COLTS

Insider: Are the Colts’ practices tough enough?

Stephen Holder
stephen.holder@indystar.com
  • Wednesday at Colts camp: Colts City, 5-9:30 p.m.; practice, 6:25-9:10 p.m.
Indianapolis Colts running back Tyler Varga (38) attempts to make a catch as Indianapolis Colts linebacker Carlos Fields (53) defends the ball during their afternoon practice at training camp Monday, August 3, 2015, afternoon at Anderson University in Anderson IN.

ANDERSON -- The objective of training camp is simple: To prepare for the season at hand.

But here’s where it becomes more complicated: How much of that preparation should involve the sort of bone-jarring hits players can expect to see once the games actually begin?

That’s a question every coach in the NFL struggles with, including Indianapolis Colts coach Chuck Pagano. And with a team that has had struggles running the football and stopping the run — two of the most physical aspects of the game — getting an adequate level of physical preparation is vitally important.

“From a physical standpoint, the only way I know you can build a mentally and physically tough team is you have to practice,” Pagano said Tuesday. “You have to put the pads on and you have to work at it. If you don’t do that, you’re not going to show up on Sunday and flip the switch and be a tough, nasty football team.”

But, given the injury potential, how much is too much?

That’s a question for which every coach has a different answer. Pagano has taken a conservative approach, electing to ease up on contact during training camp in a noble attempt to keep his team healthy. They’ve still had their share of freak injuries — think Vick Ballard’s Achilles tear in a non-contact drill in 2014 — but it’s a method the Colts believe in.

Frankly, with a team that’s won 33 regular-season games in three seasons, it’s hard to criticize Pagano for employing caution.

And he’s hardly alone. Most teams are trending this direction in camps nowadays, going out of their way to keep players off the ground and minimizing tackling, if not eliminating it altogether.

The Colts typically have no “live periods” during training camp, meaning those that involve full-fledged tackling.

But Pagano became animated on Tuesday when asked about the physical level of his camps, seemingly misinterpreting the question for a criticism. Perhaps it’s the fact that no less than owner Jim Irsay seemed to question the team’s toughness after January’s AFC Championship Game, saying immediately afterward, “When you get to this level, this championship level, we have to be able to be a tougher team.”

Pagano was adamant the Colts can develop toughness while taking the needed precautions to keep players healthy. The Colts could have donned full pads Tuesday under league rules but elected to slowly ramp up the contact with only helmet and shoulder pads.

“If you’ve got the shoulder pads on, you’re in pads,” Pagano said. “(The NFL) just started this mandate a couple years ago where you had to put knee pads and thigh pads in, so what’s the difference if you’ve got a pair of pants on with nothing in them or you have pads in them? If you have helmets on, you’ve got shoulder pads on. We’re going to get after it. We’re not going to tackle anybody, low cut anybody. But we’re in pads.

“Just because it’s only helmets and shoulder pads, don’t misconstrue that.”

Pro football has been trending this way for quite some time. The current collective bargaining agreement, implemented in 2011, strictly prohibits contact practices during the offseason and prescribes an increased number of days off during training camp. Two-a-day practices are history and hitting has been curtailed, in part because of heightened awareness about the long-term effect of head injuries.

But coaches still have to find ways to be physical enough to properly evaluate their teams. The quality of offensive and defensive lines are largely a projection until they can be scrutinized with pads on, actually performing the jobs they will do in-season.

As a result, Pagano and the Colts’ training staff spend significant time mapping out how to attack practices.

“There’s a fine line,” he said. “Everybody can go back and look at all the numbers and look at all the data and do the research over a five-year period. You say, ‘Okay, Day 3 is the day where guys get fatigued.’ This is where soft tissue injuries show up. So we’ll do what we have to do and we’ll be smart with how we practice. We’ll be smart with how we practice.”

The push and pull will continue. There is no magic formula for knowing when to say when.

Whatever approach the Colts use, if it produces wins when they matter most, Pagano can ultimately say he was right.

Follow Star reporter Stephen Holder on Twitter: @HolderStephen.