Training Camp Off Day Coming at Right Time For Colts
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Colts Head Coach Tony Dungy typically likes to schedule a rest day early in training camp.
He said the schedule just fell a bit more conveniently this year.
The Colts, after opening 2008 Training Camp with a pair of Friday practices – a full-squad session in the morning and a special-teams practice in the afternoon practiced twice on Saturday, meaning they practiced four times in what Dungy considered camp's first week.
The Colts will take Sunday off and will resume two-a-days Monday.
And as far as Dungy is concerned, the early schedule – two full days of work followed by a day of rest – isn't far from ideal.
"We put a lot of stress on them early in the first two days and then give them tomorrow off to recover," Dungy said Saturday between a pair of training camp practices at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. "That's how we try to build it typically is, 'Work, recover, then rest.' I think our guys will need it.
"They'll hopefully be smart and use that rest time tomorrow, but I think it's coming at the right time."
The Colts will return to Terre Haute Monday for two practices – one at 9:30 a.m. and another at 3:30 p.m., then will open the preseason against the Washington Redskins in the Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio, on Sunday, August 3.
"We've got a long week coming up," Colts defensive end Raheem Brock said. "We appreciate the break."
The Colts typically are one of the last NFL teams to reto training camp, but their participation in the Hall of Fame Game not only meant five preseason games rather than four, it also meant an extra several days of camp.
"Coach Dungy, he knows we have a long camp this year, so he's working with us," Colts Pro Bowl safety Antoine Bethea said. "All he asks for us to do is get out here and work hard and he'll work with us and get us some days off."
Said Dungy, "We still have fundamental stuff to do and we're still working and getting better, then at the end of the week, we have to get ready to play a game. You always want to go out and put your best foot forward on game day, so we've got kind of a two-fold mission, which is to improve early, get things installed and start to gear down and get ourselves physically ready for the game Sunday."
In other Colts news, Dungy said wide receiver Marvin Harrison probably will be on a once-a-day practice schedule in the early part of training camp.
After practicing Friday morning, Harrison missed the Colts' one-hour practice Saturday morning and worked in the two-hour full-pads session Saturday afternoon.
"It's precautionary, but he did fine and everything's on schedule."
Also, safety Melvin Bullitt left practice Saturday morning with a thumb sprain, Dungy said, and rookie linebacker Philip Wheeler left with a knee injury.
Linebacker Clint Session, who is working with the first team with starting outside linebacker Tyjuan Hagler out with a pectoral injury, missed practice Saturday for personal reasons.
Also on Saturday, Dungy said defensive lineman Raheem Brock – a starting defensive end from 2002-2005 before starting at tackle the past two seasons – has practiced more at end this training camp.
"We have to keep looking and rotating through," Dungy said. "We have some tackles who have come on, so it will be a function of what our best eight or nine guys in there are, but he has practiced more at end than he did last year."
The Colts practiced in full pads for the first time in 2008 Training Camp on Saturday afternoon.
"I liked our young running backs in pads," Dungy said. "They played bigger than they did in shorts, which is good to see."
