There's always two sides to a story, but when it comes to assigning blame for a game day loss, there are 53 sides, at least if you are talking about the NFL, with every story coming to the same conclusion...it's my fault! Last night was one of the more interesting cases for how ridiculous the whole "me me me" culture in professional sports is. We forgive this concept because it is people owning up to mistakes, but should some people's mistakes outweigh others? In our current state, the answer is no, because we respect those who want to "step up and be a leader" by taking all the pressure on themselves, but if everyone is doing it, it's not really economical; we have diminishing returns. You cannot have 53 leaders on a football team, there must be followers, otherwise opinions run rampant and everyone is running in different directions.
In the Tuesday night spectacular that was Vikings-Eagles (who knew?), Andy Reid took everything on himself, stating he did not have his players prepared and put in the right positions to win. In that same press room, Michael Vick proclaimed that the game plan was solid and the onus of the problems were with the players; the coaching and the game plan were solid. If you watched the majority of the game, there were opportunities for the Eagles to come away with at least 14-17 more points, but turnovers and horrendous decisions cost them dearly. Is that coaching? Is that Andy Reid? HELLLLLLLLLL NOOOOO!!! That is all players, Vick had it incredibly right. Should we applaud him for telling the obvious truth? I don't believe so, it was just what anyone could see. It doesn't make him a leader; going out on Sunday in the finale and rail-roading the Cowboys to prove that yesterday was a fluke and the Eagles should still be a serious contender in the NFC...that would show leadership. I know we kill guys like Terrell Owens for making complaints about management and coaching because it shows a lack of honor or something, but for a 4-11 team like his Bengals, it hasn't all been play on the field, not when you are shelling out 4-year contracts worth $28 million on a guy who clearly was not healthy when he took the team physical (I'm looking at you Antonio Bryant). In that case, T.O. was giving a non-obvious truth, inconvenient as it might have been, but we killed him for it.
I think it's time players start looking around and telling us who's really to blame. In this "keep it real" era, the media always appreciates those guys who give the interesting sound bites, colorful and unyielding and brutally honest. Everyone should do that, even after a loss. I know people will say that will cause division but if someone wants to really step up, they will take the criticism, hopefully as constructive, and put in extra effort to make sure they hold up their end of the bargain when they get their next chance. Otherwise, we are on a blame carousel which really isn't that fun for anyone, and isn't real.
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