Do you know what Terrell Suggs was doing last offseason? He wasn't working out. He wasn't working on his technique. He wasn't working on a graduate degree back at Ball So Hard University.
No, he was just hanging out, making movies and not thinking about football at all. And he says that's what helped him to have such a great 2011. Via Sports Radio Interviews:
Last year, to be totally honest with you, I had the time of my life during the lockout and wasn't in a hurry to get back to work. I think that's why, in total, I ended up having the season that I did. A lot of guys ended up pushing themselves too hard and ended up getting hurt trying to get ready for minicamps and OTAs. Fortunately we didn't have that burden on our shoulders and that's why I think I had a great year.
The expression of love for an extended offseason is interesting, given that Roger Goodell still seems to fancy an 18-game regular season.
Here we have T-Sizzle, one of the game's best players, saying that his level of play improves when he gets to spend more time away from football. He didn't have fewer games to play, but offseason practice time was cut way down due to the lockout, and you saw what he did. He balled so hard.
If you wanted to look deeper into the comments, you could wonder if an extended season would see a decline in the level of play around the league. An increase in injuries is something that's just assumed, of course, but maybe the impact would be even greater. Maybe everyone, like Sizzle, could play better football with more time off.
And maybe with less down time -- and yes, that would be the case with an 18-game season, even if the extra games come at the expense of preseason games -- they'd produce a sloppier, uglier product.