What Really Goes on During an NFL Bye Week?

When the NFL schedule is released in late April, we look at the top matchups, try to predict records and focus on teams that could possibly make a deep playoff run months before the season even starts.

The players in the league? They circle the bye week.

This is the one break, the one opportunity on the schedule to rest, recover and get away from the practice facility—even if it’s only for a couple of days.

For the six teams on a bye this week (Bears, Packers, Lions, Falcons, Bills, Titans), the players need the time off to shift the focus outside of the structured, minute-by-minute routine that exists in an NFL season.

Time to get your body right, rehab injuries or take care of the bumps and bruises that everyone is playing through at this point of the season while using the weekend to reconnect with family and friends. 

Some guys fly home for the weekend to see mom, while young players might head back to campus to drink cheap beers in red Solo Cups at a tailgate in the Big 10, SEC, Big 12 or Pac-12.

The experienced vets? Just sit down and relax. Go to the movies. Take the wife out to dinner. Eat breakfast on a Sunday morning with the kids. Head to New York City, Chicago or L.A. for a night or two. Play Madden.

Heck, clean the garage if you have to.

Grant Halverson/Getty Images

Players should do anything, really, that eliminates stress and allows them to recharge a little bit before the second half of the season starts up.

There are no game plans, Friday practice scripts or busted-up knees on a bye week. 

That’s a beautiful thing for players who need some time away from the game to just, well, grab a spot on the couch and watch Rocky marathons on AMC.

When a coach dismisses his team for the weekend, the cars are already running in the parking lot and guys are gone within minutes.

Airports and toll roads. That’s where you’ll find these NFL players.

But before these players race out of town, leaving the team facility in the dust, they have to use the bye week to truly prepare for the critical stretch run of the season.

And it starts with film work.

Players should grade themselves based on the tape. I’m talking about busts, missed assignments and poor technique that led to negative plays in the first half of the season.

Forget the positive plays that show up on the Sunday night highlights and produce fantasy points.

This is about the ability to "self-scout" off correction tapes, make adjustments and improve core techniques such as footwork, leverage and hand placement.

Be realistic, honest and watch the tape from the perspective of future opponents still on the schedule.

What are they seeing? How will they attack your weaknesses? Do you struggle in specific schemes? How will they game-plan to beat you?

Remember, they are studying the same tape.

This applies to every guy on the 53-man roster. From Aaron Rodgers to some rookie that covers kicks, the tape reads like an open book when players focus on the negatives.

Chris Graythen/Getty Images

And it's often the same negative technique that continues to show up.

Maybe it’s a defensive back who misses tackles in the open field (poor angles), an offensive lineman who struggles versus a bull rush (pad level/base) or a quarterback who sails the ball at times on inside breaking routes (footwork/release point).

Whatever the case or situation, these issues have to be corrected or opposing teams will continue to attack that same poor technique over and over again.

As I said above, players look for the bye week immediately after the schedule is released with weekend plans to get out of town already in mind.

However, as important as rest and recovery are for players to get somewhat healthy for the second half of the season, the ability to self-scout is vital to producing in this league.

With no upcoming game on the schedule, the bye week is the ideal time for players to study their own performance while being honest about what they are seeing on the tape.

Seven-year NFL veteran Matt Bowen is an NFL National Lead Writer for Bleacher Report.

Follow @MattBowen41