Swagger: Or, the difference between the Patriots & Cowboys

[tombonneau]

So watching Hard Knox last night and de facto HC Jason Garrett was addressing the team, talking about keys to victory. To my surprise, one of the keys he highlights is the team needs to have swagger.

Romo has it. Witten has it. TO has it.

I couldn't help but be reminded of a quote from BB in Patriot Reign where he goes into a profanity-laced tirade about "swagger." Here it is courtesy of Google Books:

http://books.google.com/books?id=rU...=X&oi=book_result&resnum=3&ct=result#PPA88,M1

To me, that really succinctly captures the differences between the mindsets of the two organizations.

 

[xmarkd400x]

I don't believe that the difference between the Cowboys and Patriots lies in how their coaches view swagger. Its a difference, sure. But I don't think it has ever had an effect on the wine/losses for a given season.

 

[miDeuce]

Hard Knocks is quite possibly the greatest tv program ever made. I enjoyed every minute of it, and I also enjoy that the Patriots will never ever be on the show.

Great find on the BB quote, i love it and had totally forgotten since i last read PR.

 

[tombonneau]

I don't believe that the difference between the Cowboys and Patriots lies in how their coaches view swagger. Its a difference, sure. But I don't think it has ever had an effect on the wine/losses for a given season.

Obviously it's not the lone difference, though I'd say the way both teams value an intangible like "swagger" says a lot about the organizations.

BB recognizes swagger as a complete nonentity; rather, it is a byproduct of playing well, making your assignments, not committing mental errors. Do those things, and you will appear to have swagger (whatever that is.)

The Cowboys, on the other hand, think so much of swagger that they list it out as a key to the season. Rather than preaching mental toughness & acuity, they'd rather focus on how players carry themselves on the field.

Classic style over substance. And I think that really is what the difference boils down to.

 

[Double G]

Like it or not, the Patriots could have used some "swagger" vs the NJG in the Super Bowl last year. There was no spark, no life in that team, you could feel it just by watching the way they came out of the tunnel and onto the field.

If they had stepped on the Giants throats early in the game, they would have smoked them; once the Giants got the feeling that they belonged on the same field as the Patriots, it was game over.

And please spare me the jumping down my throat that is sure to follow this post; I've watched football long enough to know when a team is ready to go in a game, and they didn't show it at all, my opinion and I've got a right to it boys and girls.............

 

[fair catch fryar]

Like it or not, the Patriots could have used some "swagger" vs the NJG in the Super Bowl last year. There was no spark, no life in that team, you could feel it just by watching the way they came out of the tunnel and onto the field.

If they had stepped on the Giants throats early in the game, they would have smoked them; once the Giants got the feeling that they belonged on the same field as the Patriots, it was game over.

And please spare me the jumping down my throat that is sure to follow this post; I've watched football long enough to know when a team is ready to go in a game, and they didn't show it at all, my opinion and I've got a right to it boys and girls.............

I agree, but in the words of BB, to me, the Patriots lacked a "sense of urgency" in the Superbowl as well.

 

[bradmahn]

Like it or not, the Patriots could have used some "swagger" vs the NJG in the Super Bowl last year. There was no spark, no life in that team, you could feel it just by watching the way they came out of the tunnel and onto the field.

If they had stepped on the Giants throats early in the game, they would have smoked them; once the Giants got the feeling that they belonged on the same field as the Patriots, it was game over.

And please spare me the jumping down my throat that is sure to follow this post; I've watched football long enough to know when a team is ready to go in a game, and they didn't show it at all, my opinion and I've got a right to it boys and girls.............

This is bull****.

What they needed was a way to stop the pass rush. A way to make the play at the end of the game. A way to finish their assignments.

Swagger had nothing to do with it. Lack of execution did.

Would they have regained their swagger had Tyree failed to catch that pass on his helmet?

Was there a reason you brought up the Super Bowl in this thread, anyway, besides giving you a reason to complain about it again?

 

[Rob0729]

I don't think swagger is a difference between the Pats and Cowboys. If anything, many of the Cowboys have too much swagger. Have you ever listened to Patrick Crayton? His swagger goes to to the point of arrogance. He is the guy who said that if the Patriots were luck enough to make it to the Super Bowl they were going to face a much better Cowboys team. He already had the Cowboys in the Super Bowl midway through the season. TO has much of that arrogance/swagger.

I think preparation is the biggest difference between the two teams. Word is that Romo doesn't work as hard as he should and definitely not as hard as Brady does. The Cowboys seemed to be caught off guard by inferior teams like the Bills (a game that was pulled out in the last seconds) and Lions (a game they should have lost if a the Lions' defender fell on a Romo fumble that would have ended the game rather than trying to scoop it up and run with it).

 

[bradmahn]

I don't think swagger is a difference between the Pats and Cowboys. If anything, many of the Cowboys have too much swagger. Have you ever listened to Patrick Crayton? His swagger goes to to the point of arrogance. He is the guy who said that if the Patriots were luck enough to make it to the Super Bowl they were going to face a much better Cowboys team. He already had the Cowboys in the Super Bowl midway through the season. TO has much of that arrogance/swagger.

I think preparation is the biggest difference between the two teams. Word is that Romo doesn't work as hard as he should and definitely not as hard as Brady does. The Cowboys seemed to be caught off guard by inferior teams like the Bills (a game that was pulled out in the last seconds) and Lions (a game they should have lost if a the Lions' defender fell on a Romo fumble that would have ended the game rather than trying to scoop it up and run with it).

It's remarkable that with Terrell Owens and Pacman Jones on his team, Patrick "Who?" Crayton is a serious contender for biggest D-bag in Dallas.

 

[Double G]

"I agree, but in the words of BB, to me, the Patriots lacked a "sense of urgency" in the Superbowl as well." I'll go along with that, a total lack of urgency.......

 

[Double G]

"This is bull****." What's "bull****" about it? Because you don't agree, it's "Bull****"; ok, got it.

"What they needed was a way to stop the pass rush. A way to make the play at the end of the game. A way to finish their assignments." What they needed was to put their foot on the Giants throat and put the game away, not @#$% around and let the Giants hang in there so they could win the game on a miracle effin catch.

"Swagger had nothing to do with it." It had plenty to do with it.

"Would they have regained their swagger had Tyree failed to catch that pass on his helmet?" They had no swagger, so how could they regain something they did not have all game long.

"Was there a reason you brought up the Super Bowl in this thread, anyway, besides giving you a reason to complain about it again?" Man are you effin dense; I brought it up because in my opinion, if they had it, they would have won the game. The OP said swagger is BS, I think not. Swagger=confidence.

 

[bradmahn]

Swagger is something intangible and impossible to grasp your hands on. It is an excuse, especially so when there are legitimate, concrete reasons for why they didn't win that game (a failure to execute).

Blame it on something other than that all you want...

"You know what? We didn't have a 'swagger' last year. If you ******* think about it, we didn't have a swagger. What we had was a sense of urgency, a sense of urgency about playing well, being smart, and capitalizing on every opportunity and situation that came our way.... It wasn't about a ******* swagger. You can take that swagger and shove it up your ass, okay?"