Great Defense in the NFL: Attitude, Will, Leadership, and a lot of Craziness

Defense – the act or action of defending <the defense of our country> 2: capability of resisting attack b: defensive play or ability <a player/team known for good defense> 3: means or method of defending or protecting oneself, one's team, or another

Protection, justification, argument, resistance, guard, cover and shield. These are words that are synonymous with defense. They are also indicative of what it takes to be a successful defensive team in the NFL.

The Oakland Raiders have had defenses that exemplified this in the past and have shown signs of this as recent as last year. They have just not shown consistency week in and week out. What is missing for them to do this?

Looking at each game last year, there were moments that you thought they had figured it out and were playing defense on a championship level (See the Eagles game).

There were also moments last year that you thought they were a Division II college team playing the national champions (See the Giants Game).

Playing great defense in the NFL is what wins championships. It does not take the 11 best players to do this; it takes 11 players to work as one. This has been proven over and over again. What needs to be done to get the Raiders on the same sheet of music so to speak?

Great defense in the NFL equates to four ingredients that must be present to win. Those ingredients are:

·         Attitude

·         Will

·         Leadership

·         Craziness

 

Attitude

“Individual commitment to a group effort -- that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.”   

Vince Lomb...