Junto Boys

WINNERS AND LOSERS

Trial post by E.

Last year the Steelers were on their way to a lame 6-10 finish. This year out to 8-1 with a team the experts said was worse than last year and with injuries at key positions - QB, OT, NT, LB, FS, CB, RB, TE.... What is the difference? What is the "fine line" that separates winners from losers on an even playing field?

Cowher: I don’t think there are many teams that are that far away. I really believe that. We get done with the Baltimore game [2nd game, L 13-30] and a lot of people said let’s start talking about next year. Then eight weeks later we are the best team in football with the same guys. How does that happen? I think it’s a very fine line. I have said it before. I don’t know if we are that much better than the teams we are playing. We’re doing some of the little things that it takes to win football games. You start losing games and you start to question yourself. You start to question some of the things you are doing. Guys are stepping up. Guys are playing unselfishly. Guys are playing hard, aware and smart. We are staying focused each week and I think we recognize that we aren’t that much better than teams we are playing. We recognize that and understand that preparation is such a big part of it. We can’t just go out there and expect to show up and think we are going to win the game because we are the Pittsburgh Steelers. It isn’t going to happen that way. And they understand that. It’s all about preparation. It’s all about perspective. It’s all about making sure that you continue to not lose sight of how you got to where you are. As long as we continue to do that and continue to do the little things, you can enjoy, you can embrace it, but you keep everything in perspective. They’ve done a good job of that.

So what matters? Every team has skill. It's a happy blend of hard talent and "soft skills" that separates winners from losers: things like Attitude. Perspective. Discipline. Effort. Focus. Execution. Selfless team play. Game planning. Each player fufilling his role. Sacrifice. Those are the things that cause one team to drive the other off the ball for 60 minutes or to create big plays on defense.

Application: I wonder from time to time how the military - the leadership and also the rank and file - is able to keep its focus, keep up morale, and keep registering decisive victories in the face of relentless media pressure which, intentionally or unintentionally, minimizes, disparages, and undermines the U.S. war effort on each of those points.

Which I suppose is why media types don't often become generals (except occasionally in baseball), but generals do often become media types. That being the case, which camp really understands - the knowers or the doers? Those who watch or those who play?