By “perfect round” I mean everything goes to plan in terms of playcalling during the preseason schedule…and from a healthy personnel standpoint, no major injuries in drills or games.
My idea of a “perfect round” has changed—and I’m ruling out Jerky’s ex-girlfriend from a decade ago whom I got to know quite well as “Exhibit A”, and she was perfectly round…. In fact, as I recall, so did Brizer’s nephew Brarchie get to know her very well….
What is perfect football training camp? What is a perfect football game?
To me the attainment of perfection in the sport is—when every drill in practice and every play you run in the preseason exhibition schedule kinda goes the way you drew it up.
I know, that type of perfection is probably not attainable by any NFL team or college team or high school team…So what gave me the idea of seeking such perfection?
I guess it was South African golfer Branden Grace and his somehow shooting a “perfect round” on Saturday of the Open in Southport, England. Somehow Branden put in a record-setting low score of 62.
To youse golf haters out there, low score is a good thing.
Anyway, if Branden Grace can shoot a 62 at the Open (and he didn’t even win the tournament, by the way—Jordan Spieth did), the Eagles can take notice that basically Branden played a perfect game that Saturday at Royal Birkdale by executing every shot just the way it was drawn up in the “perfection manual”.
Grace, 29, a South African who has seven European Tour titles and another on the PGA Tour, made eight birdies and no bogeys Saturday during the third round of The Open, which was played under mostly sunny skies and with little wind.
“It was a special day, to be quite honest,” Grace said. “I had no idea that was the lowest [score ever in majors history]. I was so in the zone and playing the round so well. I was just trying to play the round without a bogey and make another birdie at the last. Sometimes it helps not knowing these things.
“When you get on a run like that, you stop thinking about golf. It’s one of the best ball-striking rounds of my career.”
Grace hit 16 of 18 greens, getting up and down from over the 18th to set the record in the 442nd major championship to be played.
You want to put Eagles training camp in that perspective? Why not? A “perfect” training camp would be a major step towards a winning season, far better than a flawed training camp with weird twists and turns. Bad training camps are when you see too many injuries and too many flare-ups between players. It’s not good when guys start forming locker room cliques in August because of something stupid that happened between two guys in July. Witness the Jets’ pathetic training camp debacle not so long ago when their starting QB got his grill smashed by a teammate over some dumb travel voucher deal. You just can’t go there and expect to have a solid team unity, which has to survive despite the inherent selfishness of many players with regard to insuring their free agency worth at all costs.
I always thought getting a “perfect game” in anything had a lot to do with luck. Just like, if you shoot a hole-in-one, a lot of it is luck that the ball lands and curls in just the right way… But it takes some degree of skill to just get the ball in position to get lucky.
What would be the equivalent of a “hole-in-one” in football? Maybe your quarterback throws for 7 TD’s…maybe your running back rushes for 300 yards… maybe your starting cornerback intercepts 3 passes in a winning effort… A lot of it is about luck and the right conditions on the right day against the right opponent—but you still need the skill to capitalize on opportunity.
I don’t know. I’m just rambling with the excitement that we’re actually gonna play some real football this week. I know, weather conditions are brutal right now with massive heat and humidity. Hard to seek perfection when you’re laboring in pea soup…but—
Carson Wentz and the rookies and selected veterans are already suffering through opening drills right now. The rest of the veterans are scheduled to report on Wednesday and the first full-team practice is the following day.
Also consider how soon this deal is coming: the Eagles open the preseason on Thursday, August 10 at Green Bay. NBC10 will broadcast the exhibition games locally with Scott Graham and Mike Mayock in the booth, and Dave Spadaro on the sidelines. The first home preseason game is the following Thursday against the Buffalo Bills.
The season has arrived.
And with it, we have a real camp battle at left guard on the offensive line.
Who among these OL guys needs to throw a perfect game in training camp to win the starting job?
There’s a really professional write-up from Dave Spadaro out now on the left guard competition. I will summarize the players competing for the job: the incumbent is Allen Barbre
, the young challenger is Isaac Seumalo, the wise veteran is Stefen Wisniewski and the wild card is newcomer Chance Warmack.
I guess I will start observing camp from the left guard perspective…you gotta have a starting point, right, if you’re seeking perfection?
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