There are leaders and then their are leaders. We have plenty of the former on each individual unit and as well as Brady overall - it is his team. But he touched on what was different about Willie's leadership. It was old school, the guy who gets your attention just by the way he looks (or doesn't look) at you on your way through a room. And that look crossed all lines. That's the latter type of leader who needs to emerge. As Brady said it's a fine line to be able to discipline and still be their mentor and the guy they go to with a problem, gripe or issue - particularly within individual units. If you're too hard with some guys you risk losing them. It's a lot easier when push comes to shove if that is someone elses job, same as for the coaches and assistant coaches and coordinators - for whom that guy is BB.
Two things stood out to me in this piece. That he mentioned Adam and Willie in the same breath just goes to prove AV was a lot more than a kicker to this team. Leaders are football players, and that is how he was viewed by the coaches and players on this team - a kicker as a core leader.
And how much they want Ty's talent and swagger back in their backfield and their locker room. Ty was strictly a lead by example guy - when the bell rings you are ready to answer it and bring it and you intimidate via your performance on the field. Ty didn't worry about performing, he relished it. And here he balanced listened to coaching with retaining the ability to listen to that little voice that got him to that level to begin with. Everybody in that backfield last year looked indecisive and performed accordingly. Whatever talent and instincts they had were buried under a palpable layer of confusion. That may have been rooted not only in the loss of Rodney and the lack of any other veteran leadership, but in a young DC's desire to protect them by playing ultra conservatively. But once it took hold it was a SOB to shake off. If nothing else bringing Law back would re-inject a healthy dose of swagger to our backfield. Coaches can't teach swagger, just ideally manage it's confidence, as BB did with Ty for 5 seasons. Some players are born with swagger, other develop it by association.
