There were a plethora of exciting NFL games over the weekend. We had the classic Brady vs. Manning matchup that lived up to the hype, big hits with the Eagles and Giants meeting, and Brett Favre playing in his last significant game against his old Packers team. As great as these games were, no NFL game was more revealing of the kind of league we have than the Raiders/Steelers game. I know, the game was a 35-3 dominance where the Steelers were in control of every facet of the game. I realize they made one of the best running attacks in the league non-existent. I understand that without all the Steelers penalties, the score would have been even more lopsided. On an emotion scale, this game couldn’t possibly capture the attention of a hermit crab. However, this game optimizes the NFL in every way. I’ll explain.
The NFL, more than any other sports league, is a coaching league and it was most evident with this Steelers/Raiders game. Let’s rewind two weeks. The Raiders had just posted an overtime win against the division rival Kansas City Chiefs. At (5-4), the Raiders already had as many wins as they had all of last year. Everyone was proclaiming that the “Mystic Raider” had returned. Then they get a bye week and get an extra week to prepare for the Steelers. Meanwhile, the Steelers are coming off an emotionally draining Sunday Night Football loss to the New England Patriots. Raiders coach Tom Cable has an extra week to prepare and not only does coach Mike Tomlin’s team win, but at no time during the 60 minutes was it even a game.
It all comes down to preparation. Mike Tomlin is 13-6 after one loss. He knows how to win after his team just suffered a loss. They all jumped on the Raiders bandwagon last week. I did not buy the hype. Why? Because his main office is not stable. You want to see a stable environment, watch the New England Patriots. Coach Belichick and owner Robert Craft have been about as stable an organization as it gets. Belichick is 15-4 after a bye week. Andy Reid is a perfect 12-0 after a bye week. Coincidence? The NFL is a league of coaches.
Mike Tomlin is one of the top five coaches in the league because what defines you as a leader is how you respond in a crisis. Tomlin responds after the meltdown with a 13-6 record. The numbers don’t lie. Andy Reid and Bill Belichick are money when they have two weeks to prepare. Look at the two coaches who have been fired in recent weeks. The Cowboys’ first coach, Wade, “made of cookie dough” Phillips. Today, Brad “can’t control the wardrobe” Childress was also sent packing. Phillips this season was (2-5) after a loss, while Childress was (1-3). The NFL has a lot of parody and adversity, it’s the nature of the game. Successful coaches are the ones who can go back to the drawing board and make the necessary adjustments to win the following week and after a break. The NFL has 16 games, which means losing a game is always crisis mode. It is essential to respond positively the following week. That’s why I’m not a Raiders buyer. Sorry raider nation. You have won a few games, but the management from the owner to the manager is shaky. You have the owner paying for the players and proclaiming JaMarcus Russell the savior of the franchise. He was released faster than you can say “Purple Drank”.
Then there’s the incident of Tom Cable allegedly breaking the jaw of one of his trainers. Give me management and coaches who are professionals and handle adversity well. Look at the last decade of the NFL. The best franchises: Patriots, Steelers, Eagles, Colts. What do they have in common? The answer is strong top-down leadership. The Patriots and Eagles will part with a player when they are 30 years old. They want young, fresh players. They don’t give five-year contracts to 30-year-old riders. When production falls, the organization moves on. That’s what makes a good business and the NFL is a business after all. If a top salesperson at a company for ten years starts having big dips on a consistent basis, a good company will ditch him or her for a newer model.
The Washington Redskins are a prime example of what not to do. Owner Daniel Snyder spends $100 million on a fat, undisciplined defensive lineman who doesn’t even want to play his style of defense. The NFL is not an all-star league and it is not a sexy league. He pays Kobe Bryant $100 million because he brings championships and fans to the seats. It is a league of faces. A player can do that in the NBA, but the NFL is different. It takes everyone fulfilling their roles and a lot of training to win consistently. So, I just don’t buy the Raiders and Sunday against the Steelers just reaffirmed my feelings. It’s not that the Raiders lost, but how they lost. They are known for their running game and they had two weeks to prepare. But when they faced an Elite trainer in Mike Tomlin, they couldn’t run the ball for their lives.
The NFL is a league of coaches. Baseball and basketball is a league of players. Joe Girardi replaces Joe Torre and wins a title. He won thanks to the players they got in the offseason: CC Sabathia, AJ Burnett and Mark Teixeira. He now helped, but the players put the team over the hump. Captains in baseball aren’t nearly as important as coaches in the NFL. You can win a world series title with great pitching and have an average coach, but try to win in the NFL with a great quarterback and average head coach. He’s trying out right now with the San Diego Chargers. You better be a smart and disciplined coach if you want to win in the NFL.
