Williams: Chip Has Shortened Practice

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The morning after he popped off about how the intense training regimen was negatively affecting this team, Cary Williams came to the NovaCare Complex to have a sitdown with Chip Kelly. Both coach and player spoke their minds, and Williams walked away with a better understanding of Kelly’s methods.

Could be that Kelly took something from that conversation as well.

“Changes were made,” said Williams at his locker stall Tuesday. “I don’t know if they were made necessarily [as a result of] the conversation. Chip may have already had those things in mind anyway.”

According to Williams, Kelly has shortened Wednesday and Thursday practices (typically the two most grueling) over the past few weeks. He believes the players have benefitted from the alterations, as evidenced in the dominant performance against the Giants.

“We shortened a couple days. We’ve taken a couple portions out of practice of both days. We’ve got a different schedule. We practice three days a week really and everything else is a walkthrough, tempo-type thing. He’s shortened some of those down,” said Williams.

“Physically, I definitely feel a change. I think a lot of guys feel the same way. Chip is definitely understanding that, he understood that, and he came out and said that is probably the reason why we came out and did what we did and played at a high level [against New York.] But we also had a great week of practice, so despite whether it was a shortened practice, we still put emphasis on the small things, technique, fundamentals and being sound in that.

“I’ve definitely heard in conversations that some guys felt really good last week and felt the best they’ve felt. So that’s positive. I felt really good as well.”

Could be that Kelly listened to what his players were trying to tell him. Perhaps this was all mapped out months ago. Either way, it seems to be working.

“I don’t know if I necessarily provoked those changes,” said Williams. “Maybe he had it already in mind, maybe he had it all in place. But my job isn’t necessarily to discuss how long practices may be or how fast the tempo may be in practice, but to go out there and win games.”