toby Gowin about 50 snaps per practice so he can work on his holding. Shayne does the same thing for Bill since he is the back up holder at this point. Toby and Bill complete different punting drills that they and coach Everest have developed.
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In addition to kicking we also run scout team for the defense during the walk-through period. ... None of us actually get the ball. We just run the routes so the defense can see our opponent's plays. ” |
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In addition to kicking we also run scout team for the defense during the walk-through period. Toby and I usually play wide receivers and Bill LaFleur (punter) and Shayne (kicker) act as running backs. None of us actually get the ball. We just run the routes so the defense can see our opponent?s plays.
So far, this week has been much nicer than last week. The temperature stayed around 90 yesterday and the humidity was pretty tame. Hopefully, the weather holds up today for our 3 p.m. practice.
Material from kicking.com.
Visit Doug Brien's web site at http://www.kicking.com
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