I feel like I read a different set of comments by JL than the ones others are apparently responding to.
For me, it isn’t about W/L. And JL is NOT talking about W/L.
He is talking about discipline. Preparation. Effort. Intensity. About being competitive.
He is saying (and I totally agree) that against the the “good” teams–the INSPIRING teams–the Rams have had a different level of intensity than against the lesser teams.
Now, this has an effect on the W/L results. But the 2 are not synonymous. A poor but building team can lose to a premier team, but do it in a way that shows growing competitive intensity. And a team can win a game against a lousy team, but do it unconvincingly.
JL is speaking as a member of the team. A leader over half a decade of futility. And he is making a confession. He is admitting that the team has been uneven in its competitiveness. And he is saying they are learning to grow out of it.
You can’t “put numbers” to what he is saying by going over past W/L records and trying to control for times when conditions were right or wrong. None of that has anything to do with what JL is saying.
He is SAYING that they have competed unevenly and missed chances because of shoddy preparation and performance. He is saying that as a player and leader on the team. He speaks as a player who stepped onto and then left the field in games where HE KNEW that the team had let itself down.
And I for one am delighted to hear him say it. It is exactly what is needed, and it gets at what I have been ranting about for 2 years.
This team has let itself down repeatedly over the last 2 years. It has nothing to do with backup QBs or injured OLs or W/L records. It has to do with a team that gets up for some games and shows it can compete, but lets itself down in many others. It’s not about talent. It’s not about W/L. It’s not about health.
It’s about competitive discipline. THAT is what he is talking about.
Competitive discipline takes a team to its ceiling. Yes, that ceiling at any moment of time is affected by talent, experience, health, etc. It’s affected by the opposition. It’s reflected in the W/L record. But none of those variables lift a team to its ceiling … or depress it to its floor. What does that is competitive discipline … or the lack thereof.
We have our D unit captain talking directly about that issue. Not about W/L as such.
And I think this is a great sign, because I hear something different in his words. JL has been in the league a long time, longer than the average player career. He has played on a bad, losing team year after year. Several times during each of those years, that team has shown flashes. And the flashes have always been quickly followed by collapses.
Now, I have heard the vets on the team speak about all this before. I have heard them say, “We gotta start winning these games.” “We gotta start getting off to fast starts.” “We gotta start …”
It has always in the past been hypothetical. A theory and responsibility about what needs to happen. A sort of wish statement, a wistful imagining of what would winning WOULD BE like. A resolution to aspire to do what it takes to win consistently.
But there has never been any real conviction in the remarks. ‘Cause JL, Chris Long, guys like this have lived through long seasons of failure in which the wishes never came true. The resolutions never materialized. The competitive discipline never lasted beyond a game or two.
However, I hear–or fancy that I hear–in these remarks a different note. JL is not saying “We need to approach these games as we do tougher games.” He is saying, “Hey! This time WE DID IT! We showed discipline facing an uninspiring game against a bad team. That’s what we have needed to do AND NOW WE ARE BEGINNING TO ACTUALLY DO IT.”
Look. I’ve been on about something for 2 years. I’ve ranted and railed about it. I’ve pestered you guys and poured water on high hopes and leveled harsh criticism at our team. But is HAS NOT BEEN about talent or W/L. It’s always been about what JL is talking about here.
This team has not been able to play tough except now and then. Whatever the conditions. The variables. Who the QB is. It has had a decades-long habit of, maybe 60% of the time, playing DOWN BELOW whatever its capabilities are at a given moment. That’s WHY I’ve cautioned against believing in the flashes. Flashes are not enough. To be any good, a team needs to understand how to GRIND.
Here, I perceive JL saying, in effect, “We haven’t known how to grind. This last week, we DID GRIND. We showed ourselves what it’s like to do it. And because we are learning how to grind … we are going to start playing like winners.”
IF–it’s a big IF–IF the team learned in the CLE game how to grind, IF it has MANIFESTLY AND ON THE FIELD begun to demonstrate that it is willing and able to prepare and play with consistent toughness …
Then it will win a few more games this year and be poised to actually contend next year. This really is that important. Without regard for health or talent levels we need to improve at some positions, a team that can GRIND will win more games than the same team could without grinding. And a team that doesn’t know how to grind will always let you down on the verge of achievement.
So. Am I reading too much into JL’s comments? Sure, taken by itself. It’s just one tell-tail stirring on the mast with a freshening breeze. I am far from convinced that we can do it AGAIN against the Whiners this week.
Nevertheless, it’s damn good to hear our senior captain openly confessing the slackness of the past and even better to hear him SEEM to feel the discipline is actually emerging. ‘Cause out of that, contention will grow. Not out of sheer talent acquisition or health.
By virtue of the absurd ...
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