Feel-good story: With rehab right on schedule, Harrison looks to the future

[Brownfan80]

I'm in the camp that believes that Rodney Harrison's value to this team over the last 2 seasons can almost not be overstated. I know there are some here like mg and AJ who cringe at the concept because they have long preached the scheme is the thing. And while it is, it requires a handful of key personnel along with sufficient base talent in order to operate effectively. The bedrock of BB defensive scheme is smart and physical safety and LB play. Early in the season the plug and play scheme folks took a big hit with the collapse of the defense. While Seymour's return solidified the rebound from a physical perspective, the gradual turnaround began once Tedy returned. The secondary gradually improved once Starks was replaced with Hobbs (it almost couldn't not from a sheer talent standpoint) and Hawkins was inserted at SS, but it never really returned to 2004 levels even though secondary play gradually improved and in the final game Asante seemed to have personally re-located his 2004 individual level of play.

There are good leadership guys on this team on both sides of the ball. But there are only a handful of core leaders. And they are the ones that allow BB to scheme and plug and play in part because they think for an entire unit. Harrison jumped to the head of that list when took the leadership point position almost from the day he replaced Lawyer - which to some extent lightened the load for every other leader on the team. That allowed them to focus more attention on unit leadership. Tedy and Tom are the other core leaders who are now both vocal spokesmen for the team as well as inspirational playmakers on the field. Rodney gave them both a cushion and some time go grow into their up front team leadership roles.

There are others who are playmakers who lead by example like Seymour and Willie and Vrabel. None of them however are the vocal out front leadership types nor are they the field generals who not only take responsibiity for calls and decisions on the field, they embrace and relish that role. (Vrabel may be that guy one day but he's just not there yet. Colvin is certainly vocal enough to become a leadership spokesman, but his play until the second half of this year has limited his playmaker leadership viability.) Willie is the elder statesman whose leadership in the locker room is more understated. Seymour is a bit of an enigma whose talent commands his teamates respect, but who unfortunately has some lingering issues with management that impact his effectiveness as a true system core leader. To be one of those you have to be (as young Theo so aptly put it) all in, and he isn't. He has both financial issues and apparently at times scheme issues. Much like Lawyer did - which is the real reason why BB was not willing to retain him.

Lots of other veteran guys lead by example in the way they approach the game. But if you're not a starter (Brown, Fauria, Izzo and say TJ before he retired) your voice and impact as a team leader is or can be fairly muted at least outside your unit. Don Davis is a leadership guy, but he's also a backup on the bubble guy. Great guys, but not impact players at this stage of their careers (some never were) and certainly not impact leaders. Rodney, Tommy and Tedy are the impact players who are also impact leaders on this team. They are the guys who can (and will) cross lines in the locker room, privately call a guy out while publicly supporting him, grab a talented youngster by the ear and say come with me son, always have their HC's back in public, deal with individual personal and professional concerns ouside of the locker room and not expose them to media glare, take a little less to play here and win, etc. Lose any two of those guys and the system built around them will flounder. Lose and one and it will struggle (although if the one was Tommy it's likely back to flounder at this stage, though with a solid running game and better pass protection a developing backup could potentially engineer a survivable short term struggle). Have all of them and the system can survive other losses seemingly without struggling (like say Seymour and Law and Poole and Branch in 2004).

I think after this season most of us now accept as reality that the system is still dependent on the core players. Which is why some of us are so intent on seeing that fortress be built around Brady. It detracts nothing from BB's genius - it simply is one facet of his system which revolves around a small core of talented leaders who go all in, a larger solid middle class of football players who follow their lead, a strategic smattering of hungry FA veteran players and the requisite young developing talent - some of whom will hopefully buy all in and develop into future members of the elite leadership core. The core is what keeps the team from imploding when occasionally (for reasons beyond BB's control - and there are such things) the system alone ain't working. That's why he's so careful in selecting talent that not can play at a high level but that will play well within his system.

He put Rodney's value into perspective best when he embraced him after the 2003 AFCC game when he said good thing we got you. Just because BB won't overpay for his core players or make excuses in their absence doesn't mean he doesn't fully appreciate their immense individual value when it comes to this teams failure or success. Sometimes Pats fans struggle reconciling that concept within the concept of system.

I think this is an interesting post. I think there's a lot of inference (alot of assumption made on things within the locker room and on the field taht we can never really know the extent of), but that this is an interesting take none the less. I think that you have something with the three core players. I'd agree with that. Tedy, Rodney, and Brady are all irreplaceable. Our D struggled the most when both Tedy and Rodney were out (along with Seymour). That is a LOT of talen and leadership missing from that D. it's no wonder they struggled for much of the middle of the season.

 

[flutie2phelan]

Very solid ... thoughtful ... essay, Mo!

 

[Welker83]

First it was the refs. Now it's Harrison that would have stopped the OFFENSE and the RETURNERS from making turnovers. Maybe "smug" isn't the right word. However, IMHO, the Management and players are much more realistic that posters, at least I hope that they are.

The DEFENSE did not lose the game. In fact, they played very well, as they did throughout the last half of the season. Blame who you want for the key interception, Brady, the OL, the receiver. Blame who you want for Faulk's fumble. Blame who you want for the two giveaways by the returners. But the fault was not the lack of Harrison. Many, many team leaders were in attendance for the game.

Please, please understand that we LOST the game. You can believe that it always about us. I guess that's fine. At least, we can work to imporve what needs to be improved. Or perhaps as Belichick and Brady, we could credit the opposition AND point out that we should ahve played much better.

I thought maybe I was over the top until I read the post again. Brady and Brown and McGinist and Vrabel and Bruschi are leaders of the team, plus Izzo and Fauria and lots of others. To suggest that the team lacked leadership and heart because Harrison was not out on the field is just so much bunk.
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We need Harrison back, we want Harrison back. There is a big whole at SS. Wilson has not taken on the leadership role in the secondary. We need a leader of the secondary. This is all true. But none of this had anything to do with debacle at Mile High.

Amen to that!