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Saints secondary taps into MMA training to improve press coverage

BY JOEL A. ERICKSON | JERICKSON@THEADVOCATE.COM
AUG 4, 2017 - 4:00 PM



Every night, when the Saints' Ken Crawley heads into the film room to break down his performance in practice, he pops in a tape from last year first.

Crawley likes to see how far he has come.

An undrafted free agent who was forced into heavy action last season after a rash of injuries at cornerback, Crawley knew he would face far tougher competition in camp this year after the addition of first-round draft pick Marshon Lattimore and the returns of Delvin Breaux and P.J. Williams. And he also knew the Saints planned to ask their cornerbacks to play more man-to-man this season.

"The only thing I'm worried about right now is perfecting my press technique, because we're going to run a lot of man this year," Crawley said. "We've got to hold up outside this year."

Defensive coordinator Dennis Allen and the rest of the coaching staff set up a special summer opportunity for the defensive backs to prepare for that tweak.

Crawley, safety Kenny Vaccaro, defensive end Alex Okafor and a group of young defensive backs that included De'Vante Harris, P.J. Williams, Damian Swann, Marcus Williams and Arthur Maulet traveled to Los Angeles in July to train at Jay Glazer's Unbreakable Performance Center.

For years, Glazer has been using mixed-martial-arts principles to train NFL players at his gym on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood. Combat sports possess an obvious correlation to the hand fighting and battles that take place on the football field, and Glazer, the longtime Fox Sports reporter, has built workouts that tailor MMA skills to the football field.

"Some of the techniques we used: hand speed, boxing, kickboxing, all of that stuff, the technique of taking down guys," Crawley said. "Bringing the physicality in our games and using the hands — we put more emphasis on that in the offseason."

Few of the players involved had ever trained in combat sports, but the application was obvious.

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SmashMouth

That'll stop the PI flags fo' shur'!

Rugby Saint II

Judo helped my rugby game tremendously. Martial Arts can benefit people in a fight on the street or playing field.

Edt: I've been preaching this for years on the bng. Playing with power and explosiveness along with hand placement will put you in a position to win.

The Dude

Good thing they aren't in the MMA. They would all get injured climbing into the ring.

Beastmode

Totally agree. I'm a small dude but just horsing around I have taken down much larger guys due to wrestling in H.S.. The look on their face after releasing them lol! I think it transfers to football. A flying headlock, a shoot for the ankles. One starts understanding the physics of it. I feel sorry though for anyone tackling LF of AD at full speed. I have no answer for that one but help!

The Dude

One swift kick under the kneecap and even the biggest mofo will go down.

neugey

From yoga to MMA ... are we going to be visiting a witch doctor next?

Crusader

Wouldn't a Voodoo priestess be more our thing?

neugey

Considering how bad things were with the bounty accusations, figured it's too risky to be caught with voodoo dolls of NFC South rivals.

SmashMouth

Well the SuperDome I think has that taken care of. If I remember correctly, it's built over some sort of old burial ground or something.

The Girod Street Cemetery Buried Underneath Louisiana's Superdome