Rookie corner, Mike Rumph has a similar advantage. Although Rice is long gone (tear), Terrell Owen’s emergence as one of the games best, has given Rumph and continues to give Plummer and Webster that same advantage. Of course it hurts the self esteem to be dominated by a guy like Owens, but when you do break up a pass, or make a good play on the ball, you know that you’ve earned it.

As a rookie, Rumph will need time to grow into the NFL - that’s a given. But in facing Owens day-in, day-out, Rumph will be able to speed up his learning curve. It’s just one of the advantages of facing the best every day in practice. When Rumph finally does make the jump, he will see tough competition, as there are very few receivers in the NFL that won’t challenge him. None however, are likely to put up as much a fight as Owens does in practice.

In the same regard, having a Pro Bowl quarterback, like Jeff Garcia, or in the past, Steve Young and Joe Montana, forced defensive backs to work harder in practice in the same way. Facing the best often brings out the best in an athlete, and again the learning curve accelerates.