On Doing Everything Wrong

“You can do everything wrong and still succeed, If you have The Right Mental Attitude.”
by CoachFree

What’s up with that? How can that be? Everything wrong and still succeed?
Not possible you say? Consider this. Bill Gutman’s book, Parcells, chronicles the coach’s remarks concerning the AFC Championship Game against Jacksonville in 1997, “We played so hard, the mental errors we made did not show up. Even when we would do things wrong, we’d tackle the guy for a loss three of four times.”
There you have it, enough said, straight from the Big Tuna’s mouth. You see, when everyone has the same goal, and a burning, whitehot desire to accomplish that goal, you may not dot all the Is and cross all your Ts properly, but the end result is still the achievement of the ultimate desired behavior.
Of course, the opposite is also true . . . “You can do everything right and still not succeed if you have the wrong mental attitude.” Years ago I coached a free safety who did everything right. He lined up properly, was always in position, always took the proper pursuit angle, knew who his man was, called the right coverage. He always ‘stayed deep, kept his feet, and kept everyone in front of him,’ too far in front of him. Thing was he rarely ever made a tackle. He was always ‘right there’ standing between the pile and the goal line ready to take that ball carrier down IF he would happen to break the tackle of a teammate. He just never would initiate the tackle; everything right and still not succeed.
Being a History teacher I am reminded of Union General George B McClellan, the one Lincoln referred to as having a “case of the slows.” Civil War historian, Bruce Catton, describes it this way: “McClellan had nearly all of the gifts: youth, energy, charm, intelligence, sound professional training. But the fates who gave him these gifts left out the one that a general must have before all others---the hard, instinctive fondness for fighting.” His adversary, Robert E. Lee, had it. Lee was one of the most pugnacious soldiers in American History. Lee is the one who said, “It is well that we know how terrible war really is, else we would grow too fond of it.” McClellan, an engineer, who had every advantage a general could have at the time, did everything right and by the book. And he was never able to win the decisive victory that Union needed to bring about an early end to the war. Instead he was a ‘Master of Retreat.’ What Lincoln needed was a general who would attack, much like Grant did at the end of the war. U. S. Grant. Unconditional Surrender Grant. Now there’s a piece of work. Talk about doing things wrong, did he ever. But he still succeeded. Why? Well, you get the picture by now, right?
“We played so hard . . .” that’s what it is all about. That’s desire.
And that will take you to victory more often than proper pursuit angles, blanket coverages, safety blitzes. The desire of people to rid the country of slavery brought a victory for the Union Army that ground its way to victory in Virginia.
Of course, what would happen if you, your team, would combine that intense, whitehot, burning desire, that right mental attitude with sound FUNdaMENTAL play? Better tackling, proper coverages, correct angles of pursuit, positioning, etc.?

Can you say CHAMPIONSHIP!
Remember, The Sky’s the Limit!