Your thoughts on the "Nutcracker" drill?
by James Brady on Jun 21, 2010 12:15 PM PDT
in San Francisco 49ers News
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PrintOn Friday, Singletary let it be known that the Nutcracker drill would be returning to training camp this year. The nutcracker drill is highly reminiscent of the Packers' concussion checks of old (if a player 'had his bell rung' he'd line up in front of Ray Nitschke and go one-on-one with him, if they did alright, they would be in on the next series), and certainly a brutal aspect of Singletary's tough-minded training camp.
As mentioned in the delightful parenthesis above, the nutcracker drill is basically taking two players of similar build and, in theory, strength, and sending them at eachother. Whoever is left standing/gets past the other player is the winner. So generally, the player who utilizes leverage the best comes out on top.
Last season it was widely criticized by many members of the media and casuals outside of 49ers fans, but on this site the majority of people seemed to love it, as evidenced by the initial Mike Singletary Approval Ratings we ran. Still, there were a few key injuries. David Baas was hurt for a significant amount of time, and Patrick Willis sprained an ankle. As Joe Staley noted last season after going through the Nutcracker drills, he hated them at first, but eventually came around. I believe that makes a good amount of sense, you're not getting hit for months, and then suddenly you're going one-on-one with a guy, getting hit.
So my take is that it's important to take them slow to begin with, make sure they don't get hurt just from all the time off. Singletary noted in a press conference that it was going to be changed up a little, though it's not immediately clear what about it will be different. From his statements (noted in the transcript here), it seems like they are trying to tweak the technical aspect of it so the players get the most out of it. The link above has his thoughts on the drill. So what are yours? Are they good for the players? Are they bad for the players? Does it condition them to outlast their opponents in the fourth quarter in weeks 10-17, or does it simply tire them out and cause unneeded injuries?
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I don't have a problem with it. Guys hit in football. You get hurt.
So long as they aren’t being stupid about it its fine, (By this I mean matchups like Taylor Mays and Alex Smith in pure hitting drills). I agree with Sing that the guys come out of camp a little sharper when they’ve been really hitting. Everybody is a little sharper at the start of the season.
Gimme 1 round!
It falls right in with the emphasis on competition being made.
In a game, many injuries occur because of 11 on 11 scenerios – lotta bodies flying around catching unsuspecting players at a bad angle. For 1 on 1, head-on contact with two players in condition and warmed up, it will simulate the intensity of game action in a low risk, semi-controlled environment. If you needed to eliminate all chance of injuries, there couldn’t be any practice.
by DeathValleyCarl on Jun 21, 2010 12:41 PM PDT reply actions
Yes excellent post is excellent
Look at the injury that took away the best DT to ever suit up in a Niners uniform. It was Ken Norton’s helmet from a weird angle that went through Young’s leg. He had a million collisions head up 1-on-1 and 1-on-2 without injury. Drills like this help prevent injury long term by correcting technique.
Gimme 1 round!
by ItBurnzWhenIP on Jun 21, 2010 1:20 PM PDT up reply actions
‘excellent post is excellent’. What is this I don’t even
Top Tip for England's next game: If you're watching on Sky+ press pause and wait a second before pressing play. Being a second or two behind the live play will give you that authentic Emile Heskey viewpoint.
Stalk me on Twitter!
I am
giving a definition of the post using the word excellent in the definition of excellent. His post was excellent and I defined it as such.
Excellent post is Excellent
Gimme 1 round!
by ItBurnzWhenIP on Jun 21, 2010 11:52 PM PDT up reply actions
I know.
Hence why I answered with another meme.
Top Tip for England's next game: If you're watching on Sky+ press pause and wait a second before pressing play. Being a second or two behind the live play will give you that authentic Emile Heskey viewpoint.
Stalk me on Twitter!
by James Brady on Jun 22, 2010 5:51 AM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
LOL owned
I didn’t even catch it. +Juan
Gimme 1 round!
by ItBurnzWhenIP on Jun 22, 2010 10:34 AM PDT up reply actions
Eh, straight-up one-on-one is fine.
It gets a bit rough, so what? I’ve seen (and been apart of) worse drills at the kid, middle school, and high school levels. I’m sure I’m not the only one on NN that could say that as well….so you know, I’m okay with it cause it does keep people sharp in a controlled environment.
"Lord, beer me strength."
As long as Lee isn’t going against Iupati…because we know Lee is a god and would demolish him
Judgment day is coming!
Welcome to the NFL, rookie. Now sit the [site decorum] down and bow to Andy Lee.
Top Tip for England's next game: If you're watching on Sky+ press pause and wait a second before pressing play. Being a second or two behind the live play will give you that authentic Emile Heskey viewpoint.
Stalk me on Twitter!
I'm perfectly sure...
that Andy Lee sits out the drill for fear of hurting them. He’s gracious like that.
"Lord, beer me strength."
He would have, but they called him out and disrespected the god of war.
I know what I'm talking about, I started at right guard for the 1992 College Park Falcons.
by Johnnysixnut on Jun 22, 2010 4:32 AM PDT up reply actions
The thing is that not all nutcrackers are created equal...
you’ve got the traditional nutcracker:
you’ve got the screw-type nutcracker:
you’ve got the ‘works as a knick-knack, but not as a nutcracker’ nutcracker:
and you’ve got the ‘political statement’ nutcracker:
The thing is, without actually running the nutcracker, you don’t know how much pressure the nuts you’re putting out on the field can take before they’ll crack.
I'm just not sure how much worse what Vick did than what "Ben" did. Glad he's not a Niner.
Idiocy
Just another example of Sing’s stupidity about being physical with an “F”
The f should be for being fired.
This franchise is doomed as long as the Yorksrun things
reasons please?
I mean, my comment was mostly a joke, but I still gave a reason why I think the nutcracker should stay.
I'm just not sure how much worse what Vick did than what "Ben" did. Glad he's not a Niner.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4L2UmLBJsI
Mass genocide is the most exhausting activity one can engage in, outside of soccer.
you must have never played
like TexansDC said this is a typical drill done from pop warner up. I think you have no idea what the drill is my friend. Idiocy would be lining these guys up 10yards apart and having them blast into eachother. This IS NOT the “nut cracker”. This is simply 2 guys lined up in a 2 pt stance like an OL and DL on the ball. Then at the snap or whistle you try to go through not around your opponent. The contact is limited to a solid pop but not just reckless hitting as you assume.
Can u c coach sing's vision? I do!......We all know PATRICK WILLIS is our future!
May 12 2010 comment of the day award winner on the nuggets!
Hell in HS
Sometimes you’d line up 10 yards from each other on your backs roll over and hit each other full speed. Still no harm no foul.
Gimme 1 round!
by ItBurnzWhenIP on Jun 21, 2010 11:54 PM PDT up reply actions
Yeah I remember that one
Or the one where you’d have one guy hit multiple defenders in a row. Still valuable for teaching leverage and shedding blockers.
Logic merely enables one to be wrong with authority
Yup
We had a full speed drill where a RB moving along the sideline tried to juke or just run over a defender running them down at a 90 degree angle. Some good cracks delivered in that.
Gimme 1 round!
by ItBurnzWhenIP on Jun 22, 2010 2:01 AM PDT up reply actions
LOL
dude, it’s basically 1 on 1 drive blocking.
@itburnswhenip yeah man, those drills were good times, though usually one guy had a football and the other guy was a tackler.
i think it takes football down to a fundamental level. regardless of your position, you should be able to handle some trench warfare 1 on 1 with someone your own size if you are a football player… well, maybe not kickers, lol.
there’s definitely dumber drills out there, i remember when i first walked onto a football field and we just got our pads during double days, they had us line up in two lines across from each other and headbutt just so we would get used to the contact.
then another linebacker/defensive end drill where one guy would stand in the middle of a circle of players, then whoever’s named got called by the coaches ran at the guy in the middle at full speed so he could shed the block. the focus was keeping your head on a swivel and leveraging your body so you could handle blockers.
lol, and running special teams at 100% isn’t a very good idea either… especially kick off, lol.
so many good memories playing hs football
i don’t even know how i did it, if i played at my age now i’d be such a wuss.
Special Teams sucked
when it was run full speed. That was punishment if we lost a game. ST drills.
Gimme 1 round!
by ItBurnzWhenIP on Jun 22, 2010 2:03 AM PDT up reply actions
Special Teams was one of the banes of my existance
I can think of few drills that I’d rather do less
"Lord, beer me strength."
oh we got smoked up a lot
miserable conditioning sessions were the norm. But full speed ST where the only guy not getting cracked was the returner? LOUSY
Gimme 1 round!
by ItBurnzWhenIP on Jun 22, 2010 12:07 PM PDT up reply actions
I loved doing ST drills
but I was a lineman so I loved hitting people every play
Logic merely enables one to be wrong with authority
Football is a team game, but ...
The result of EVERY play is dependent upon who wins the man-on-man individual battles that take place during that play. Winning these battles does, in fact, depend upon leverage. Usually, but not always, the team that wins the most individual battles will win the game.
I like the nutcracker (probably not the best possible name for these skirmishes) because in helps to teach both leverage and ACCOUNTABILITY. If you don’t win your battle you’re letting the team down in its goal of winning the majority of the individual battles and, thus, winning the game.
by 49erFanSince1950 on Jun 21, 2010 1:36 PM PDT reply actions
love it but hope they tweak
So its a little later and try to prevent injury while still focusing on man to man battles, low man wins, etc
by random_guy on Jun 21, 2010 3:07 PM PDT via mobile reply actions
I like it just fine
It teaches leverage and it teaches power and it does so in front of the whole team so there’s no excuses.
Logic merely enables one to be wrong with authority
This drill is as old as football...
I know… I’m as old as dirt and we used this in High School, semi-pro, service ball.
Every level I played we did this drill in one form or another.
I coached youth football for 8 years and we used it there too.
Its a great tool for teaching, learning and evaluation.
Everything about this drill seems wrong
But I’ve got to admit I’m drinking Mike’s Cool Aid. I’m just on board with Singletary and I trust his methods.
I know what I'm talking about, I started at right guard for the 1992 College Park Falcons.
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