I watched a few of the practices this summer and documented how poorly the Packers were stretching. They were going through the motions, not actually stretching. I do NOT believe conditioning is the cause for the injuries or directly correlated. However, I do think improper stretching does lead to pulled muscles such as hamstrings.
I also attribute the NFL wide increase in injuries to the the dramatically less contact players can experience via practice.
We expect players to go full speed in a violent sport with a minimalist preparation? I feel that is wrong. You often hear about players not being in football shape, well, with the regulations, how are players supposed to get into adequate football shape?
To exaggerate the point I'm making. You don't swim 2 two miles over and over and over again to prepare yourself to swim 30 miles.
If two out of 53 are the exception, then maybe there is merit to the rule.
Originally Posted by: Zero2Cool