Doesn’t Matter If Players Like Raheem The Dream
July 30th, 2010
While it's great that Raheem the Dream has affection of his players, at the end of the day, it's really a non-factor. It's about wins and losses.
Joe was in a conversation this morning with a highly respected Bucs beat writer discussing why some Bucs fans have the torches lit for Raheem the Dream.
Said reporter Joe spoke with claimed that the Raheem the Dream haters are wrong on many levels and one aspect they overlook is how the players love Raheem the Dream.
Joe replied that, in Joe’s eyes, this should be a non-factor and Joe puts zero weight in such a crutch/excuse.
Case in point: Joe isn’t sure he has to remind fans the Bucs lost 13 games last year. If, as this reporter suggests, the team quit on Raheem the Dream or there was a mutiny, what would be the result, the Bucs would have lost 14 games instead?
Now in a perfect world, it’s fantastic the players have so much respect for Raheem the Dream. Joe’s not saying this is a negative in any way. Of course it’s a positive, noble if not coveted trait. But what matters most are results.
Joe doesn’t notice many warm and fuzzies from players who toiled for Tuna Parcells or Bill Belicheat. Joe noticed on the NFL Network’s broadcasts of America’s Game series that to this day Larry Csonka talks about what an ass Don Shula was to play for.
Terry Bradshaw and Chuck Noll were so at odds that Bradshaw nearly wilted under Noll’s boot.
From what Joe can tell, players despised George Halas; Mike Ditka rarely says anything kind about his former coach. It’s well known that Vince Lombardi treated players like dogs.
That’s not to say players must loathe their coaches in order to win. While Bill Walsh was a taskmaster and accepted no mistakes, he treated his players with a great deal of respect and it seems the players respected Walsh just as much.
Joe knows of no insubordination with Joe Gibbs, though Joe Theismann and Gibbs were, for a period, at odds before kissing and making up and thus, winning a Super Bowl together. Kenny Stabler and Phil Villipiano would throw themselves under a moving truck for John Madden the way they speak of their old coach.
For every example of a team liking its coach and winning, Joe can also find an example of a team winning despite possessing a vile hatred of the coach.
So Joe doesn’t count the Bucs liking Raheem the Dream as a positive or a negative. In fact Joe believes it’s a wash.
No matter how much players like or hate a coach, at the end of the day, it’s if you win or lose.
July 30th, 2010 at 2:05 pm
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d81961e61/article/three-trades-that-should-happen-to-improve-both-teams?module=HP_cp2
Hey Joe, See #3
July 30th, 2010 at 2:36 pm
Joe I have been reading your publication for some time now. For the most part I agree with you (as I do with Big Dog). However if you are telling me that today’s kind of player doesn’t need to “like” the Coach then we are not paying close attention to this new generation. I have alway been a fan of doing what a Coach says regardless of likes or dis-likes. However these cup-cakes aren’t cut from that cloth. One of the main things that stuck out to me about Dungy was that his players would run through a “brick wall” for him. I think that very few would run through a sheet of toilet paper for Gruden. Thus you get the point. On another point I think the Bucs should split this cake schedule of theirs into a 6 or 7 game win. I want to put that on record now before the preseason starts. Love your site (better than the pewter sight I all but abandoned). You kept me going in the desert months.
July 30th, 2010 at 3:09 pm
Horice:
Thank you so much for the kind words and the support.
You are mostly accurate. Can’t compare player’s demeanors today compared to the 1950s (Halas), 1960s (Lombardi), 1970s (Shula), or 1990s (Parcells).
That written, in recent history, there are plenty of examples of teams winning it all under coaches who are hardly players’ coaches like Belicheat or, for a local angle, Chucky.
Thanks again for reading Joe!
July 30th, 2010 at 3:21 pm
I completely agree, especially about “it’s if you win or lose” BUT
with a real young team it and today’s generation of athletes, it might be better that they like their head coach and want to play for him.
Hey, but really who knows, both ways have worked. In the end, it is all about the talent on the field working together regardless of the kind of coach.
July 30th, 2010 at 6:35 pm
Thank you Joe, It’s about time someone reminded these guys that this is Professional Football and the bottom line is Wins & Losses. They sure had a lot of love for Chuckie when he brought the SuperBowl home to Tampa!
And I still remember Lynch, when he was miked-up during the SB, saying Jeez, they ran every play coach had us practice! Does anyone with a brain think that Raheem can anticipate what plays any team will run? I know, kool-aiders, Gruden knew the plays because he coached the Raiders the year before. Well, he coached the Bucs in 2002 when it mattered most!