IF you believe the rhetoric that it only takes one player screwing up to make the whole defense look bad, and I do, then the quality of our coaching staff comes into question. When I look at the defensive backs scurrying around just before the snap looking confused, it bothers me. If a good player knows what his assignment and responsibility is on each play, the result is usually positive. If a good player is confused regarding his responsibility, it doesn't matter how fast he runs the 40, or how high he can jump. And when I describe a player here as "good", I'm simply talking about his physical skills, not his mental skills. Given the choice between a player with outstanding physical skills who is mentally confused and a less physically-gifted player who never misses an assignment, I'll take the latter each time. Obviously, I'd like a player who has both.

It's the responsibility of the coaching staff to teach players their assignments. Some players are not teachable......they've risen to where they are through exceptional physical skills. In the NFL, that's not sufficient to be successful.......everybody has exceptional physical skills.

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