The rah rah stuff on the sidelines is over rated. It's one thing to rally the troops when you know their just tiring or something. It's another when you know some of them aren't doing their jobs full tilt all week or focus inconsistently or have maturity or ego issues and your private admonishings within your own unit have appeared to have fallen on deaf ears. He still takes guys on in private as he always has, and if you want passion go back and lip read Tommy's exchange with Galloway prior to his being benched and ultimately cut.
Yesterday they had Fred and Schilling on WEEI and they were talking about locker room dynamics. Curt was saying he could only imagine with a situation where upwards of 60 guys are involved and 3 distinct units exist there would be lots more cliques and those always make it harder for leaders to impact a team collectively. Fred said that is why HC's like baseball managers have to police their overall team and and locker room and Bill does that continually behind doors we simply don't get a view threw. What happened this week was part of that, Bill asserting himself as the ultimate alpha dog. Fred said the F bombs are reigning down within the bowels of Gillette this week. What then needs to happen is for the leaders within each group or clique to back him up with a few of their own. Brady is certainly doing that. Remains to be seen who else is although publicly Welker and Faulk appear to have. Others may also be absent involving media, or they may not be. In Denver Brian Dawkins played the players only meeting card a few weeks back and it seemed to work. Totally different situation, though.
It's funny but for the last 3-4 seasons a lot of fans here were harping on this coach for not moving on from guys they felt could not make the plays on the field well enough any more and weren't in their opionin worth a roster spot on a team they perceived as oozing character and leadership. Izzo on ST, Rodney or Tedy and for some even Vrabel on defense, Troy on offense. Bill hung onto most of those guys as long as he could in hopes enough of what they represented would rub off on and be instilled in the next generation of draftees and FA. Hasn't happened. Now that he has moved on, as you always have to eventually, everyone is lamenting the lack of veteran leadership particularly on defense. Like Curt opined, you can never have too many leaders on a roster that size if you want to be sure leadership filters into every nook and cranny. Unfortunately you also can't force guys to be someone they don't want to be or rush guys who want to but aren't at a level yet where they feel they have the cred to. Guys will tune out disingenuity or rip uncertainty apart. Leaders are both born and forged. We've got some additional identification and forging to do.
It can't all come from Brady. There are captains on this team but they aren't necessarily the right kind of guys or in the right situations. Aiken doesn't have the stature, Mayo is a sophomore, Wilfork is in a contract season, Randy is a do what I do guy. Surrounded with that level of leadership support, Brady is kinda screwed if you ask me...but the players elected them. Just like they elected AD to be their NFLPA rep (which speaks volumes about why the NFLPA has been the failure it's been for decades - mired in self preservation strategies top to bottom while it's rank and file past and present membership twists in the wind and this time around the very existence of the league that employs them all hangs in the balance).
I'm done worrying about this season. It is what it is and what happens will be what it is, too. The really important thing now is making sure this doesn't adversely impact future teams and seasons. Tomlin shot his wad last week and it backfired in something of a lost cause. Now he's got to find a way to salvage something, anything to build on for 2010.
