phinsforlife
Active Roster
Objective 1 is hopefully partially accomplished. Or at least a step in the right direction. Bigger and more talented players in the trenches. For arguments sake, assume both Grant and Jonah are good. That is a win, and puts you above the law of averages. Good is not a bad thing either. I would venture a guess that if every starter on your team was good, with none of them being great or elite, and they were well coached and played as a unit, you have a Super Bowl contender.
But something as simple as adding size in the trenches, and adding good players in the trenches, alone is not sufficient.
There is toughness at the individual level. Tough is a mentality. There are little guys that are tough as nails, and there are big guys that are soft as puppy poo.
There is also toughness at the team level. Tough is a cultural issue. Tough is how you practice. Tough is what is expected of players on the field. Tough is about how you approach the game and the scheme that is run and the plays that are called.
Adding theoretically tough guys (assuming they have the mentality to go along with the size) means BUBKUS if the team is still run like summer camp. It will mean squat if there are still guys on the team that are poison, show up late all the time, run their mouths, and get away with it. Tough, more than anything else, is a mentality, cultural and coaching issue.
Regardless of who we drafted, how the team is run is going to have to change if we want to be tough. And as far as I can tell, not much has changed in this regard. The OTA schedule is already on the soft side. 6 of them instead of 10. Not a great way to send a message that things are changing around here. Tua is hanging out on the boat, drinking beer, has bigger love handles than the Pillsbury dough boy (that is not good, unless this is his new airbag system to prevent concussions), and is spewing his millenial garbage about being happy. The behavior of the QB and the highest paid guy on the team sends a message. It is a huge challenge when you have a QB that cannot be allowed to take a hit on the field of play either. Josh Allen sends a message the way he plays the game.
Tough also means how you approach the game with play calling offensively and defensively. If they want to keep throwing sideways passes or pitching the ball sideways or 4 yards in the backfield on 3rd and 1, instead of just ramming it straight ahead, that is also not tough. And if they can't run the ball straight ahead on 3rd and 1, and they need to resort to gimmicks, then they are not tough anyway. At some point, you need to keep trying even if it isn't working, just to develop a culture of toughness, for the benefit of the long term. If the team misses 25 tackles in a game, because it is cold out, and they don't want to hit, that is not tough. If players are not benched for that crap, nothing will change.
Everything will be all for naught unless the culture of the organization changes. That has to come from the owner (who thinks he owns a nightclub) , the GM, the coaches, and the best players on the team. Hopefully it will. The horse has bolted on OTA's, hopefully training camp and player discipline during the regular season is handled differently. Hopefully, they start benching guys who play soft on the field and don't want to tackle or make the offensive equivalent of the same mistake. Hopefully they start calling plays like tough teams call plays, offensively and defensively. Hopefully they develop player leaders that are tough. Hopefully the head coach stops wearing joggers, sunglasses, and hoodies on the sideline and looking like he just came from an all night bender at a nightclub and starts acting like a football coach. We will see. But there is a lot of wood to chop on this issue, and I would not be declaring victory pre-maturely in this regard.
From my perspective it seems quite misguided to believe 2 rookies alone (when you don't even know if they are good yet and are leaders) will change the entire culture of the organization. Wilkins and Rob Hunt were really good, and tough, and they didn't do it. Because there were bigger problems, and in expectation these two guys will be less good than those two guys. The change has to come from more than just the first two players they drafted. To say otherwise seems naive to me.
PS having said all of this, it is still unclear to me if Jonah is a big nasty, or more of a finesse zone blocking type of guy. Speed is his biggest asset, so what exactly is he? Is he a tough guy, we will find out.
PPS is Grant tougher and better than Calais Campbell? He is supposed to change everything a highly respected winner and proven veteran like Calais Campbell couldn't change?
Yeah, it goes well beyond just who they drafted. A lot more needs to change around here!
But something as simple as adding size in the trenches, and adding good players in the trenches, alone is not sufficient.
There is toughness at the individual level. Tough is a mentality. There are little guys that are tough as nails, and there are big guys that are soft as puppy poo.
There is also toughness at the team level. Tough is a cultural issue. Tough is how you practice. Tough is what is expected of players on the field. Tough is about how you approach the game and the scheme that is run and the plays that are called.
Adding theoretically tough guys (assuming they have the mentality to go along with the size) means BUBKUS if the team is still run like summer camp. It will mean squat if there are still guys on the team that are poison, show up late all the time, run their mouths, and get away with it. Tough, more than anything else, is a mentality, cultural and coaching issue.
Regardless of who we drafted, how the team is run is going to have to change if we want to be tough. And as far as I can tell, not much has changed in this regard. The OTA schedule is already on the soft side. 6 of them instead of 10. Not a great way to send a message that things are changing around here. Tua is hanging out on the boat, drinking beer, has bigger love handles than the Pillsbury dough boy (that is not good, unless this is his new airbag system to prevent concussions), and is spewing his millenial garbage about being happy. The behavior of the QB and the highest paid guy on the team sends a message. It is a huge challenge when you have a QB that cannot be allowed to take a hit on the field of play either. Josh Allen sends a message the way he plays the game.
Tough also means how you approach the game with play calling offensively and defensively. If they want to keep throwing sideways passes or pitching the ball sideways or 4 yards in the backfield on 3rd and 1, instead of just ramming it straight ahead, that is also not tough. And if they can't run the ball straight ahead on 3rd and 1, and they need to resort to gimmicks, then they are not tough anyway. At some point, you need to keep trying even if it isn't working, just to develop a culture of toughness, for the benefit of the long term. If the team misses 25 tackles in a game, because it is cold out, and they don't want to hit, that is not tough. If players are not benched for that crap, nothing will change.
Everything will be all for naught unless the culture of the organization changes. That has to come from the owner (who thinks he owns a nightclub) , the GM, the coaches, and the best players on the team. Hopefully it will. The horse has bolted on OTA's, hopefully training camp and player discipline during the regular season is handled differently. Hopefully, they start benching guys who play soft on the field and don't want to tackle or make the offensive equivalent of the same mistake. Hopefully they start calling plays like tough teams call plays, offensively and defensively. Hopefully they develop player leaders that are tough. Hopefully the head coach stops wearing joggers, sunglasses, and hoodies on the sideline and looking like he just came from an all night bender at a nightclub and starts acting like a football coach. We will see. But there is a lot of wood to chop on this issue, and I would not be declaring victory pre-maturely in this regard.
From my perspective it seems quite misguided to believe 2 rookies alone (when you don't even know if they are good yet and are leaders) will change the entire culture of the organization. Wilkins and Rob Hunt were really good, and tough, and they didn't do it. Because there were bigger problems, and in expectation these two guys will be less good than those two guys. The change has to come from more than just the first two players they drafted. To say otherwise seems naive to me.
PS having said all of this, it is still unclear to me if Jonah is a big nasty, or more of a finesse zone blocking type of guy. Speed is his biggest asset, so what exactly is he? Is he a tough guy, we will find out.
PPS is Grant tougher and better than Calais Campbell? He is supposed to change everything a highly respected winner and proven veteran like Calais Campbell couldn't change?
Yeah, it goes well beyond just who they drafted. A lot more needs to change around here!
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