What with the recent speculation that the 49ers and the Raiders won't be holding a joint practice before their exhibition meeting in the preseason after doing so the last couple seasons, I was wondering what people thought about such practices to begin with.
Providing the teams do not play in the regular season (as is the case for the 49ers-Raiders in 2010), do you think it's beneficial for the teams to work out against players from other teams? Last year some fights broke out, and on more than a few occasions, groups of players had to be separated, things of that nature. But do you think it has any tangible effect on the team physically or mentally?
Personally, I think it's great. The players always seem to enjoy it. The amount of "it was nice to hit someone else for a change" that we got last season was staggering. I think it gives the team a certain fire. I firmly believe there is a "100% capacity" threshold when it comes to football that can be broken with enough motivation. People say "well players should be playing at their best at all times" obviously don't understand grudges and things of that nature.
Case in point: the 49ers-Raiders practices probably turn Chilo Rachal into a raging maniac. The rivalry just does something to these guys, and so long as the coaches have a good grip on things and can keep injuries from happening, there's no reason I can see that more teams don't do this.
The 49ers likely won't be doing it as the Raiders are rumored to be setting something up with Dallas. As mentioned earlier, they play the Niners less than two months after their practice would be in the regular season.