Understand McDaniels (The Patriot Way)
I read this article before I think it important for everyone to understand what culture that McDaniels comes from. This speaks to many reasons about **** up this weakend and why either McDaniels changes a little or it over for Cutler in Denver.
The Patriots Story, Part One: Selfless
09:22 AM EST on Sunday, January 27, 2008
http://www.projo.com/patriots/conten....5a05bd1d.html
By SHALISE MANZA YOUNG
Journal Sports Writer
It was thought that the salary-cap rule would mean the end of dynasties in the NFL. But the Pats have built one anyway. This three-part series examines how they've done it. Find the second and third parts Monday and Tuesday on projo.com.
FOXBORO - On his first day of training camp with his new team, Adalius Thomas saw it firsthand.
New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick took star quarterback Tom Brady to task for a mistake on the field, undressing the two-time Super Bowl MVP in full view of his teammates.
"It kind of caught me off-guard, because Tom was the first person that got blasted," Thomas recalled. "So it was like, 'OK, he's talking to Tom, so what does that mean for everyone else?' It definitely set the tone for me."
More often than not in a sporting landscape where players earn more than coaches and making the play that gets you on the daily highlight shows is of the utmost, the notion of team success takes a backseat to ensuring your play gets you a big contract.
But since taking over as head coach in New England before the 2000 season, Belichick has created an atmosphere wherein no single player, no position, no unit, even no coach, is greater than the team.
"Belichick does not allow it," Junior Seau says.
Under Pete Carroll, who preceded Belichick with the Patriots, the players ran the team, and that style of being a friend to his players before being an authority did not pan out.
So Belichick, who had learned during his years with the New York Giants that no player should ever receive special treatment regardless of his star status, came in and changed things. And he brought in players who understood both his playing system and expectations to guide the transition: Otis Smith and Bobby Hamilton his first year, and Anthony Pleasant and Bryan Cox the next.
None were top-notch free agents, but all had played for Belichick in the past.
"I think it was key that he brought in 'his guys,' guys that were familiar with him as a coach, who had played for him at other stops and who knew what he wanted as a coach," says Christopher Price, author of "The Blueprint: How the New England Patriots Beat the System to Create the Last Great NFL Superpower."
"Even the guys who were here (in New England) in 1996, who knew Belichick as an assistant under Bill Parcells, the (Tedy) Bruschis, the Ty Laws, even Lawyer Milloy. The key was getting guys who knew Belichick and who knew the system."
Once that structure was in place, once players understood that sacrificing the good of the team for personal gain was not to be tolerated - and once New England started having success - it became stronger and self-renewing.
And once that happened, it made it easier for Belichick and vice president of player personnel Scott Pioli to take chances, bringing in players perceived as malcontents with other teams, like Corey Dillon and Randy Moss. Dillon had few issues during his tenure with New England and was able to add a Super Bowl title to his statistically-impressive resume; by all accounts Moss fell immediately into line and is in a position to get the one thing missing from his Hall of Fame career.
"Whenever you have a leader such as Belichick and you have enough veterans that have been around his teachings, they breathe it, and when they start breathing it around the locker room, it's contagious," says Seau.
Seau already had 16 NFL seasons under his belt when he arrived in Foxboro last year and had heard about New England from his former teammate and friend, Rodney Harrison. But when he arrived, he saw for himself how ingrained the team-first notion is in Foxboro.
"In any business, in order to assert your personality, your identity, you want to make sure that you have a nucleus that carry it through," Seau said.
Despite being a 12-time Pro Bowler, in New England Seau simply does his job, the basic-yet-unchanging expectation of all Patriots players.
"With all of the veteran players that have been in the league for a while and have been around here, they lead by example, and that's what you see," second-year linebacker Pierre Woods said. "Nobody really has a rah-rah attitude. You just learn from them, the way they carry themselves."
For the most part, Patriots players say there isn't really a lecture given on The Patriot Way that comes when you get your playbook. It is learned through observation, and it is enforced daily by Belichick.
"It starts from the top, with Bill, and the way he addresses us and the way he coaches us," says Larry Izzo. "Every single guy in the locker room realizes that he is not an individual and I think it's sort of an inbred culture. But it all starts at the top, whether it's (owner Robert) Kraft, Pioli, Belichick, positional coaches…everybody preaches that the sum is greater than the individual parts."
As Thomas saw months ago, no one is above being called out for making a mistake. But not every player can handle that type of scrutiny and, at times, embarrassment. So Belichick and Pioli seek out players who are unselfish by nature; frequently, Belichick will say of one of his players that "football is important to him." Because if playing - and winning - is a priority, it makes it easier to abide by the rules; not following them could lead to a player searching for a new team.
"It starts with Bill, and he only brings in the players he thinks are going to work like that, and the players enforce it," said Smith. "They can want it to be any way they want, but if you don't have the players that will enforce it, it won't happen."
Special-teams captain Izzo, who has been with the Patriots since 2001, isn't a marquee guy. But to be in the Pats' locker room, he says, no one is.
"The guys that we do have that people would perceive to be big-name players all buy into that too," he said. "Tom Brady is the most humble guy in the world. He doesn't walk around here like he's 'Tom Brady,' he walks around here like he's any other guy.
"When other players see that, I think they follow his lead and understand that it's not about them. It's about the team."
A team that, one week from today, will try for its fourth Super Bowl this decade
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Originally Posted by getlynched47
#7 - JOHN - #44 - FLOYD - #80 - ROD
