Players and coaches from the Carolina Panthers are taking advantage of their last quiet weekend before the NFL season begins, using the break to spend time with family or relax away from football.
Center Austin Corbett described the demands of the sport: “Football, football is brutal,” he said. “It sucks. It hurts and it’s a long, long season to get to February, so we’re rolling with it.” While he expressed his love for the game, Corbett acknowledged that playing in the NFL comes at a cost. After seven seasons and recovering from injuries, he recognizes both the physical pain and time commitment involved.
When asked if people understand how difficult it is for players, Corbett replied: “Absolutely not. No, not a chance, No way,” he said. “It looks so fun when you’re watching on TV. It’s exciting. I’m excited for this weekend. College football is back. It’s going to be great. It’s going to be fun watching, but even like watching Monday night games, Thursday night games, whatever it is, I still tell my wife when I’m watching, … I’m just like, shoot. How do I do that? I was miserable. What’s going on out there, but you go play ball.
“I mean we’re a little twisted in our heads to to to enjoy what we do. There’s the mental challenge of it, especially at center now, breaking down a defense, seeing different things, but the physical nature of at some point it, it’s just man on man and I’m going to be better than you. And there’s nothing else in this world that you can do that that’s going to allow you to challenge another individual at that level.”
Corbett also highlighted how demanding football can be personally as well as physically since it requires significant time away from family.
Head coach Dave Canales plans to keep things simple over the weekend by staying home with his children instead of working on team preparations.
Linebacker Christian Rozeboom joked about possibly flying home to Iowa but chose instead to drive with his wife into the mountains for some solitude before training resumes. “You know what’s coming, so you need a little quiet when you can,” he said.
Corbett will spend his weekend celebrating his children’s birthdays—an annual tradition given all three were born around this time of year—at Chuck E. Cheese on Saturday and church on Sunday.
“It’s kind of like the last weekend before training camp,” Corbett said. “You enjoy it, you love it, then you kind of get home from church on Sunday, kids are napping and you’re just like ‘This is it. Like it’s go time now.’ So it’s the Sunday Scaries right? It’s like all right we’re here we made it.
“We’re excited. It was a great camp. It’s a long camp and we’re just excited to finally go do something meaningful now.”
With Week 14 as their next scheduled break in December due to their bye week schedule typical in NFL seasons (https://operations.nfl.com/gameday/nfl-schedule/bye-weeks/), players and coaches recognize this as their final opportunity for rest before months of intense competition begin.
