How to improve the slow start....

[Zod]

If you are Rivera, how do you try to fix the awful starts to the season your team has had?

 

Increase camp intensity? Decrease camp intensity?

 

Increase camp competition and light a fire under the players early?

 

Make the offensive and defensive game plans more rudimentary to avoid confusion and brain farts? Or make it more complex and difficult to adjust to?

[Chaos]

It seemed that camp intensity was way up from the John Fox era of "let' break camp a week early, what the hell."  I like the no-job-is-safe mantra, including Rivera's.  I vote for a rudimentary game plan to open the season.  If you do what you do well enough, it doesn't matter that the opposition knows it, as long as you execute better.

[Toundra]

Imho they are begining the season physically at 100% but mentally at 80%, they must give everything day one.

[jtm]

I think the first game against Seattle is key. If we win that one, the weight is off their back. I'd prepare for that game like its the Super Bowl.

[Davidson Deac II]

Weaker competition in the second half of last season probably has something to do with it.  It would be nice if we could start the season this year with a home game against the Eagles or some other team that struggled last year, to give us a boost of confidence. 

[CRA]

playing the jaguars instead of the Seahawks would help

[Khaki Lackey]

Rivera needs to de-Norv himself. Conditioning and training camp needs to intensify.

[OnlyPantherFaninMaine]

Post the Schein article in every player's locker. Instill a sense of urgency early on in training camp from day one and up the intensity throughout camp. Challenge the players and staff to get better and focus on just winning that day and improving every day. I really think the leadership on this time needs to take it amongst themselves to help get everyone focussed and a Super Bowl needs to be the primary goal of all 53 guys in that locker room. 

 

That first game against Seattle will tell us a lot about this team and this coaching staff out of the gates. If we manage to come out flat and unprepared against what many consider to be a Super Bowl contender at home week 1 of the season we have problems. There is no reason this team can't at least hang with Seattle and have the ability to pull out a win in the 4th quarter. A win week 1 against a team like that may give us the momentum we need to have a good first half of the year rather than what we have seen the previous couple seasons. 

[rayzor]

decide on the starting lineup and most depth positions before you head into training camp....esp. in regards to the OL.

 

the starting lineup, esp. the OL, needs reps, reps, and more reps together. we need to do everything we can to have those guys gelling and a machine well before the season starts. when you're screwing around with who is going to be starting in key areas and using training camp as a tryout for starters you are doing the team very little favors. it's hard to hit the ground running week one when week one the players are still getting used to each other and trying to work out kinks. kinks have to be worked out before the season starts.

 

the only tryouts in training camp should be a for a few depth positions and bubble players. training camp should be predominantly used for getting the players used to the scheme and each other and the rigors of game time.

 

i think the OL has been the biggest thing holding back the team early on for years. it takes way too long for them to gel and it's the main reason it takes so long for the run game to get going. the amount of reps that the starters get together and with cam need to be at least doubled heading into the season.

[fieryprophet]

Get rid of your derpy offensive coordinator that refuses to let your quarterback audible from a flawed gameplan. Thanks Browns!

[rayzor]

oh...and look to chip kelly's practice program as an example of how to do it right. forget the hyped up music and all that....he has no down time in practice. while he's slowing things don considerably for the NFL compared to what he did in oregon, the basic principles are the same...be efficient in your time in the class room and on the practice field. save the teaching for the class room and let the field be nothing but putting the classroom stuff to practice and just do it over and over and over.

 

while at oregon, kelly had his team getting off 30 snaps in 10 minutes regularly. we might get 10 off in that time frame...and if you've ever been to training camp you'd see that isn't an exaggeration. they only have a limited amount of time they are allowed to practice each day, they need to quit acting like they've got the luxury of two a days to get stuff down.

 

the amount of time they are allowed to be on the field has diminished by quite a bit and training camp is a shorter time frame than it used to be thanks to the new rules, but the way they handle that time hasn't changed. that is a problem. they have to quit wasting so much time on the practice field. no more standing around goofing off.

 

the more reps they take, the more stuff gets committed to memory and muscle memory. the more reps they take, the more prepared they are for battle week one mentally and physically. their endurance level will be up. they'll be faster, they'll be stronger, and they'll be better.

[CRA]

I think Chip Kelly is going to struggle transitioning his practices over to the NFL..,,,a lot of what he did in college just won't work in the NFL

[Scrumtrilescent]

Yeah, harder to do with 53 than with 80+.

[nosuchthingasapanther]

the team always looks like a bunch of random pieces trying to figure out where they belong at the beginning of the season. designate the starters right from the jump and have them taking as many reps together as possible.