Don't Worry About Numbers: Training Camp Is NFL's Teaching Time

It was 16 years ago that Allen Iverson went on his famous "practice" rant, but NFL fans and beat writers would be smart to listen to it again. Like Iverson said: "I mean, listen, we're talking about practice. Not a game. Not a game. Not a game. We're talking about practice. Not a game. Not the game that I go out there and die for and play every game like it's my last. Not the game. We're talking about practice, man." 

Iverson was talking about playing hurt, but the lesson applies. It's just practice. Yet every day (all day) on Twitter, you see beat writers tweet out stats about every other throw or interception. They're capturing videos on their phones that tell half of the story at best and sending them out to the masses without context. Armed with a press pass and an iPhone X at Patriots practice, I could make Tom Brady look like Danny Etling by sending out information and video on his bad throws. But that isn't what practice is about, and in a new age of media, the people tasked with giving the public information are doing them a disservice.

Practice is supposed to be a time to learn, to experiment and to mess up. The best way for players to learn their limits is to test them. It's our nature now to track and analyze every throw, but are those stats credible if the players aren't in game mode?

San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan summed it up perfectly while also subtly telling those who are counting every Jimmy Garoppolo overthrow to stop. From his press conference last week:

"I just try to put myself in players' shoes. You're going out trying to practice and get better at stuff, trying new things, stuff you don’t always do in games, and you're getting reports on stuff that you had a bad completion percentage or you can't do this. That stuff worries me for players because now I'm afraid they're going to go there and be like: 'Man, I know you want to try this new thing, but I don't want this to go viral for the next week. I don't want people to say I can't throw this type of ball.' Then they don't get better and they just try to survive the day so they can please people who don't really know what they're working on."

Charlie Riedel/Associated Press

Andy Reid doubled down on it after second-year quarterback Patrick Mahomes threw his eighth practice interception, per ESPN.com's Adam Teicher:

"I told you at the beginning of camp I don't care about all that stuff. I want him to test the offense. ... If you don't have the intestinal fortitude to go test it, you're going to be one of those quarterbacks who checks it down every time. That's not what it's all about. The great thing about Pat is that he never makes the same mistake twice."

Coaches get it. Players get it. And fans seem to get it too. When reports came out that Buffalo Bills rookie Josh Allen missed a few throws at practice, fans clapped back and pointed out that those in attendance saw Allen hit a few passes that beat writers weren't tweeting out.

Jeffrey T. Barnes/Associated Press/Associated Press

Like Iverson said, this is just practice, not a game. And the two can't be compared. As one former coach told me: "Practice, for one, is danger-free. Blaine Gabbert looked like Joe Montana in practice but was scared s--tless in games." Former Florida Gators quarterback Luke Del Rio told me more of the same: "A lot of guys know they aren't going to get hit, and so their bodies are relaxed and their mechanics consistent. Add an offensive line and then a defensive line chasing you, plus the consequences of your interceptions actually having an effect, and guys don't take the same chances they otherwise would."

Said a current NFL quarterback who asked to not be named: "Anything you do good (or bad) gets thrown out the window when the live bullets begin to fly. Especially for QBs, practices are ways for them to test the water on certain throws, particularly tight coverage throws. That's why we sometimes see franchise QBs throwing a lot of INTs in the early stages of 7-on-7 drills or team practices, yet we see lights-out performances in game settings. A lot of older, proven QBs will attempt more dangerous throws in practice to test the waters for game scenarios."

Practice is important—there's no doubting that. It's the best environment for players to learn, evolve, train and altogether prepare for a grueling season. What practice isn't good for is counting every missed throw or mistake.