Is NFL Football Really the Ultimate Team Game?
I suppose this topic, like so many topics, depends on how we define our words, in this case ‘team game”. If we mean that success in football depends on the skills of many players with very different sorts of skills, then certainly football is an ultimate team game. It also is the toughest national sport to coach by a long shot. Let’s start with the team owners. The only common thread among owners is that they are extremely wealthy. After that, how they earned their wealth, whether they know very much about the game itself varies, and some just inherited the team. Many who amassed a lot of wealth did it via stiffing others in personal dealings, while their personalities run the complete spectrum. This cabal of owners have control over who is allowed to join their cabal, so just having a lot of money doesn’t mean you can buy a team. The League is run pretty much via a plantation mentality, endorsed by Congress (which has ultimate control over monopolies), and essentially the league becomes a separate Judicial system with the owners (via the Commissioner who they select) being the prosecutor, judge, and jury over the behavior and rights of the players on or off the field. There is no bottom line in contract negotiations which only include the Players Union and the Owners. The cities where the teams play and the fans have no seat at the bargaining table. The only real issue is what percent of the vast profits go to the owners and to the players. Nothing so far has kept salaries or profits down. Salary caps always go up. On the teams themselves the distribution of money is distributed in a manner which favors a very low percentage of players. Contracts are binding to the players and not to the owners, itself a misuse of the term contract. Out of this structure is an imagined wholesome team spirit.
The minimum base salary is $450,000. The current highest paid player is Aaron Rodgers, who for 2018 started with an average yearly salary of $33.5 million—his bonuses in 2018 raised it to $66.9 millions—then add off field earnings of $9.1 million and his total salary comes to more than $75 million this past year. Back in 2013 his base salary was $22 million, again tops in the league. That means his base income rose roughly 33% in 5 years. For the last five years the cap has risen an average of 7% per year. Since the owners and players roughly split the profits, the owners get to keep half the profits and the players (which number 1,696) split their half which gives players an average salary of 1.9 million, with the lowest salaries being $450,000.
If we mean by team sport that we have a group of teammates who work together, support each other, like each other, have each other’s back, and have a genuine camaraderie on and off the field, then we are dealing with a beast of another sort in the NFL. All the previous info so far was inserted in order to show that the structure of the NFL is not at all conducive to create any such ‘team concept’.
Players remaining from 2011
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Team
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Number
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7
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9
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9
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9
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10
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12
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12
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13
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13
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13
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15
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15
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15
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16
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16
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16
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16
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16
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16
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17
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17
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18
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18
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18
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19
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20
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21
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22
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22
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24
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25
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25
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This information above was collected in 2014. That means after three years this tells us how many players are still on the team after three years. Since there are 55 players on a team at best only less than half are still there and sometimes only 13% of the players are still there after 3 years. Players and coaches move around a lot today which by itself is not conducive to the portrayed image of team solid camaraderie.
If every player were paid the same salary and the best players just able to earn more off the field, then the nature of ‘team players” would change. Like so much in the current NFL, image is everything. And this idealistic romantic vision of team unity is of course peddled by the League endlessly. God help any player who portrays it otherwise. When the owners bask in the limelight up in their sky box during games God also help any sportscaster who dares to say the slightest negative comment about the owner—for there would go the network’s huge TV contract with the league. The coaches and players can be commented on endlessly as the mood of the sportscaster might be. So in different ways the players, coaches, Congress, the TV commentators, are all expected to pay homage to the owners, albeit are not required to blatantly refer to them as Plantation Masters. That is understood. They are pictured as benevolent wise patriarchs of the team. The players know otherwise.
The individual players know it is a stacked deck with disingenuous communications from every direction, and they better seek advancement selfishly or they won’t be there long. Their value will be reflected by their latest stats and nothing much else. Their team popularity will be based on their personalities, which vary all over the place. With 55 players on a team, not counting practice squads, and roughly 17 assistant coaches on each team, there is not a lot of personal interaction in practice compared to other sports with a smaller number of teammates. Smaller cabals of friendship develop on NFL teams, and some players have family visits with each other or carouse their nightlife together. Most players, for varying reasons, pretty much stay to themselves. With most positions the action comes to the player; with others—especially wide receivers—pressure is needed on coaches and the quarterback to see the ball come their way more often. At the end of the season the stats and pretty much the stats alone (together with injury absences) decide a player’s fate and salary on the team. In other major sports the salaries are a lot more commensurate with the person’s recent stats. It is not uncommon in pro football for a budding star, who makes the pro ball or leads the team in stats at a particular point in time, to be stuck with a low salary because they signed a long term contract for a low salary in order not to be dropped from the team at their early stages as a player. When the backside of the contract finally arrives the owner can simply cut them to save some salary cap space.The owners of Philly and New England have fine tuned this mentality. Often on the downside of their career the player is then unable to attain the lost money from when he was at the top of his career. Tough luck, the masters of the league have an endless greed for more money. Why Jerry Jones, the self appointed leader of these Plantation Masters, recently bought a boat which cost more than the Cowboy Stadium—a little somethin’ to caress his ego.
Fairness is rarely present in the NFL. Ask Terrell Owens. The object is to see who can stiff the other the most—the player or the owner, and the vast majority of time it is the player who gets stiffed. For most of the players their time in the league is relatively short. Most players get pretty banged up over a short period of time. It is not unusual for a player to be in the top ten in terms of their position stats and yet be paid no where’s near some of those in the top ten. Depending on the playing position of a player they may or may not be able to renegotiate a new salary package. The more important position players can thus monopolize most of the salary money available on a team. When Rodger takes 34 million from the top, there is less money to be spread around to the rest of the team. All of these owner created policies generate all kinds of personal resentments among teammates. They don’t get acted out more because they can be fined or dropped from the team at any point at the whim of the owner for a bad attitude. Public comments by players are often just canned phrases coughed up to make it look like the players are all wallowing in team camaraderie. It is quite clear enough to all the players what they are suppose to say in press interviews—albeit the absurdities about God influencing the game is tolerated. Even owners don’t want to be seen as contesting God’s intent on the game. There is probably far less camaraderie on an NFL football team than in any other national sport or a typical small company staff on or—off the field.
Another factor which comes into play here are the personalities of the major players on a team. Most of these top stars inherited exceptional innate physical abilities which are noted early on, even in junior high, and they are given endless special treatment and coddled from that time on. So they end up essentially spoiled brats of one sort or another. Some are polished in acting humble and projecting concern for others on the team. Smart like a fox. Others motivate themselves by ensuring everyone realizes how good they are. The reality is that, to some extent, they would not be so self centered if it were not for the special treatment received all their life by peers and those looking to financially profit from their physical talent.
Even in extreme cases of selfishness like the current Antonio Brown situation, it really is a product of the way the NFL runs its show. Given the embedded structure of the NFL it is more likely than unlikely for these situations to get covered up. For example, what kind of team would actually have teammates elect a MVP for the season? This secret ballot vote enables all the actual dissatisfactions on the team to be expressed on purpose, to send messages to other teammates. And since the secret ballot damage here cannot be controlled by the owners leveling fines on the players, the results are catastrophic to the team. Of course the owners, the coaches, the players, and most of the sport fans know Antonio Brown has been a major factor for their team wins. Of course Antonio Brown is obsessed with his stats just like the other players are. Their future is at stake by these stats. Everyone knows how hard and often he practices and has, for years. Everyone knows that if another receiver is getting more receptions it is because Antonio is being doubled or tripled teamed by the defense. Of course in cases like this where decreased production is via attracting more defenders is obvious, owners and coaches will still invariably use the decreased stats to balk at pay when the next contract negotiations occur. Of course Antonio understands what is happening here. Spoiled brats are often bright enough, just obnoxious. Few are amused seeing Antonio Brown be so arrogant about his skills and social/economic position in life.
It is almost funny to see the ‘bad guy’, by upbringing, have the other bad guys (the owners), by their wealth, giving owners their just deserves for a rigged system. Antonio knows his worth to the team for having success on the field. He managed to turn the tables in contract negotiations and recently signed a lucrative contract which overprotects his financial interests—one of those rare, but increasingly less rare instances where a player wins the battle of money. In this case his teammates sent a clear message that they don’t like him much personality- wise. Actually, if they can get him off the team there will be more money left in the pot for them to get paid more. Antonio Brown is not the only one around in our society whose primary goal is to make as much money as they can, sometimes by any way they can. He knows his worth to the team—MVP team selection not with standing, he is not likely to accept this insult by his teammates. He doesn’t have to. Other teams will pick him up because he can make more money for a new owner via his help to win games. The Chicago Bears understood this when they made Mack one of the highest players in the game. Mack had an entirely different personality than Antonio, so all is calm on the surface. Mack doesn’t rub his status in everyone’s face.
One thing is for sure, play on the field determines, at contract time, how much money a player will get. Personality means zilch. Mack will get his money and still be liked by teammates. But so will Antonio Brown, as did Dennis Rodman, Suh, etc get their pile of money. Owners could care less about the romantic notions of team spirit. That concept is peddled propaganda by the league owners and Commissioner. Playing in the NFL is a stressful, vicious, self serving venture by all the constituents. That’s just the way it is, and we all will continue to watch football because it is an exciting game to watch. Never mind the irrationality that the fan anger about salaries is directed at the players and not at the owners who make infinitely more money than any of the star players, or for fans to be angry at Congress for letting a monopoly reign with such unfair structure.
According to Sports Illustrated 78% of professional football players are broke within two years after retirement. They would probably have been more accurate if they worded it as not broke, but not very wealthy two years after retirement. Of course many players wasted money at the time, but also remember the average life span of an NFL player in the league is only 6 years, and the vast number of them have no skills outside of football. For a while they had a lot of money, often a trophy wife, and both may be gone soon enough, leaving them facing a normal life, for which, since high school they are hardly prepared. The physical and emotional cost of being a former NFL player is heavy.
In some respects NFL football is a microcosm of our whole society. I can’t find this stat, but it is likely that of the roughly 1,700 players and owners involved in the NFL, probably at least 80 percent (I would guess even higher) of the money goes to maybe 5% of those 1,700. And yet so many people actually picture football teams as one big happy family where everyone cares for everyone—filled to the brim with camaraderie with the players unselfishly concerned as much about about their teammates as their own survival on the team. Even more unfair, while it is the owners, who grab by far the most money, it is the players who get all the injuries, the shorter career, and will likely end up with little wealth after 6 years. All together now, especially out in Pittsburgh: “For he’s a jolly good fellow…..and then let’s all raise our glass to team spirit.”
P.S. It is surprising how many people will compare Antonio Brown to Terrell Owens. This is an ignorant comparison. Terrell Owens was never spoiled in his youth. He had little innate athletic talent and rose to the top essentially by his own willpower and focus. Off the field he is soft spoken. He was a one man band who lived in his own bubble. His teammates didn’t dislike him, they just didn’t understand him. He was and is a unique loner who trusts no one else via his grandmother’s indoctrination. It was the owners and many sport writers who detested Terrell Owens and they created the negative image to many of the fans. When owners have a plantation mentality no owner wants a T.O. on their team. He never did understand that he is there simply to be used. I wonder how many other teams besides Pittsburgh are stupid enough to let the team members vote on an MVP for the team. T.O. was medically and formative years’ unique. Antonio is just a typical talented spoiled brat, not unlike many of the owners. And our society helped make Antonio that way. “Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.” That might be the best motto for the NFL. And of course we as fans are in the mix too.
Take this quote from a wide receiver: “I really wanted that play to work,” said Thomas. “It’s strange, but sometimes, when I’m getting all these targets from Drew—I caught the most passes in the league this year and didn’t drop many—people don’t really get to know exactly what kind of player I am. You know, I’m kind of selfish, but selfish in a way that I want to see the other guys I play with succeed too.” If this is not meaningless babble I don’t know what else is. He is simply admitting he is selfish but in an unselfish way. Seems a contradiction to me.
The ultimate team game is probably the neighborhood pick-up game where people who like each other play for fun with no money involved. Add money, greed, social popularity—with all the stress involved in all of this within the NFL, and the nature of team camaraderie changes. There is a reason wide receivers are the biggest ‘divas’ on the team. They have to find ways to make the ball come to them. “Selfishness” is a prerequisite for success. No wide receiver returns to the huddle and says to the quarterback “Why do you keep throwing to me, Honschnivel hasn’t had a ball thrown to him all game.”
The core to the reasoning in this musing is this: The running back or the lineman during a football game try just as hard personally and selfishly to do well as the solitary runner does in a 1500 meter race. They all are doing their selfish best because that selfish best will not only gain them personal recognition, but their personal best will clearly help the team win or the runner win the race for the team. If the individual runner does his best he might win the race and the points count toward a team victory.. If the running back does his best and everyone else does his best on the team, then the team will win and the amount of locker room camaraderie is hardly in the equation. Others will say that locker room camaraderie is a force which makes the team better. Dennis Rodman had zero camaraderie with his teammates on the Bulls, didn’t even talk to them except during the game. Mike Ditka and Paul Ryan as coaches on the 85” Bears didn’t even speak to each other and it didn’t matter. Randy Moss, by his own admission only played hard when he felt like playing hard. But with his ability, that sometimes was often good enough to win the game. Walter Payton sulked and didn’t speak much to teammates when he didn’t get the ball enough and when the Bears won the Super Bowl without him scoring a touchdown he was not a happy camper. Granted when the locker room is full of people who relate well to each other, practice is more fun and tolerable. But fun in practice is not always a good thing. In a sport like football anger is more a positive force towards winning a game than any team camaraderie with fellow teammates. A good coach finds ways to create some anger in each player about something that will make them try harder in whatever position they play. Anger gets the adrenaline flowing and in football that gives a player an edge in most positions. Field goal kickers might be an exception.
When owners buy a team as their personal play toy they do it for money, power over others, and public recognition. Any other factors are minor. Players strive to be pro football players so they can be somebody (public and social recognition), and money. Doing it to achieve close friends is minor. There are a lot easier ways to form close friendships than via professional football. When a player gets mistreated by an opposition player, others players come to their defense out of duty, not some sort of imaginary notion that team members love each other. When their football days are over, few players maintain close contact with each other. In a few cases yes, in most cases no. If there was this strong ‘love’ between players as imagined in the ‘team’ player concept teams would have endless reunions. One would assume if the personal bond was so strong between players on a team any given year these teams would have reunions ad nauseam. They don’t. Innate talent and a strong desire to succeed are probably the overwhelming drive for individual players on a team. A players talent on the field is what keeps them employed, not their social relationships on the team. Terrell Owens, the ultimate loner, was in Pro Football for sixteen years.
The Pittsburg Steelers will not be better without Antonio Brown. No team was better when Terrell Owens moved on. No Chicago Bull championship run without Dennis Rodman. No Bears Super Bowl win without Ditka and Ryan. In track, what team wins depends on how the pole vaulters, the sprinters, the hammer throwers, the broad jumpers, etc do individually. In football it is not all that much different. Which team wins depends on the individual players at their different positions with their different skills. The Chicago kicker missed a field goal recently which would have won the game (A day later it was ruled a blocked field goal). The Chicago fans jeered him at the time. The players like the guy and all rallied round him in the locker room after the game. All those good vibes from other players on the team were of no use when it came to that kick. Other players made mistakes during the game too, but it wasn’t on the last play of the game when winning was on the line. Good coaches teach tolerance for differing personalities. That is far more important than trying to make them all think alike, dress alike, have the same values, and come up with canned disingenuous statements about team unity. If a player’s personality does not hurt others during practice, then all is well. Only a foolish coach would allow himself to think that all the players really like each other and actually let the team vote on a most valuable player. What parent with 5 kids would let the kids vote each year on the MVP sibling. The Golden Rule is another important point to stress. If one player’s demeanor is upsetting another player, that player should be encouraged to come to the coach, not deal directly with the other player on the matter. Athletes can disagree with each other but not on ways which demean another player. Saying “that I disagree, it seems to me…… is different than saying: ‘Why do you have to talk so stupid? That the dumbest comment I have ever heard….”
What is really needed in current times is not team camaraderie, but tolerance for human diversity of personalities. All kinds of ethnic groups, religious groups, economic groups, etc. have plenty of group camaraderie, but tolerance for others outside their group is a huge problem across the globe. People don’t get along too often not because of any lack of team spirit, but lack of human patriotism.The worst coaches are those who take a team of diverse personalities and backgrounds, then demand that every team member is going to think alike, regurgitate the same sterile company lines, dress alike, and display a canned personality. This, they are told, will bring success on the field. If a team had all team members who were like T.O. and focused exclusively on their own effort in practice, own performances on the field, own healthy eating, own year long training program—that team would be unbeatable even if they never said a word to each other in practice. Personal responsibility, tolerance for diversity, willpower, and focus are the key elements needed on a team by all the members. Everything else is minor.
Related quotes: “The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you’re still a rat.” (Unknown). “Success has made failures of many men.” (Cindy Adams) “A tomb now suffices him for whom the whole world was not sufficient.”. “He does not possess wealth; it possesses him”. (Benjamin Franklin) “What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult to each other.” (George Eliot) “ A good person loves people and uses things, while a bad person loves things and uses people.” (Sydney Harris) “The man who gets angry at the right things and with the right people, and in the right way and at the right time and for the right length of time, is commended.” Aristotle.
“Some of the worst men in the world are sincere and the more sincere they re the worse they are.” Lord Hailsham “Enough is as good as a feast”. (Scottish Proverb) “ Somewhere along the way someone is going to tell you, ‘There is no ‘I’ in team. What you should tell them is, ‘Maybe not. But there is an “I” in independence, individuality and integrity.” George Carlin “Consistency requires you to be as ignorant today as you were a year ago.” Bernard Berenson
