Philosophy of Football

Not sure if this thread belongs here or on the other board, but I wanted to address a bit of the philosophy of football. I've been playing a lot of NFL Head Coach lately, and on the side, reading about the thoughts and emotions that go into the preparation, the play, the down time, the off-season. I'm taking a bit of a philosophical stance on this because it's a topic which really interests me.

That being said, I have a theory (maybe it seems obvious, or stupid, to some of you) regarding really good college players as they come to the pros.

Think about a star player and his time in high school. Very likely, he would have had an extremely incredible high school career, and as a result, probably 85 or 90 percent of his games at that level. If he moves on to a big-time school -- USC or Texas or OSU or wherever -- he'll likely end up winning 75 to 85 percent of his games there, too.

If he's a big-time player, it's likely he'll go higher in the draft, which means he goes to a team which isn't as successful. How do these players deal with going from winning 80 percent of their games to maybe only winning 20 to 30 percent of their games in the pros?

I don't have close contact with any pro ballers, so some feedback on this would be appreciated.

And if I'm totally off base here...hey, it's not like I cover the NFL.

 

Besides playing NFL Head Coach, you might also find it insightful if you stay at a Holiday Inn Express.

 

Alley,
I've heard guys that fit that description saying how tough it is, i.e. Peyton Manning and many others.

 

QB's have it toughest to adjust. Pass protection may not be as good and they are not used to various covers and closing speed of DB's.

Some good ones have not made it because of that .

 

how do they adjust? they're being well compensated. even the 75 percent who won't be around in four years know their lives are far better than their buddies' lives. they are getting paid well. the ones with half a brain know they'll be set for life if they just don't do anything stupid given that the nfl pension system kicks in after four full seasons.

also, they're professionals. it's their job to play football and do the best possible job.

 

Not quite what I meant, but I appreciate your response just the same. Think about it more from, say, the Reggie Bush perspective. Assume, for a moment, that the Saints finished with a 4-12 record instead of the one they had. Bush, who has been a winner most of his life, suddenly is on a team that simply cannot win, despite his efforts. Those are the people I wonder about.

 

Some can't adjust to the autumn winds - which can come on like a pirate.

 

Wow...sounds like someone is channeling Caine from Kung Fu.

To steal lines from a movie...

"What's with you today?"
"What's with today, today?"

 

Thanks Rags...that's exactly what I was looking for.

 

Going from HS to college the speed of the game increases, as does the size of the players, but there is still a big discrepancy from the best player to the worst player.

Going from college to the NFL, the slowest guy on the field is at least as fast as the fastest guy you saw in college, and everybody's bigger than they were in college.

That seems like it would be the toughest adjustment. Everything happens much faster and the collisions are much more violent.

 

The QB's who make it in the NFL all learn the ability to slow the game down in their mind. They need to make 3 seconds feel like one minute.

In Blink Malcolm Gladwell describes the experience of trained cops -- when they are in danger become completely focused on the danger and things almost slow down. They are able to make snap judgments whether to pull the trigger of not. It takes a lot of training to reach this point. Special Forces spends a lot of time on this type of training.

Not life and death but I believe the same decision making process is needed for an NFL QB to make it.

If he cannot slow the game down he becomes one dimensional and cannot see the whole field.

The best I've seen was Joe Montana.