Bleu Star
Bye Felicia!
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So we have a large enough sized sample pool to begin shaping some thoughts and understandings. I'm just going to keep this on a holistic level and spare you my deep feelings about certain individual moves. From the people perspective, we have the talent on this team to compete! From 1 to 53 the talent is there. It really is! I would also add that it's a 60/40 split in terms of talent with 60% resting on the defensive side of the ball.
We have watched our beloved Boys struggle through 9 weeks of arriving to games on totally different pages of a variety of different books. We have gone into every game ill prepared to compete on a level that equates to winning football. Save a few spots here there, we should not have to totally blow this team up in the off-season. We obviously have some spots that can use an infusion of new talent (2nd & 3rd WR, SS, MLB, backup TE, CB, backup QB, RB) but fielding a better prepared team that approaches every game from the same sheet of paper would be an incredible step in the right direction.
One thing I noticed (& this is just my assumption/POV) is that our players seem to believe their own hype. It's almost as if they read all of the good things said about them in their bios and believe they don't need to prepare as hard as they once did when they were fighting just to get to the NFL. There's something to be said for skillfully knocking these millionaires down a notch to help them understand that they do indeed need to work harder today to stay where they are. Nothing is guaranteed. Whether that's infusing more competition at those key positions or taking a more direct approach from the perspective of game prep, they need to be made to understand the importance of playing as if your paycheck depended on it. Stop coddling these players. 20 years of observation as a fan has shown me that coddling gets you nowhere. These are grown men. Treat them as such and redirect their thoughts towards one thing only. Winning.
Our Boys have made a living playing to the level of their competition. You never get the consistently high level of play that produces the occasional blowout which, in turn, allows you to rest key players. We need another infusion of young talent in the off-season and, most importantly, the factors in place that will create a motivated group of 53 who will go out there and die for each other. It's one thing to know that your fellow man will lay it on the line for you but the real beauty comes from the trust of knowing that if you go down the next man knows your position so well that the change appears transparent. We need to get there. We're not there right now. Lack of trust appears to be a problem. It's less about the players and more about working hard in the off-season to field 53 men who eat, sleep, & breath from the same sheet of music. We have some incredibly talented players on this team (mostly on defense)... Give them the type of preparatory environment that inspires confidence on game day and kick their butts every single week. Not just physically.... but mentally as well!
We have watched our beloved Boys struggle through 9 weeks of arriving to games on totally different pages of a variety of different books. We have gone into every game ill prepared to compete on a level that equates to winning football. Save a few spots here there, we should not have to totally blow this team up in the off-season. We obviously have some spots that can use an infusion of new talent (2nd & 3rd WR, SS, MLB, backup TE, CB, backup QB, RB) but fielding a better prepared team that approaches every game from the same sheet of paper would be an incredible step in the right direction.
One thing I noticed (& this is just my assumption/POV) is that our players seem to believe their own hype. It's almost as if they read all of the good things said about them in their bios and believe they don't need to prepare as hard as they once did when they were fighting just to get to the NFL. There's something to be said for skillfully knocking these millionaires down a notch to help them understand that they do indeed need to work harder today to stay where they are. Nothing is guaranteed. Whether that's infusing more competition at those key positions or taking a more direct approach from the perspective of game prep, they need to be made to understand the importance of playing as if your paycheck depended on it. Stop coddling these players. 20 years of observation as a fan has shown me that coddling gets you nowhere. These are grown men. Treat them as such and redirect their thoughts towards one thing only. Winning.
Our Boys have made a living playing to the level of their competition. You never get the consistently high level of play that produces the occasional blowout which, in turn, allows you to rest key players. We need another infusion of young talent in the off-season and, most importantly, the factors in place that will create a motivated group of 53 who will go out there and die for each other. It's one thing to know that your fellow man will lay it on the line for you but the real beauty comes from the trust of knowing that if you go down the next man knows your position so well that the change appears transparent. We need to get there. We're not there right now. Lack of trust appears to be a problem. It's less about the players and more about working hard in the off-season to field 53 men who eat, sleep, & breath from the same sheet of music. We have some incredibly talented players on this team (mostly on defense)... Give them the type of preparatory environment that inspires confidence on game day and kick their butts every single week. Not just physically.... but mentally as well!
