What we mean when we say we're "soft" | Page 6 | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

What we mean when we say we're "soft"

No I don't think the basis of the '80's Redskins was fun and games. That was my point. Joe Gibbs let them have their choreographed fun when they scored, which was considered taboo at the time, but they were serious when they needed to be.

It's a different day and age is all I'm saying. If and when the Dolphins are doing choreographed crap when they're behind by 21, I will agree with you wholeheartedly. Believe me, I have my doubts about McDaniel as well just from his physical stature. How many of these guys actually respect him when he looks like someone they would regularly stuff into a locker during high school?

However, I have to give him his props so far. He's got the Dolphins to the playoffs 2 years in a row for the first time in over 20 years and he did it with what most regard as a below average OL and a defense devastated by injuries 2 years in a row (particularly the secondary in 2022 and the edge guys in 2023).
The bolded portions above are exactly what's in question with this team. The Dolphins were not behind to Tennessee, but make no mistake they were not playing a good game. They were largely gifted the lead by Tennessee's unforced errors. Despite that the rehearsed end zone celebrations ran rampant. Late in the fourth quarter -- when they had to get "serious when they needed to be" (noted above) -- they were overwhelmed to the tune of one of the most improbable losses in NFL history. They were 99.7% likely to win that game with four minutes left and lost it.

If that's the way you're playing in a critical game against an inferior opponent at home during a late-season push for the #1 playoff seed and home-field advantage, you have a culture problem. And it consists precisely of the inability to get "serious when they needed to be."

This for example was posted the day after that game:

 
To me tough is when you’re stronger than the guy in front of you.

Hill is fast and very muscular but he gets misdirected a bunch. Plus he talks too much for my liking.

Crossen can’t beat a nerd, have no clue why they signed him
 
Mike McDaniel's.

The way "a team takes on the personality of its coach" as they say is by determining the kinds of players who are likely to become leaders and thereby shape the culture of the team via the effect of their leadership on their teammates. If your head coach is a goofball, players like Hill and Wilkins are likely to rise to the stature of leaders and will feel permitted to lead their teammates from that angle -- i.e., fun and games and elaborate and rehearsed end zone celebrations.

If on the other hand your head coach is the gruff and tough Bill Cowher for example, players like Joey Porter and Jerome Bettis are likely to become player leaders and lead with toughness and physicality. If your head coach is the serious and cerebral Bill Belichick, someone like Tom Brady is likely to become a key player leader and lead in that vein. The head coach's personality essentially "prescribes" the kind of player leader who's likely to rise to that stature among his teammates.

McDaniel has to start by being less of a goofball. Toughness and physicality (Cowher's Steelers), as well as a serious and cerebral approach (Belichick's Patriots), are consistent with winning in the game of football. What's not consistent with winning in the game of football is a goofball fun and games approach that can't become serious when the need arises, and the need arises very frequently in the NFL.

The team is soft because McDaniel is soft, and because the leaders among the players follow his lead.

Here is the opposite of that:



That Steelers team was the lowest-seeded AFC playoff team and won three playoff games on the road as an underdog before winning the Super Bowl as a decided underdog against the top-seeded team from the NFC. If you don't believe the kind of team culture and player leadership seen in the video above was the prime mover in that extremely rare accomplishment, I don't know what to tell you.

Meh, Porter did **** all when he was here…
 
To me tough is when you’re stronger than the guy in front of you.

Hill is fast and very muscular but he gets misdirected a bunch. Plus he talks too much for my liking.

Crossen can’t beat a nerd, have no clue why they signed him
The bolded portion above is a hint about how "tough" goes beyond the purely physical. You apparently implicitly see that.
 
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