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A Consensus Forms on Professionalism

St. Louis Rams quarterback Kurt Warner (13) and receiver Az-Zahir Hakim (81) celebrate after connecting on a 51-yard touchdown pass in the first half against the Cincinnati Bengals, Sunday, Oct. 3, 1999, in Cincinnati. Hakim scored four touchdowns in the game, three on passes from Warner, as the Rams won 38-10. (AP Photo/Al Behrman)

Rammed for Life started this one off with a post rather archly titled, "Mistakes--the up side!" A consesnsus forms around the idea that winning is more about overcoming mistakes than eliminating them:

Actually, there is something positive about the fact that we have looked sloppy at times and made mistakes.

1st, it is mentally draining to play perfectly. Last week's gorgeous eruption is hard to follow up. So we start 3 and out, then give up a FG, then fumble twice, etc. But we coast to a win anyway.

And that is actually a key!

When you have a great O, overcoming mistakes becomes part of the mystique! Think of Elway or Marino or Favre overcoming mistakes and poor plays to pull out games. It just makes them seem that much more unstoppable.

Looking at film this week, the Whiners will see an O that stumbles around some and STILL blows people out. That's the imtimidation factor that is begnning to grow in the league: even if they make a mistake here and there, YOU CAN'T STOP THESE GUYS!

And of course the reverse is true also. The confidence of this O has got to be sky high. Not only because they have had big plays, but because they have SO OFTEN OVERCOME BAD PLAYS!

Even last week, it was true. Remember all those 3rd downs? Well, getting repreatedly to 3rd and long means you aren't doing too well on downs 1 & 2!

Here they are, coasting after 2 1st half turnovers. The D made stops and the O came up big.

It is so important to be MORE than a hot team! Hot streaks always peter out. But deep quality overcomes errors and adversity.

So far, no team we have faced has been an excellent team. We can't help that. But we HAVE demonstrated that our O can score on good D and even against its own mistakes!

JamesJM replies:

You couldn't have pointed out a better "sign" of a Rams turn-around. How many games have we played this decade where we actually were in the game only to have one mistake lose the game for us? We became convinced that anything less than perfection meant we would lose. A statement that a mistake should not cost the game  should be posted on the locker room bulletin board. We CAN come back from mistakes. We don't get rattled, no one player has to do it all, the "D" is more than taking care of their area of expertise, Penalties are negligible, and we're playing with "balls."

IdaRam finishes off the thread:

I overheard Jack Snow say (years ago) that it is the sign of a great team when they can make mistakes and still win. Here we go guys, it's called winning, get used to it.