Can a mental health reset really help a player?
Rick Snider posited in his latest column for Audacy DC, and in an appearance on the Junkies Wednesday morning, that a week off versus the Jets could help Sam Howell reset, see how the offense could work with his own eyes, and get better prepared to finish out this season and move on to 2024.
It's a plausible idea, but who better to ask than a head coach, so that’s what the Junkies did when Spencer Carbery joined them for his weekly visit – and even though hockey is different from football is different from any other sport, the Caps’ bench boss did something similar with Evgeni Kuznetsov, and agrees there can be a benefit to it.
“In my opinion, I think so. I think Kuzi’s played well since we did that, and same thing with Sonny Milano,” Carbery said “I just think sometimes it's a positive thing. In those two cases, in my opinion, judging by their play after, I felt like it was helpful, I really do, but I bet if you spoke to them they would say no, it didn’t help, which is fine!”
Part of it, though, isn’t just the mental reset, but also the ability to know that there are consequences.
“Part of it is the mental reset of watching the game – but there’s a piece of it that is the accountability piece of it,” Carbs said. “It’s like, you playing, you’re not entitled to it; you have to perform and play at a high level and do the things we’re asking you to do to help us win games, and when you don't, this isn't like we just keep rolling you out there and we'll just try again. Playing time is at a premium, and I think there is a small portion of it where it really gets players’ attention, to know they have to play at a high level and be mentally and physically engaged, be at their best or else they won’t be playing.”
In the end, though, coaching is coaching regardless of what you’re coaching…although Carbs thinks about coaching another sport all the time!
“I think about it all the time, like, it’s such a cool thing – I love football and watching the NFL and love the coaching nuances of it, so I love watching Hard Knocks or some of the stuff where they've got the behind the scenes of how they do meetings, how they structure their day, all that different stuff,” Carbery said. “At the core of coaching, it's getting through to players and people, and communicating messages clearly and effectively. There’s the nuances and Xs and Os like that, but that’s the core of coaching in any sport, because the Xs and Os take years of experience, especially at that level.”