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stuvian

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    Michael Lombardi - Fascinating Interview Today

    in The Stadium Wall Archives

    Posted

    I didn't read the article but skimmed through the posts. Interesting thread with a lot of quality posts.

     

    Most of you are right, but I think everyone is missing the bigger point, which is true across the culture, not just in football. Yes, winning is about culture. It's about details. It's about talent on the field. It's about Xs and Os. It's about consistency. It's about teamwork. It's about family. But the bigger point is this: It's about ALL of that and more. It's complicated.

     

    Look under the hood of your car. It isn't like the old days. Your car is efficient, reliable, doesn't break down, doesn't rust, gets better mileage than ever. You can't look at your car today and say it's a good car because of the carburetor, or the distributor, or the frame, or whatever. Your car is a good car because it's complicated. It has systems that do all kinds of things, and most of us have no idea how they work. No single element of the car makes it good; consistent excellence, engineering, planning and manufacturing makes it that way.

     

    As much as we like to think we understand pro football, we don't. We don't because it's complicated. These past few months are a perfect example. McDermott has been doing a lot of things that look like the right things. They are a part, a small part, of all of the things that have to be done to create a winning organization. His attention to detail is nice. His upbeat, positive motivational style seems nice. His methodical approach seems nice. Do his assistants know what they're doing? None of us knows. Do the assistants believe in McDermott? Who knows. Will the players buy in? Who knows. Is it the right talent? Are these coaches good at Xs and Os, from season to season, from game to game and from play to play? Who knows?

     

    It takes a lot to be excellent, whether you're building cell phones or football teams.

     

    I'm as big a Belichick booster as anyone, but let's not overstate it. Belichick IS very good at knowing what he needs at positions on his team, but he's the same as most coaches in terms of finding the talent. He doesn't miss on a few players; he misses on a lot. They draft lots of guys who never fit in, and the sign free agents who don't fit in.

     

    The Pats are successful, so there's a lot of coverage of them, and the coverage often focuses on the new talent they've acquired. But that happens because they were successful the year before and a lot of the guys who were there the year before are gone, so the media focuses on the replacements. So our FOCUS is on those new role players.

     

    Every team does the same thing. Every season the Bills have guys who show up and fit into important roles, guys like Gillislee and Brown and Alexander and Incognito.

     

    Belichick doesn't have better talent than anyone else. He simply insists on all of his players knowing their jobs and doing their jobs. He doesn't keep guys who don't do that.

    I've always wondered about the death of Ron Brace. He was the natural heir apparent to Vince Wilfork

    I'll say this for Fitzy

    in The Stadium Wall Archives

    Posted

    I admire Fitz as a man for making the most of his opportunities but as a starting QB he flat out stunk. I'm amazed that someone of such marginal talent is still in the league. I guess coaches must be impressed with that Harvard degree and I'm certain he has good leadership qualities. His jersey collection rivals Testaverde by now. It goes to show you that smarts can't overcome physical limitations.

    Gillislee on the Patriot Way

    in The Stadium Wall Archives

    Posted

    A couple things about that article.

     

    That Steelers game in the snow in Buffalo convinced me that we were ready to move on from the Rex regime. I've been watching our Bills a long time, and never was I more let down about the fact that our team got pushed around so badly in that weather. I mean, that's OUR weather. That's our home field advantage. Instead, some of our players (not all) looked like they had never seen the stuff before. So, the things that our former players said about moving indoors when the weather turned lousy certainly showed up to me in that game in particular.

     

    Now moving on to today, I'm very optimistic that our new coach is so detail oriented. I'm thinking he won't let the small details that that Boston Globe article talks about go by the wayside for an easier life for himself or the players. At least this is what we've been presented so far. We haven't played a down yet...but I like what I'm seeing so far. I'm liking the discipline and detail. Heck, they even got Dareus out there sweating in OTA.

     

    Like I said, lets see how it plays out. But so far, I'm optimistic about the future with McDermott and Beane running things. Lets hope to a long regime where a detail oriented and winning philosophy can become ingrained into the culture and we can go back to owning the division for a while.

    well said, our weather yet under DW we drafted players largely from southern schools who never played in it

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