Getting ready for season 6
Hey Yardbarkers! Just taking a break from preparing for the regular season to fill you in on my experience at our game last Thursday. Everyone knows that the last pre-season game is for the rookies trying to make the team and get their spot in the NFL. It's the do or die time for them, and you can see it in their eyes. All the rookies step their game up to the next level because they know it's now or never. It's the last test to see if they can make their dream come true or not. It's my 6th year and every time this game comes around, I remember my rookie year and how terrified I was. I just remember thinking to myself that if I don't play a perfect game, make this play on special teams, get this block, etc. then I'm going to let this opportunity slip out of my hands. A true competitor's biggest fear is failure, and before our game against the Ravens it was easy to tell that the rookies were afraid. The energy was apparent, even on the bus on the way to the game. Every young player was getting ready to step up his game to where they felt it needed to be. At the same time, though, all the vets were trying to see how they could get out of the game. All of our premier players weren't trying to play too much, because they didn't want to get hurt and wanted to save their bodies for the first regular season game. But Coach Smith has a different outlook on things. He wants all of his players to be competitive anytime they're on the field. He expects their best efforts at all times, not for them to just try to avoid getting hurt. His competitive attitude gives me inspiration as a vet, and makes me realize that anytime I step on the field I need to go full speed and full force. You can't get comfortable doing your job halfway during the pre-season, because then you risk it turning into a habit. The other reason I wanted to put in my full effort is because we were playing my former team, the Ravens. I did NOT want to give any of the defensive players that I still talk to (guys like Terrell Suggs, Bart Scott, and Ray Lewis) any reason talk trash. So I made sure to hold my own and show my former teammates and fans that they're missing out by not having me there. I wanted to make them miss me, and I think I did. It was surreal landing in and driving through Baltimore, where I haven't been in about a year. I used to make that drive toward that stadium so often, and now I was doing it as an opposing team member. I was completely confused when we passed the home team parking lot, since I didn't even know of any other entrance. I'd never even set foot in the visiting team locker room, which was small and cramped... nowhere near as nice as the home team one I was used to. I didn't want to say anything to my teammates, but I must have let my feeling show a little because one of my teammates eventually asked me, "This is weird for you, huh?" It definitely was. It was nice that it wasn't a regular season game, so I could have fun and talk to old teammates. I got taped up and out on the field as quickly as I could, and right away I saw Todd Heap and Kyle Boller. I ran up behind Heap and surprised him a little by putting him in a headlock. We just started joking around and talking about how things are going in Atlanta. It was nice to talk to the guys and see that everyone was happy for me and how things are going with my new team. One of the funniest parts was when I went into the Ravens locker room, which I wouldn't have done if it hadn't been a pre-season game. I know that place like the back of my hand, so I went into where the trainers tape up all the players through a side door, and asked to be taped up. One of the trainers, Bill T, started jokingly yelling for security right away. Bill was always great... he used to mess around and say that he used up his entire tape budget on me, because he was always wrapping up a wrist or an ankle for me. He was cool with me being back there, but some of the other trainers who weren't so familiar with me did panic a little and try to get me out until Bill calmed them down. During the game it was a little weird because I actually had to break up a couple fights between my current and former teammates. Harvey Dahl, one of our O-linemen, is always extremely aggressive all the way up to (and sometimes past) the whistle. So Dahl, who is hot-headed, and Bart Scott, who is also very aggressive, got into it one time. All kinds of words were flying, and I had to get in there and break it up. I didn't play for too long, but I had a couple of great hits against some of the younger linebackers to let them know that I'm still here, and I'm even better than when I played in Baltimore. The whole experience was fun. I just wish I could've spent some time after the game hanging out with my former teammates. More than anything, I'm glad we didn't just try to get through it without getting hurt but instead used it as a springboard into the season. Winning this one let us know that if we take every opportunity on the field to do our best, it's going to help us in the long run. We've just got to flip the switch and become warriors, and we need to keep doing that until we don't even have to flip a switch... it just happens every time we set foot on the field. We ignored the fact that we were tired from camp and just put our all into it, and it really paid off.
AlanaG said September 04, 2008
Dewey said September 04, 2008
norcross77 said September 04, 2008
HouseofDread said September 04, 2008