When Mike Pope tells you to pop your top and catch some footballs, you don’t ask questions.
You also don’t ask questions when he starts throwing ice water on your back…or putting plastic bags on your head and telling you to catch the football coming right at you. These are just two of the plethora of crazy drills the Cowboys TE coach instills with his players during practice.
This video covering the Dallas Cowboys training camp talks about the story at 1:18:
Deadspin’s Sean Newell spotted video of the drill, which takes place for important “football reasons.”
It’s all about concentration, as Pope says.
“Concentrate on the ball, don’t flinch, don’t bat your eyes,” Pope told Fox 4 in Dallas. “Everything we do has to do with that. If they can’t play with distractions, they can’t play.”
Here is another one of his drills where he tries to compromise the pass catchers concentration by what else than partially blinding them with plastic bags placed over their helmets:
What can we learn from all of this? Lets take it like Bud Light does. It’s only weird if it doesn’t work.
(H/T Bleacher Report)
