Great read about Patriots way and team building

[long distance]

Id like to share a great article by Rich Hill. This is what I like to read about football.
The understanding that football is not only about football.
Only this kind of understanding can bring a true success (and true success goes beyond results&stats)

Patriots HC Bill Belichick asked a Green Beret for advice on getting players to buy in

here some paragraphs to get a taste of it ...

“Before they parted in Indy, Decker asked Belichick what player trait he struggled most to predict,” Wickersham shares. “Belichick's answer was as blunt as it was revealing about realities in the NFL. Here was a head coach with four Super Bowl rings, with a quarterback who plays for less than market value, who has created an entire methodology based on common sacrifice and submission of ego -- a coach with more leverage than any other in the NFL -- telling Decker he had trouble finding players willing to buy in.”
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Decker went through his quarterback evaluation process that looks at a player’s floor and ceiling based on their prior experiences and practice habits. For example, Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota had a low floor and a high ceiling, while Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater had a high floor and a low ceiling. Rare talents like Andrew Lucks grade out with a high floor and a high ceiling.

The Patriots asked him about Jimmy Garoppolo, and “Decker reiterated that Garoppolo was the smartest quarterback he'd ever interviewed but that he was concerned the system he ran at Eastern Illinois was too simple and that to reach his potential he would need a lot of NFL reps.” He was in the Mariota category.
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I think that Easterby is a perfect counterweight to the coaching staff because he promotes love and compassion and big picture thinking to contextualize the football experiences. He was the one that helped reframe the Patriots mindset as they approached Super Bowl XLIX, to move away from DeflateGate and towards actually enjoying the championship opportunity. Easterby looks away from football in order to increase its enjoyment.

 

[raduray]

Yeah, I read that yesterday. The article goes on to state that only two teams have bought into the idea of personal character coaching/recruiting, New England and Seattle. It then goes on to explain why Decker was not hired:

"The problem, according to Wickersham, is that the Patriots already had Easterby on the roster to perform character assessments and that even though they liked Decker, they didn’t feel he brought much new to the table. There’s a difference in buying in and sacrificing yourself for your team with the NFL and with the Green Berets. There has to be a difference because the stakes are completely different."

 

[oldrover]

They hired Easterby in the summer of 2013... at the height of the Aaron Hernandez nightmare.

I'm gonna go way out on a limb and say the two are somehow related.

 

[Rusty Coupe]

This was another good article(not trying to hijack the thread but is somewhat related) about Bob Quinn as the new GM of the Lions.

How much of Belichick's methods/philosophies/theories/practices/character/persona can one apply after being granted the nod of approval to leave New England's incubator, and how much simply won't translate? Without the genius of Belichick -- the evil genius some might suggest -- and without the greatness of quarterback Tom Brady and without the loyalty, influence and guile of owner Robert Kraft -- well, how much of the The Patriot Way will actually play well in other NFL locales, particularly those trying to rid the rot of decades of losing and decay?

...
Quinn learned plenty during his 15 years in New England, working his way up from the bottom as he began as a player personnel assistant in 2000 fresh off a brief stint as a graduate assistant at UConn. His new franchise is in a much different place than his former one, and has been for quite some time.

But he also knows that many of the tricks of the trade he picked up -- to say nothing of tried-and-true measures like constantly working the bottom end of the roster and mining the waiver wire -- will apply anywhere. Few have the eye for evaluation that Belichick and his top lieutenant, Nick Caserio, have developed, but being around them so long can't hurt.

"There are definitely bits and pieces that I'm definitely taking with me," Quinn said, "and I think I've said it before, but I have to do things my way. I can't try to be Bill. Nobody can be him. I just have to make sure I'm making the right decisions for the Lions, whether that be player acquisitions or things around the team and around the organization, things around the facility to try to create that winning culture

He's also buoyed by the fact that several of his close associates from his time in New England -- who understand how things are done there and have lived through that unique Patriots culture -- were able to join him in Detroit early in his tenure. Director of player personnel Kyle O'Brien spent 10 seasons with Quinn in New England, and chief of staff Kevin Anderson is a longtime Patriot as well. The director of football research-special projects is former UConn coach Randy Edsall (a very Patriot-centric title if there ever was one), one of Quinn's mentors.

"You look at regime changes over last five to 10 years, and I was able to bring in four of five close confidants in a couple of months," Quinn said. "With some teams and some GMs, it takes years to do that. So I felt very fortunate about that."

New Lions GM will draw from The Patriot Way, but won't try to be Bill Belichick/CBS

Best of luck to him in Detroit