Rex Ryan explains dizzy bat drill
Rex Ryan has a job to do as the head coach of the New York Jets, and that’s get his team ready to play regular season football in less than a month. And in order to fulfill that task, Ryan apparently feels his players are going to need be able to perform while dizzy.
Ryan has had his rookies going through a dizzy bat drill in practice this year. It starts with a player spinning around in circles with his head on a baseball bat in order to get really disoriented before trying to run and tag a teammate. Once tagged, the next player steps up and does the same thing.
When 250-pound men are running around and slamming into one another, people are going to get dizzy. However, Ryan insists the drill is only being used to lighten the mood and get the energy level up.
“Just trying to get the energy level boosted up,” he told reporters, via NJ.com’s Dom Cosentino. “Get guys smiling, laughing and feeling good. Now you are ready to work. It’s just like in the classroom: You want to get people to smile; you get more out of them when they are attentive. I thought we would break it up just a little bit and start with that drill.”
Why would this make NFL commissioner Roger Goodell nervous? One of the ways a player would become dizzy is by suffering a concussion. If that happens, that player should not be able to return to the game. We all know how many problems the NFL has had with concussions over the past few years. It might sound like a stretch, but this is the way people think now.
GIF via The Big Lead