You can always trade out of the top 10?

How many teams do you think wanted to do that this year and couldn’t? You can’t tell me the Chiefs wanted to take Jackson at 3. Or that the Raiders were desperate to have DHB at 7. Most of the offseason was spend with the Lions trying to trade down from 1 and couldn’t. Last year Miami suffered the same fate.

It goes on and on. The top 10 is not easy to get out of. It is almost like a curse. Far easier to trade down at lower picks.

Another way of looking at it, which is somewhat unrelated to fitness, is that you practice under the conditions you play in.

There was some logic to avoiding wear and tear but the problem was that you didn’t adequately prepare yourself for what you did during games.

Also, the term conditioning is misunderstood since we think of "cardio"exercises (heart and lungs) or strength training when we hear it. Stretching is the most important factor in avoiding injuries (and we had the previous topics on yoga, etc.), but it’s also the one most frequently skipped (no pun intended). Tuten’s prescription of twisting sounds like a beautiful solution, as well as working on the “core muscles,” and the fact that these are groups exercises is another improvement. “Individual stretching,” as it’s usually, and accurately, referred to, often falls short of accomplishing its goal. Stretching isn’t a time to relax, and this is often what it becomes. Part of the logic is stretching is to avoid strengthening the opposing muscles, which what a Rockette high kick does. Muscles should be kept in the stretched position and relaxed, which normally provides a temptation for tired athletes to use the time to simply relax, which isn’t the point. Finally, the most neglected stretch is the cool down stretch. It’s extremely important and even more neglected than the other stretches. Again, the group setting for this is a very good way of ‘keeping everybody honest.’

How about: He had an affection for guys that were injuries waiting to happen or character risks…and somehow those things were going to magically disappear in Denver.

Maybe it was more along the lines of things just passed him by and this was the way he had done it and this was the way he was going to do it.

I remember back in the late nineties people used to marvel at Shanahans innovative approach to the offseason. Now maybe it was outdated.

I am thankful for some change though.

I find the belief that Tuten wouldn’t understand the science of fitness training preposterous. Anyone who’s been in the business that long and kept up with the field knows what is needed. The problem with some of the ‘fire Tuten’ opinions expressed here previously is that the writer doesn’t know enough about the subject.

My own personal trainer wouldn’t have ‘missed’ any of the problems we developed so I don’t think Tuten did either. Our problems were simply too routine and rudimentary to have been missed by Tuten. The understanding of fitness/kinesiology has advanced so far from where it was in the past that it’s extremely implausible that Tuten would have missed anything. I’m not blaming Shanahan but this is yet another indication that there was a lack of organizational introspection.