Is Philbin to "Old White Business Man" for today's NFL Players? AKA Will they buy in?

I just don't see it as all that novel or weighty, nor do I see his handling of it as especially notable.

 

My concerns about Philbin have nothing to do with not being fiery. I agree that an NFL head coach does not need to be fiery. But I am not confident that he has his finger on the pulse of the leadership of the team. With the exception fo steinbach, who si no longer on the team and who he has known for 10+ years, I don't get the impression that he is relating especially well to the players or them to him. He seemed very reluctant about the whole leadership council thing and my best guess is that it never materializes.

It may be just what Hard Knocks chooses to show or not show, but on the first 3 episodes (I haven't seen 4 yet), I didn't see much coaching from Philbin. Actually, I'm not sure I saw any. Yeah, an occasional "nice throw Ryan" etc. but no real coaching or teaching. Not saying that isn't happening, but I haven't seen it so far on Hard Knocks.

The point is that I think there are some things that may cause some of the players to not have confidence in his ability as a HC. I know I see some and it's entirely possible that some of the players see the same. I'm not going to parse the Bush or Dansby comments too much, but they can (and have by some people) been interpreted as showing a lack of confidence in Philbin.

 

i dont think its only philbin, they dont show other coaches teaching as well, which makes me think they don't want it to be shown on TV

 

I've seen coaching from Campbell, Turner, the secondary coach, etc. I agree that it probably doesn't make for the most exciting TV, which may be why we don't see a lot of extended video of coaches teaching techniques, etc.

 

I suspect there was a good deal of tension involved in the situation, given the dynamics and the importance of it, which IMO makes it weighty, and the fact that it doesn't happen all that often makes it novel. But of course we all have our own perceptions.

 

I honestly don't understand what some people are seeing.

When I watch Philbin talk to players i see a guy who is treating them like men and professionals. He could have chewed CJ's head off about the press conference, but he didn't. He tried to teach him not only the importance of professionalism but even about how words lose their power if they are used incorrectly. He expected a 30+ year old man to understand those things, instead CJ just shut up, which was entirely missing Philbins point. I think the fact that he missed that point was just as much of a factor in his release as him needing the talk in the first place.

Some vets may not get what's going on yet, but that's the way it goes sometimes when you are attempting to change the entire culture of a franchise from top to bottom. I think come the first few games we'll see the confused vets buying in.

 

I wouldn't expect deep and intimate relationships between the head coach, who has greater distance from the players than the assistant coaches, and the players at this point in the head coach's first year on the job.

On top of that, I think it's important that the head coach, at this point in taking over a bad team, have an air of authority and detachment, until he starts to build the team culture he wants and has the players who fit that. The players need to perceive him with a slight bit of fear at this point IMO.

The epitome of that was the conversation he had with Chad Johnson, where his lack of eye contact was purposeful and sent a message regarding the shortness of Chad Johnson's leash IMO. Similarly, I think the whole team is getting some measure of that, in that he is appropriately detached and slightly intimidating IMO.

Later on, when he has the players and the team culture he wants, all of that can relax and unfold into the development of more egalitarian and intimate relationships, like what you see with Steinbach.

 

Philbin is bringing professionalism to this organization, no thugs, no immaturity, and no tolerance for misbehavior. He's making this a team not built of individual elite players but as a whole unit. Sure you can have elite players, but you want them to be a piece to the puzzle. Such as cam wake demanding extra help on his side, opening up a good season for odrick. We just drafted a rookie QB which I have grown to like more and more each week. We have a receiving core of no names, a secondary of bubble players. I think even though they don't say it on tv, we are rebuilding. This year is crucial for that because it's going to show the players that they need to buy into this new professional system that the organization is trying to portray. This is how the Yankees did it, they were built around clean cut and upstanding players. Regardless of who they were before they were on the team, they bought in and won championships.