COSTA MESA CA — It was day one of Raiders training camp. They took the field just before 10am on a beautiful sunny day. The ocean breeze was gently blowing and it was and temps were in the 70s. A very different feeling than Raiders camps in recent years. And the Raiders figure to be all the better for it.
This time a year ago, the Raiders hit the field for camp in triple digit temps that only got hotter as camp went on. They were sweating all their weight off faster than they could hydrate while the linemen had to take periodic trips to a refrigerated trailer to bring their body temperature down.
It was miserable. And it made their preparation all the more difficult. After all, their focus shouldn’t be on staying alive in blistering heat, but rather what their doing to improve their performance and acclimate to the new playbook.
“At the end of the day we’re going to make it work make it do what it do regardless, but it definitely helps keep your mind a little bit straighter when you’re in reasonable weather,” said Davante Adams. “Playing around in that 113, 115 that’s been going on out there in Vegas…it’s been a hot one. Definitely wouldn’t be our first one dealing with it, but this allows us to kind of chill and focus in on getting right the first couple days and keeping a little bit more weight on versus coming out here shedding a little bit too much and getting dehydrated and all those types of things.”
These first few days are all about taking what they studied in the new offense and putting it on its feet. Even if it isn’t in full pads at full speed, it’s important to not have to even consider the weather in that equation. And the team looked very prepared for how practice was to go. No breaks for refrigerated trailer trips and fewer water breaks as well. Which meant more work.
As helpful as it is now, it will that even more helpful next week when they put on pads and the intensity gets ratcheted up.