Mike Pope became somewhat of an institution with the New York Giants as he was the only member of the coaching staff for all four of the franchise's Super Bowl championship teams. The Giants overhauled their assistant coaching positions after last season, and Pope decided at 71, he still wasn't ready to retire. The Cowboys signed him to be their tight ends coach, the same job he had with the Giants, and Pope hasn't wasted much time making an impact.
Consider this drill at training camp in which he throws buckets of ice water on Cowboys tight ends as they're trying to catch a pass.
"Concentrate on the ball," Pope told reporters. "Don't flinch. Don't bat your eyes. So everything we do has to do with that. If they can't play with distractions, they can't play."
According to the Dallas Morning News, Pope has 478 drills for tight ends.
"Can't remember all of them because I'm getting a little older," Pope said. "It's foolish to practice on air because we all know that has nothing to do with the game.
“To be more realistic, you have to create distractions in order for them to build that in the game, heat of the battle technique to move their head and see the ball hit their hands."
Other drills have included players trying to catch balls while having laundry bags over their heads and while laying on the ground.
"We don't catch the ball in space very much at our position," Pope said. "It's always in traffic. So all these things are just to make them concentrate in that much more detail."
Cowboys tight end Jason Witten, a perennial All-Pro, gave a rave review for Pope's tactics.
"That's coach Pope," Witten said. "He's legendary. It's making us better, for sure. A lot of tough catches playing this position. He works on it every day. Knowing him for five months -- he's made me a better football player already. Love playing for him."
DallasCowboys.com has more from Pope in this video.
