This got me thinking about our squad…
Last year it was all about the culture and the brotherhood. No surprise, when things are going poorly that’s not the storyline. But it makes one wonder how the players in the locker room are responding to this tough year. Injuries, losses, players being completely lost on the field on defense. I can’t imagine the vibes are great, are the players still bought in? Especially on defense under Whitt. Either the players are watching themselves do the wrong thing over and over again on tape every Monday and getting chewed out, or they feel they’re being put in a position to fail by their coordinator. Either scenario seems bad.
Well, I would generally say there are a handful of main scenarios that would fit the situation:
1) Players believe that coaches are not putting themselves in a position to succeed.
--- RESOLUTION: Communication. With *mutual accountability* where coaches and players can talk to each other openly (this has to be steered by the HC), you can get out of this problem. It also takes some sharpness on both parties.
-- DANGER: Giving up. If there is a lack of communication or trust, or they feel unheard in this case, players can pretty much feel they have no choice. Football is a team sport, and to function effectively as a team, you have to have the coordinator putting people in the right spots and pulling the right strings. If the players are convinced that isn't happening (and at this point, from what we've seen, why would they be?)... there is a recipe here for completely giving up. The main missing ingredient beyond what we've seen on the field is simply feeling like nothing will change. Another big part of this could easily be if the players feel the coaches are to blame but the coaches are blaming players; if you ask me, this happened kind of frequently with RR and I do believe (based on pressers and some coded language) this may be happening here too. Not totally sure.
2) Players believe they are to blame. Maybe coaches are telling them this. Maybe they believe it anyway.
-- RESOLUTION: Hit the film study; work harder. The team was SUPER excited coming into Dallas. Reports were really positive. Why? They hit the film study HARD apparently; they wanted to prove that the Bears game was a fluke, they wanted to beat Dallas handily. I don't know if we remember how one-sided that game was, and for me, the particularly disappointing place should be Kingsbury v. Eberflus. That game is probably by FAR (and I mean *FAR*) the highlight of the Dallas D's year. That's bad.
So, if the "resolution" is work harder, and they DID that... then what? This is where #2 has some serious issues. Really, really serious. However, from what I have seen in pressers, and with some observables, I don't think most of the coaches accept #1 much at all and seem to think #2 is the issue. I disagree with them from what I can tell. Perhaps the players do too.
-- DANGER: Laziness. There is always a chance here that bad habits get formed and don't get fixed. This is one of the things that DOES matter in a locker room with good culture. When the chips are down, good locker rooms (with a good chemistry) will keep the effort going even in tough times. That doesn't always mean Ws follow, but it does mean we avoid a lot of these types of outcomes almost "for free" (the upfront work of getting the right team together and cultivating it properly pays off).
^^ anyway just my thoughts on the main kind of dynamics that may play out. Obviously there are more subtleties and caveats, but I would think in broad strokes these are two of the main scenarios. I would tend to believe we are seeing 1b (the danger one) play out moreso than anything else. I believe a couple of years ago when the Eagles almost spiraled, Nick had a 1a situation occur. It has been widely reported that Jordan Mailata had a meeting with Nick, pointing out they needed to believe in their OL and run game. Nick listened and started giving more specific directions in that regard. That isn't some random conjecture, I'm sure most of us have heard it. I had to give Nick some VERY grudging respect for that small story.
 }})
