Psychological Warfare

I was reading the washingtonpost.com the other day and found an interesting article about Gregg Williams, the defensive coordinator for the Washington Redskins. Mr. Williams is considered a defensive genius in the NFL ranks. That’s equivalent to being considered an intellectual genius at Daytona Beach Community College.

Hey, that reminds me. I bet nobody knew that I graduated from FSU in 1966. That’s not the great football factory in Tallahassee, Florida, but the great secondary teacher factory in Fairmont, WV. Fairmont State has upgraded from college to university status this year. That tidbit is germane to the following rant which you should probably not read if you want to keep your sanity.

Mr. Williams is taking an interesting tact in getting his defensive backs ready for the upcoming season. His game plan is to put his backs in untenable positions so that they are guaranteed to fail. His idea is that after they realize that they aren’t as good as they think, they’ll gain humility and then play at a higher level.

That’s an interesting approach to human motivation. I don’t think anyone has attempted this tact since the Babylonians developed the alphabet.

He said that he needed to humble safety Sean Taylor by forcing him to cover the other team’s best wide receivers one on one. He also wanted to humble corner Fred Smoot by forcing him to cover Torry Holt while the third string defensive line and linebackers were in the game. He wanted to humble Matt Bowen by forcing him to tackle the receiver at the same instant or immediately after the ball reaches the receiver’s hands, not before. Bowen didn’t take too kindly to this order, and promptly body slammed Williams onto the Gatorade table. However, Smoot and Taylor seem to be on board with Williams’ ideas.

Hmm, you humble the athlete to make him better? You put him in an untenable position and this makes him learn? Wow, that’s innovative thinking. Let’s think about some of the most successful athletes and apply this tact to them. Let’s say Phil Jackson made Michael Jordan play center in the NBA preseason games to get him ready for the regular season. And let’s say Phil wouldn’t allow any backside help or double teaming off of the ball on defense and would constrain him to play only in the low post on offense. I’m sure Michael would have learned from this experience and become a much better shooting guard for the Bulls.

Let’s say that the PGA tour commissioner forces Tiger Woods to play from the championship tees while the rest of the players tee it up from senior land. In addition, Tiger has to play every shot with Nike balls and clubs. How many events is he going to win?

Uh, wait a minute. Tiger does play Nike balls and clubs. So, that’s why he’s in a slump. The commissioner is forcing him to play with inferior equipment in order to humiliate him and make him a better golfer. Now, I get it.

It all makes sense now. Gregg Williams might be on to something.

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