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Thread: Creating a Winning Culture

  1. #1

    Creating a Winning Culture

    We heard a lot from Mayock and Gruden about "foundational" pieces and building a "culture" and players with "high character". I am not sure the significance of that is really understood. There is a reason why all-star teams, though uber talented, often fail in sports when it comes to championships. Sure, the best teams have talent, you have to have it, but there is more to winning in professional sports than just talent alone.

    We see in New England, yes, they have Tom Brady and had Gronk, Edelman, etc. At the same time, top to bottom, compare the names on the Patriots to that of the Rams and ask yourself, how does New England win so much and the Rams failed?

    I'm a big hockey fan, my son plays travel Pee Wee hockey and right now as a Boston Bruins fan I'm crazy excited. They are going to the finals for the 3rd time in nine seasons. The all-star team was the Tampa Bay Lightning. The were the best team in the regular season, had the best record, got the #1 seed and have 4 of the best defensemen in the league (where you start 6). No one was supposed to beat them....until they got swept by the #8 seed team in round 1. First team to clinch a playoff berth, first one knocked out.

    The Toronto Maple Leafs went out and got the best player available in the off-season to stock and already super talented offense...they lost to the Bruins. So here we are, the Bruins are going to the finals and we can ask why, and how does this matter to the Raiders? It matters because for the first time, I believe we have a front office that truly gets what it takes to win and to maintain that winning.

    How did the Bruins reach this point?

    It starts with the culture. General manager Don Sweeney & Co. have built an organization that prides itself on playing a clearly defined style of hockey: Bruins hockey. The roster is loaded with players who are resilient, professional, talented and dedicated to a certain philosophy, and that commitment never wavers. It’s been on display with wins over the Toronto Maple Leafs, Columbus Blue Jackets and now the Hurricanes.

    “There’s not one word for it,” said Bruins newcomer Charlie Coyle. “Being in Minnesota for seven years, and you hear stories about (Boston’s) locker room and leadership, and then you come and experience it, you’re involved in it and become part of it — it’s everything you’ve heard and more. The leadership trickles down and everyone follows suit. It’s not just one guy; it’s a lot of guys, and everyone picks up after that. They set the standard, and that’s why it’s a tightknit group.”


    https://theathletic.com/982481/2019/...s-kind-of-run/

  2. #2
    Senior Member rawhead's Avatar
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    Nice write up. As this board has mentioned, the staff (Gruden/Mayock) possibly have a different idea on what building a culture is. Honestly, I have never heard Gruden echo the same sentiments Mayock does in building a culture.
    Gruden on one hand (pardon the redundancy) can be a blow hard at times. His greatest accomplishments have been helping certain players/coaches become field generals and butting out. Now he has a team of mostly young guys and they've seen him get rid of pretty good players for no reason when there were no reliable substitutes. Just because. Can he get the young players to buy into it?
    I'm still wait and see with Gruden as I am with Carr and honestly after last seasons debacle I have a feeling that Carr has a better chance in the NFL (regardless of what team) than Gruden at this point. I don't trust Gruden with that much power. I do trust him as an O cord though.

  3. #3
    Thanks for posting this. A winning culture takes some time. Seems like the owner Gruden and Mayock have committed long term, that they have a plan, and that we should begin seeing the results this season.

  4. #4
    Gruden got all the time in the world
    to build his team and we will have
    to wait and see how that work out...
    I would be very happy with Gruden
    If the raiders went 8-8 this season...
    But as a raider fan; only one playoff
    game in 17 years is not good...

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by rawhead View Post
    Nice write up. As this board has mentioned, the staff (Gruden/Mayock) possibly have a different idea on what building a culture is. Honestly, I have never heard Gruden echo the same sentiments Mayock does in building a culture.
    Gruden on one hand (pardon the redundancy) can be a blow hard at times. His greatest accomplishments have been helping certain players/coaches become field generals and butting out. Now he has a team of mostly young guys and they've seen him get rid of pretty good players for no reason when there were no reliable substitutes. Just because. Can he get the young players to buy into it?
    I'm still wait and see with Gruden as I am with Carr and honestly after last seasons debacle I have a feeling that Carr has a better chance in the NFL (regardless of what team) than Gruden at this point. I don't trust Gruden with that much power. I do trust him as an O cord though.

    I can't disagree with any of that and you make a good point that it was really Mayock talking about those ideals. The good news is he seems to have Gruden's ear right now so the relationship hopefully is successful. I do like (not love) Gruden as a head coach, just not so much as a talent evaluator or GM if you will. Stay on the sidelines and coach. We'll see how he does as a head coach this season. This is his team and his players now, we have 1 more year in Oakland, a really difficult schedule with a lot of new and young players at key positions. How successful this team is will start with how well Gruden and his staff are at coaching them up. The second piece as you mentioned is Carr, he needs to be a leader here like he was in that 2016 run.

  6. #6
    Gruden has always said he wants grinders. He got rid of some head cases early on when he came in last year. King is gone. Mack and Cooper gone. Mack wasn't a head case but he put the Raiders in a tough position, so adios Mack. Cooper was a head case in my estimation. I honestly think he was doing to much sulking. Cooper didn't want to be in Oakland and it showed on game day. Regardless, Cooper's gone. BTW, Lynch wasn't asked back when an opening presented itself. Those grinders Gruden refers to are "football" players. Guys that want to play the game. That does have a positive affect on the locker room. The Raiders have a tough schedule this year. I agree 8-8 would be a good season. Any more wins than that is gravy

  7. #7
    Senior Member rawhead's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by DarthRaider View Post
    Gruden has always said he wants grinders. He got rid of some head cases early on when he came in last year. King is gone. Mack and Cooper gone.
    King is gone. Gruden's choice is to let the punting game gone to shit. Cooper gone. WR corps gone to shit. Mack and Irvin gone. Sack total goes to shit.
    I'm happy the Raiders got all those draft picks.
    Gruden wants players to do what he says and I'm concerned he treats them like 2 year olds.

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by crizpynutz View Post
    We heard a lot from Mayock and Gruden about "foundational" pieces and building a "culture" and players with "high character". I am not sure the significance of that is really understood. There is a reason why all-star teams, though uber talented, often fail in sports when it comes to championships. Sure, the best teams have talent, you have to have it, but there is more to winning in professional sports than just talent alone.

    We see in New England, yes, they have Tom Brady and had Gronk, Edelman, etc. At the same time, top to bottom, compare the names on the Patriots to that of the Rams and ask yourself, how does New England win so much and the Rams failed?

    I'm a big hockey fan, my son plays travel Pee Wee hockey and right now as a Boston Bruins fan I'm crazy excited. They are going to the finals for the 3rd time in nine seasons. The all-star team was the Tampa Bay Lightning. The were the best team in the regular season, had the best record, got the #1 seed and have 4 of the best defensemen in the league (where you start 6). No one was supposed to beat them....until they got swept by the #8 seed team in round 1. First team to clinch a playoff berth, first one knocked out.

    The Toronto Maple Leafs went out and got the best player available in the off-season to stock and already super talented offense...they lost to the Bruins. So here we are, the Bruins are going to the finals and we can ask why, and how does this matter to the Raiders? It matters because for the first time, I believe we have a front office that truly gets what it takes to win and to maintain that winning.



    https://theathletic.com/982481/2019/...s-kind-of-run/
    You can't compare Hockey and NFL. Regular season Hockey doesn't mean shit. In NFL, it's practically everything as it determines home field advantage throughout the playoffs. In Hockey, the home ice doesn't matter much.

    In football, one player can't really carry through to the Super Bowl. It's a team effort all the way. In Hockey, if your goalie gets hot he can carry a team practically by himself.

    Also, I'm wondering what criteria he's using to make the determination for what he calls "4 of the best defensemen in the league."

    So, for example, being a Flyers fan, we have one of the universally regarded best young defenseman in the game today in Ivan Provorov.

    The reality is, he fucking blows and doesn't have a clue as to how to play defense.

    So there's too many variables and too many factors in Hockey to properly say who's thenbest defensemen in the league.

    Another example is Brent Burns. Universally regarded as one of the best defenseman in the league. Can't play defense he's all about offense.

    And what's funny is, all of this put together doesn't relate to the Raiders in any way, shape, or form.

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by PhillyRaider View Post
    You can't compare Hockey and NFL. Regular season Hockey doesn't mean shit. In NFL, it's practically everything as it determines home field advantage throughout the playoffs. In Hockey, the home ice doesn't matter much.

    In football, one player can't really carry through to the Super Bowl. It's a team effort all the way. In Hockey, if your goalie gets hot he can carry a team practically by himself.

    Also, I'm wondering what criteria he's using to make the determination for what he calls "4 of the best defensemen in the league."

    So, for example, being a Flyers fan, we have one of the universally regarded best young defenseman in the game today in Ivan Provorov.

    The reality is, he fucking blows and doesn't have a clue as to how to play defense.

    So there's too many variables and too many factors in Hockey to properly say who's thenbest defensemen in the league.

    Another example is Brent Burns. Universally regarded as one of the best defenseman in the league. Can't play defense he's all about offense.

    And what's funny is, all of this put together doesn't relate to the Raiders in any way, shape, or form.
    I disagree with the bold part. The rest is hockey talk, not relevant to this conversation or website so I'll do my hockey talk on a different site. I stand by my opinion that in any sport, building a culture with high character, dedicated players is as important as talent to building a real winner.

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by crizpynutz View Post
    I disagree with the bold part. The rest is hockey talk, not relevant to this conversation or website so I'll do my hockey talk on a different site. I stand by my opinion that in any sport, building a culture with high character, dedicated players is as important as talent to building a real winner.
    The bold part was the whole argument of the post. I disagree with almost everything you said.

    High character doesn't mean shit as far building a winner. The Raiders especially, had former criminals play for them and they won consistently.

    New England had Aaron Hernandez and were caught cheating LOL.

    Some of the best teams of all time, across all sports, were founded on players with questionable moral character.

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