Sunday, September 27, 2009

A Quote By Tom Landry That I Think Describes This Team

Originally Posted by Hostile from a sports forum:

"When you want to win a game, you have to teach. When you lose a game, you have to learn."

It seems simple, but it is anything but. It is still beyond vital. If the Cowboys staff want to win a game they need to know the film. They need to spot the tendencies. They need to break down how to prepare on both sides of the ball. They have to teach this team.

If the Cowboys want to avoid future losses like Sunday Night, it falls on all of them, staff included to learn from that game. It isn't just the QB who has to improve their output and performance from last week. Every single player, even the ones who played well, has to do the same.

A man I really respect once told a story about going to an oxen pulling contest in New Hampshire. There was a cart loaded with 10,000 pounds and the oxen teams had to pull it 3 feet. If they did it, they added more weight.

A pair of big brindle oxen were the easy favorites to win this competition. They were huge, muscled, and sinewed. That team didn't even budge the load.

The pair that won it was a much smaller non-descript pair of oxen. When an old New Englander was asked to explain how the smaller, unmatched pair of oxen could move that load and the big matched pair could not he explained that the difference was in how the teams hit the yoke.

The big pair of oxen would hit the yoke with glancing blows. One ox would hit the yoke and force was expended in a glancing blow. When the other ox would hit the yoke the force was simply to add more torque. The load would not move.

But the small pair hit the yoke at the same time and the energy was spent forward. The load moved.

Now you're probably asking what this story has to do with the Cowboys. Simple, this team has to pull together. There has to be equal parts teaching and learning. They have to hit the yoke equal.

Tom Landry was so wise.