My take on coaching, the culture of the NFL and the quest for excellence

I haven’t yet been booted off the board for being too loquacious, but this may be the post that does it.  However, as the current melt-down has precipitated a lot of questions for me, I’d like to throw some thoughts out to you all.  Last week I posted about the similarities between choosing players for the roster and choosing singers for a choir.  Now I am going to look at the Steelers in terms of what I have learned as the ‘coach’ of a number of choruses through the years, and see where it gets us.  

The first question is, what is the relationship between a team and its coaches?  Rather like parenting, there are variations of only a few options – 1) the Best Buddies model, 2) the borderline-abusive Raging Disciplinarian model, and 3) the First Among Equals model.  The variations are really points on a continuum, as I think that those three choices represent the gamut of viable options.  (Obviously the Absent Parental Unit option isn’t viable.)  I suppose that with multiple coaches you can throw in some Good-Cop Bad-Cop, but that is just a combination of 1 and 2.  (More - much more - after the jump.)

Next, is there a relationship between a player’s job security and how well they perform within the organization?   Is a player likely to perform better or worse if they aren’t constantly in fear of being shown the back door?  For that matter, how much patience should the coaching staff have with someone who isn’t producing?  To judge by the postings on this board, there seems to be an “Off with his head!” mentality for anyone viewed as underperforming at any given time.  (Some of you are much more patient than others…) And sooner or later it seems that no one is immune from the Wrath of Steeler Nation, from the Head Coach to the Head of Housekeeping.

And finally, what is the relationship of one player to another?  Do they all have to get along?  If they don’t, does it affect how well they perform as a unit?  What role does petty jealousy, real or imagined slights, or just a general sense of discomfort or isolation play in sub-par execution?  What can, or should, the coaching staff do if there are issues between the personnel?

For what it’s worth, here are my answers:

To rephrase the first question, what is the most effective relationship between a team and its coaches? In looking at Mike Tomlin’s tenure, I feel that he started out leaning towards #2, moved rather quickly through #3, and perhaps ended up perilously close to #1 this season.   Having gone a bit too far in the All Guys Together direction, he’s busily wielding the pink slip and the bench press - as in pressing one’s behind into the bench and staying there.  #3, which I would define as an atmosphere of mutual respect, but with the acknowledgment that only one person can ultimately drive the bus, is hard to find and a harder place to stay.  Are players best motivated by love, fear, or respect?  It isn’t that simple, of course, but I guess I would say that in my experience as a conductor that it is nice to be loved and cathartic to yell and scream, but ultimately singers (and children, for that matter) thrive best in an environment of respect, leavened with love, and as free of fear as possible.  Fear wears you down, and quickly leads to anger or indifference.  I would guess that players are much the same as singers.

Which leads directly to the job security issue.  It is pretty unsafe to generalize, but I would guess that people mostly perform better when they feel they have solid ground to stand on.  This brings me to my theory that maybe the underperformance that we’re seeing isn’t because of indifference but because of panic.  I don’t care how much of a professional one is, no one is completely immune to the effects of adrenaline.  You need some, of course - the right amount sharpens you up, slows time down a bit, and helps you to make rapid decisions.  Too much overwhelms your powers of reason and your ability to remember important stuff, like your assignments.  I was so impressed with Dennis Dixon last week in the first half because he kept his head in what had to have been a terrifying situation.  And I don’t think that his play got more erratic in the second half because he quit caring about winning the game – rather, I suspect that the situation finally started to overwhelm him, and the Ravens were able to capitalize on that. 

But in addition to panic, there is discouragement.  People will stop trying if they feel that nothing they can do will make a difference.  Which means that it is up to the coaching staff to not put people in situations that are over their heads.  Sometimes you can’t help it, of course – you have to use people that don’t really have what it takes to do well in a given situation, because you don’t have anyone that is capable.  But if you can, you have to avoid a situation that leads people to feel incompetent.

Does this mean you should never make personnel changes?  Well, obviously, no.  I just think that it shouldn’t be the first option.  It is always going to be necessary eventually.  After a frighteningly short time at most positions, age is not your friend in the NFL, and however much you may want to excel, your body may not be able to keep up with your will.  After a certain point, age is not kind to people’s voices, either, and coaches and conductors both have hard choices to make – coaches just have to make them a lot sooner and more often.  But sometimes you also have to make personnel changes to shift the climate in a unit.  I suspect that each kick return that Special Teams gave up made the next one more likely, as they began to fear that they weren’t capable of stopping anyone.  Shaking up the personnel in a big way and putting in proven playmakers gave everyone the confidence that they could handle it, and they did.  Today’s changes in the secondary are more of a gamble, and we just have to hope that youth and enthusiasm will win out over old age and cunning for once.  But it seems clear that something had to be done.  At least this introduces the element of uncertainty into the opposing offense’s thoughts…

And my third question, about the interrelationships between the players, is obviously important in light of two things – the infamous Hines Ward kerfuffle, and the current losing streak.  Presumably the former is past history, and I hope that it stays that way.  Whether it does is probably at least partially a function of how well it was handled at the coaching level.  The losing streak is, unfortunately, all-too-recent history, and there is nothing that tempts people to look for someone to point the finger at like losing.  So far the players that I’ve heard speak are all taking the blame individually, and good for them.  Whoever is most at fault, there’s plenty of blame to go around.  But these are the times that show the character of the individuals that make up the team.  Do they not only give lip service to the idea that they are to blame, but take the personal responsibility to work out what went awry in their particular case and fix it?  Do they pull together to help one another, or start sharpening their knives?  Are the coaches always on the lookout for the early seeds of discontent, and do they know their players well enough to nip problems in the bud?  I suspect that this is going to be a key to the next few weeks.  Yes, winning a game can paper those things over, but if there are genuine rifts developing, I think that you are going to pay for that when things are on the line.

Strangely, one of my favorite moments this season was the look on Ben’s face when he threw a bad ball to Limas Sweed in, I think, the Broncos game.  Ben was clearly trying to give Sweed a confidence-boosting quick catch, and was sick with annoyance at himself that he threw him one that couldn’t be caught.  As the commentators love to say about other, more manly stuff, you can’t coach that.  It is, in my opinion, no coincidence that the offensive line started to improve after Ben took to heart Charlie Batch’s beatdown about the distance he was preserving between himself and the other players.

I’m not ignoring the fact that a great many NFL players come from what one might term ‘disadvantaged’ backgrounds.  It is presumably harder for them than it is for most of us to trust other people.  But it seems to me that in those situations, even more than with most people, it begins with where I started – respect.  Respect, and a culture of support.  I find myself wondering if the NFL ‘nature red in tooth and claw’ way is really the best method for putting together a group of men that will give their all for one another.  I wonder if the less brutal approach of the Steelers ownership has been one of the factors that have made them the greatest franchise in football.  And I wonder if the hysterics from the fan base when things aren’t going well is helpful or counterproductive.  Admittedly we want them to know that we care, but maybe it could be done in a less manic depressive sort of way.

I realize that there is probably way too much estrogen in this post for most of you, but maybe it’s worth looking at life in the NFL from the distaff side for once.  I assume that many of you probably have a different set of answers than I do, and I would be interested to hear them, especially if they can be expressed without personal invective or excessive profanity : )  And thanks for welcoming me into this community.  That is, if you don’t throw me out now….

And finally, thanks to the Ravens for the assist tonight.  I hope that we’re grateful enough to take advantage of it, and I’m sure that Mr. MaLor feels better knowing they have helped us out in a small way.