Importance of "culture" in building a champion?

[royalshank]

Watching the game yesterday I couldn't help but think about how the Ravens have had an "identity" for over a decade and SF the last 2 years since Harbaugh took over. These organizations have distinct cultures - they are images of their coaches for sure. These teams also seem to have had a lot of stability at many key positions over the last few years - a lot of the key 9ers players were on the roster before Harbaugh got there. My question is, with all the UFAs we have and churn that appears to be coming can our FO and coaching staff build a team ready to compete at a high level in 2013?

I guess the I have my doubts as the last time we loaded up on FAs was '95 - I think we had like 25 former #1's on our team but had no identity, no chemistry, a 9-7 record and another first round blowout loss at Buffalo. I'd personally rather see us retain our "solid" guys and focus on drafting playmakers than letting most of these guys walk simply due to how hard I believe it will be to transform the organizational culture / mental framework of a team with so much change.

What do you guys think?

[shouright]

Look toward 2014.

[jerry denny]

Like i have said before we should Draft two WR first three picks, Re sign our core players, and let our high priced players who are in their last year and their abilities starting to decline, let them hit free agency as other teams do, or trade them get something for them , instead of getting stuck with them.

[miamiron]

- I think we had like 25 former #1's on our team but had no identity, no chemistry, a 9-7 record and another first round blowout loss at Buffalo.

The 11 Starter 1st round picks were
Marino,Byars,Fryer,McDuffie,Green,Webb,Milner,Bowens,Coleman,Singleton,Vincent

add to that
Armstrong,Buckley,Emtman,Hill,Kosar,Moore,Oliver,McGuire

19 first round picks...amazing

[oasis]

Culture is usually overlooked by fans, and yeah, I'd say it's pretty darn important in building a championship team.

The culture is established by your core players. What is Miami's culture? I'd say it's a culture of toughness but NOT a culture of winning. So you have to look at your core players and determine where the weak links are...where are the guys that talk big but ultimately don't care about winning? Where are the subtle elements of laziness and complacency? Who are the guys that just want to get paid? You don't retain your core players simply because you want continuity of culture - sometimes you have to sift your core players because the culture isn't quite right.

[SkapePhin]

Culture is usually overlooked by fans, and yeah, I'd say it's pretty darn important in building a championship team.

The culture is established by your core players. What is Miami's culture? I'd say it's a culture of toughness but NOT a culture of winning. So you have to look at your core players and determine where the weak links are...where are the guys that talk big but ultimately don't care about winning? Where are the subtle elements of laziness and complacency? Who are the guys that just want to get paid? You don't retain your core players simply because you want continuity of culture - sometimes you have to sift your core players because the culture isn't quite right.

Sean Smith should be sifted. Seems like he is just about money

[oasis]

Sean Smith should be sifted. Seems like he is just about money

Couldn't agree with you more.

[RichmondWeb]

Chemistry


This discussion is about the importance of chemistry. Our defense has it in spades; with another premier pass-rusher (meh, and another good CB), we would have a top defense. The offense has had one year in the new system. The O-line is the key to the offense and has some good parts. I recall Jake Long's (beautiful) wife welcoming the Tannehills to Miami and she and Mrs. Tannehill (also very hot) seem inseparable; how important is it for Long and Tannehill also to stay together? Isn't it superficial for teams to cut and paste players based solely on their game film and salary cap #'s? Who are they and what is their role in "the family"? Look at teams like KC and Philly, they have a lot of talented individual players yet they could not get it together; bad teams often collect individual talent but never form a cohesive unit. Whereas Baltimore, has been average (just like NYG last year) and beat up this season, yet they are playing as a team, with a purpose, and got a new ring. They have good talent but they are an awesome team. They have chemistry which they built gradually by keeping what was working and adding to it; by building trust, consistency, and personal relationships between all involved from Ozzy/ownership, to Ray, to the asst. eqip. mgr., over time.

Who are these Dolphins on the field, but also in practice, off the field, in the community, and in the locker room?

Also, whom is available to replace them and at what cost? If they are replaced will we lose the cohesiveness plateau we reached in year #1?

What matters to me is what decisions the team makes given all of the available information and taking everything into account. Especially chemistry.

Onward and upward!

RW

[WesternNYDolfan]

Watching the game yesterday I couldn't help but think about how the Ravens have had an "identity" for over a decade and SF the last 2 years since Harbaugh took over. These organizations have distinct cultures - they are images of their coaches for sure. These teams also seem to have had a lot of stability at many key positions over the last few years - a lot of the key 9ers players were on the roster before Harbaugh got there. My question is, with all the UFAs we have and churn that appears to be coming can our FO and coaching staff build a team ready to compete at a high level in 2013?

I guess the I have my doubts as the last time we loaded up on FAs was '95 - I think we had like 25 former #1's on our team but had no identity, no chemistry, a 9-7 record and another first round blowout loss at Buffalo. I'd personally rather see us retain our "solid" guys and focus on drafting playmakers than letting most of these guys walk simply due to how hard I believe it will be to transform the organizational culture / mental framework of a team with so much change.

What do you guys think?

Continuity is key. That's what I always say.

That's why I think we should be focused on the draft and maybe 1 FA, being at WR. We don't want to go out and spend all our money in FA either because it will make it tougher to resign the young talent we have when their rookie contracts expire.

We need to adopt the models used by Pittsburgh, Green Bay and Baltimore even.

[abNORMal]

This is why you re-sign a guy like Reggie Bush, at a reasonable price of course.