Don’t run with scissors!

Wade just says that the penaties are his fault because he did not prepare them well enough.

and I like the conclusion.

But discipline isn’t only manifested in penalties. You also find them in poor or broken off routes, missed blocking assignments, blown coverages and a whole host of mental errors that lead to failure on both sides of the ball. Wade talked several times last season before he took the play calling duties back that often plays were failing because guys were playing outside the scheme. That’s discipline in spades.

In addition to the ones you detail, I am looking forward to a team that pays closer attention to detail in execution.

is the sense of policing each other. If we assume the portion of penalties we would reduce are stupid/mental, then they require increased concentration. And the teams that don’t do that as often have a core of players who hold the others accountable-the old Leadership bugaboo again. Whic raises the concentration level on the field.

They can be quiet leaders, they can be loud leaders, but there has to be a sense of you’re letting your teammates down, NOT the coaches, if you do something stupid. That’s what makes a diffreence.

I just don’t agree with the elaborate “children are like players” conceit. You can’t cut children, for instance. And children need to be taught in many scenarios because they have no prior experience— they are seeing things for the first time, and the way you guide them will shape their future behavior. You’re setting the precedent. For NFL veterans like Tank Johnson or Flozell Adams or Andre Gurode, the precedent has been set long before someone like Wade Phillips gets to them— they’ve learned a pattern of behavior over the years. You’re not starting from scratch. The list of differences goes on. I think it’s too easy a metaphor and probably not an entirely apt one.

That said, there seem to be two points which can be discussed independent of the children analogy.

First, does our team need more discipline? Personally, I think our biggest problem last year was injuries, not penalties— we lost more player games to injury than any other NFL team, and still missed the playoffs by one game. Eliminate some of those injuries, and I’d guess we have a decently successful season, even with all of the undisciplined TO’s and Pacman’s and the like. Occam’s Razor— the simplest explanation is often the correct one. Intangibles like “discipline” and “heart” are far from the simplest reasons for a team’s failures.

So maybe we need more discipline, maybe we don’t. I don’t know. I certainly think accountability is important on an NFL team— everyone needs to do their job, particularly on defense, or the whole will fall apart— but I think that’s about getting players who buy into that “do your job” mindset and who don’t freelance. I don’t think it’s about disciplining guys until they fall in line. As I said, these aren’t children, they’re NFL players. They have learned behaviors. You can fine Pacman Jones, and it’s not going to make him change the style of play that got him here and made him a millionaire. The only relevant disciplinary measure I see is an all-or-nothing one: cut the player. Sign guys who don’t freelance, and release guys who do. Is that enforcing “discipline”? I don’t know. Maybe. Probably not in exactly the way you express it above.

Second, can an increase in "discipline help reduce our penalties, and will a reduction in penalties result in a higher level of team success? As I said above, I don’t know what method of discipline you have in mind to reduce these penalties, but you can’t spank Andre Gurode like you can a kid (the equivalent to spanking would probably be fining him) and expect him to learn in the same way. Flozell Adams has been false starting for years, in large part because he is deaf in one ear and can’t hear the snap count well. Do you think fining him or yelling at him or calling him out in a press conference is going to change that behavior? I don’t know. But I doubt it.

You ask for a “discipline” coach like Coughlin or Belichik. Well, we had the master! We had their tutor, Bill Parcells! And yet we’ve been one of the most penalized teams in the league for a while now, including Parcells’ time here, and we still managed to be the NFC’s top see in 2007 and make the playoffs twice during Parcells’ run. Now, we haven’t won any of those playoff games, so if your argument is that penalties play a bigger role in the playoffs, when the margin of difference between the teams is smaller and small factors like penalties can turn the tide, then sure, I might agree with that, but that isn’t the argument that is made here.

Ultimately, I like the idea of fewer penalties, but I think the connection with “discipline” is tenuous. Sign smarter players, you’ll get less freelancing. Cut the guys who commit penalties and you’ll get fewer of them. I don’t think it’s significantly more complicated than that. These players are who they are at this point in their careers. They’re not children.

Great post it just goes to show that Wade will always be a great DC but never a head coach

Great post as always ScarletO.

In the NFL today, lamenting a “lack of discipline” isn’t simply a part of the obligatory excuses after a loss. It’s the diagnosis for anything and everything that goes wrong on and off the field. In practice, the term is so vague that improving a team’s discipline would look like … what, exactly?

Installing a stiffer fine system? Scheduling some extra two-a-days at training camp? Stressing the importance of getting things “exactly right” in practice this off-season? Perhaps combo drills focusing on the finer points of a three-point-stance?

If you look at the most successful teams in any sport, you will find a common bond within the team. Often, it is called team chemistry. Sometimes, it is called leadership. However, leadership in team sports is often confused with the team having one selected or anointed leader, but true leadership for high performance teams is most often shared leadership.

Shared leadership is the key driver of long term team success. Every player on the team takes ownership and responsibility for the overall performance of the team. No one panics or becomes negative at the first sign of adversity. In fact, teams with shared leadership strengthen their resolve and focus at the first sign of adversity and unite as one. They are mentally tough. They support each other and take care of their own responsibilities to ensure the success of the team.

Importantly, leadership is inextricably linked to accountability. This means accepting responsibility for the outcomes expected of you, both good and bad. You don’t blame others. And you don’t blame the external environment. Until you take responsibility, you are a victim. And being a victim is the exact opposite of being a leader. Victims are passive. They are acted upon. Leaders are active. They take initiative to influence the outcome. They do not give up in the most important game of the season.

Without shared leadership, shared responsibility and shared accountability, teams routinely disintegrate under pressure, mistakes abound, penalties pile up, blame gets assigned elsewhere, lack of trust pervades the team, and the Eagles score 44 in the last game of the season.

Hopefully the Cowboys have taken all the right steps in cleaning up the locker room to instill a new sense of cohesiveness and purpose, helping the team attain a mental toughness that helps each player to remain calm and focused under stress. With a high sense of self-belief and an unshakable faith that as a team they control their own destiny, the Boys will not crack under pressure.

Phil Jackson allegedly once said: “Good teams become great ones when the members trust each other enough to surrender the ‘me’ for the ‘we.’”

Here’s keeping my fingers crossed.