When Eric Mangini, head coach of the NY Jets, first asked me if I would consider giving boxing lessons to his football team, I quickly thought of the many former players who had tried their hand at the sweet science and, for the most part, had failed miserably. I also thought of how perceptive Mangini was to realize the parallels of the two sports and where his players could possibly be helped in certain areas. The most obvious places where benefits could come were with the improvement of hand and foot speed the physical areas and also some technical approaches. Such as when an offensive lineman shoots his arms out toward off a defensive player, much like a fighter shooting a jab, he must do it with no warning, at the right distance and with power.

An offensive lineman, quite often like a fighter, must raise his elbow first, thus losing his power in the delivery of the blow. Also, with that fl aw of technique the move is telegraphed, giving your opponent an opportunity to counter, and if the punch or block is not thrown at the right distance, your adversary is close enough to hit or control you. In doing drills such as slipping and eluding punches, the idea was not as much to take those techniques onto the football field, but to learn how to cope with the pressure presented by those threats and to remain calm and clear during those moments. The philosophy and benefit of such acts was that if you are calm, you can see more and if you see more, you can do more.