It was interesting to note the Buffalo Bills were the first NFL team to report to training camp. Sure, all the other teams would officially come together in the next few days -- but Buffalo was the first domino to fall.
And that was a pretty smart move. Being the only NFL team in training camp meant all the cameras, microphones, and talking sports heads would be covering the Bills -- at least for one day. The 4-letter network was all over it. Publicity in a positive way, especially the free type, is always a good thing for ANY team.
Whether reporting a day or three earlier than most other teams will make a difference in how the Bills fare this season is open to debate. Some would say -- It's still only July, and what's the big deal about one team showing up for camp a little sooner than the others? Point noted.
Yet others, including studious players, and especially head coaches and their staffs, constantly tell us the more practice a team has together, the better it will be. Reps, reps, and more reps is their Holy Grail. Even a day or two might make a difference in how their team performs.
So which is it? Likely neither. Yes, every NFL team needs a serious amount of practice time together, coaching, conditioning, film study, etc, etc, to be competitive. But does a day or two really matter before the pre-season yawner games even start? They have a whole month of those to sort things out, while paring down their rosters to the best of the available. Will Buffalo win the Super Bowl this year because they were the first team to report? Of course not. They don't have a prayer.
On the other hand, the Detroit Lions were the last team to gather together, a full week after the Bills. This, despite a new head coach and his coordinators installing an entirely new system both on offense and defense. One would think the Lions would have been amongst the first to get together and start ironing out the new wrinkles -- not the last. Will a missed week matter to the Honolulu blue and silver? Likely not. After all, they've been AWOL for over half a century. One -- count it -- ONE playoff victory since Super Bowls even started back when LBJ was President and the Viet Nam war was raging? Before we put a man on the moon in '69 -- before Watergate -- before home PCs, much less the internet, and cell phones? Before the likes of Derek Jeter, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and the Kardashians were even born, and OMG, even before anybody had ever heard of a Clinton or a Bush? And way before dopey blogs like this one were possible. Let's just say it's been quite a while.
But in the meantime, hats off to the Bills for getting a bit of a head start. No, they won't be going to the Super Bowl, but they've been there 4 times before in their history. Alas, ala the Minnesota Vikings, they lost all four. But at least they were there.
Conversely, the Lions are one of only 4 teams that has NEVER been to the Super Bowl. And the other 3 are expansion teams -- namely the new Cleveland Browns, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Houston Texans.
It would seem logical, given the wholesale changes mentioned above, that the Lions would want every day and minute of practice they could get. Reps, reps, reps. Instead, they were the last NFL team to report to training camp. Not as many reps.
But after all, it's the Lions. Just another year......
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