Packing the Right Equipment: Green Bay and the NFL

The 2010-2011 Green Bay Packers’ postseason run taught us some valuable lessons on what it takes to win in the NFL and just what it took for the Packers themselves to reach the ultimate pinnacle of success as Super Bowl champions.  We learned that the Packers’ model of consistency and building through the draft is a pretty damn good strategy.  It’s one that is going to keep the Packers competitive for years to come, and we saw how it allowed them to weather the freakish amount of injuries they endured throughout this year.

Bryan Bulaga: One of many who stepped in and stepped up

With the possibility of an 18-game season in the future (Don’t worry, I’m not veering toward CBA talk.) the importance of depth and the ability to replace injured players will only grow.  Green Bay’s management understands this, and they also understood that even at 16 games, the NFL is a war of attrition.  The team that reaches—and subsequnetly wins—the Super Bowl is the team best able to survive the many injuries that inevitably every team will sustain throughout the year.  And no team endured more injuries to key players and overcame them like the Packers.

Next we learned that thinking long-term in the NFL pays huge dividends.

The Packers didn’t pull the trigger on a possible mid-season trade to acquire Marshawn Lynch, a move most Packer fans were in favor of, and as a result will have more financial flexibility—not to mention draft picks—moving forward.

By not making that move, they also kept their home grown team together.  For most of the Green Bay roster, players have known just one system, one city, and one philosophy in their NFL careers.  You can’t tell me that doesn’t make a huge difference in terms of chemistry and players’ comfort level with schemes and gameplans.  It also makes it a hell of a lot easier to replace banged up starters when their backups know the system inside and out.

Here’s another example of Green Bay’s brilliant management strategy:  What happens if the Packers decided—amidst frenzied fan pressure and the demand for instant success—to keep Brett Favre at the height of his Will I/Won’t I waffling three years ago rather than deal him to the Jets?  Aaron Rodgers probably leaves the team at some point, and Favre likely guides the Packers to a few good seasons but no ring.  After all, the Vikings provided Favre a better roster (until this year) than he would have had with the Packers, and he couldn’t guide the men in purple to a Super Bowl (thank God).   And today instead of celebrating a Super Bowl title and an irrefutably bright future with Rodgers, the Packers would be contemplating a very uncertain future with Favre retiring and Rodgers no longer on the roster.

Think this long term planning thing is just a fluke?  That it may have worked for the Packers this year but it’s just a coincidence?  Well, think of it this way: who has dominated the last ten years of professional football?  The New England Patriots.

And how is New England similar to Green Bay?  For starters, neither franchise believes in sacred cows; they believe in smart personnel decisions.  You don’t win by catering to supersized egos that blow apart team chemistry and camaraderie.  For Green Bay that meant choosing Rodgers over Favre at the exact right moment.  For New England it meant trading aging and unhappy future Hall of Famers Richard Seymour and Randy Moss for a load of draft picks.  At the time, parting ways with Favre, Moss, or Seymour seemed crazy, but now the Pack are champions and the Pats are coming off 14-2 year poised to restock their entire roster with fresh draft picks.

Green Bay and New England also have shown that stability in head coaching, scheme, quarterback, and the personality of their players is the key to winning over a sustained period of time.  Tom Brady has been the man in New England for a decade; Green Bay has had two starting quarterbacks over the past 20 years.   Bill Belichick is a mastermind on the defensive end; Mike McCarthy an innovator offensively who has Dom Capers to handle the defense.  Robert Kraft is a tremendous owner for New England, and Scott Pioli—now with the Chiefs—was a tremendous personnel man that built the core of New England’s dynasty teams.  The Packers’ front office has had similar stability with Ron Wolf making personnel decisions during the boon 90s years and Ted Thompson in the new millenium.

The long-term stability approach has proven successful for some other exemplary franchises as well.  The Colts: Tony Dungy, Peyton Manning, Bill Polian, Jim Irsay.  The Eagles: Andy Reid, Donovan McNabb, Jeffrey Lurie.  All of these teams sustained championship-caliber football with elite men in the leadership positions.

Captain Russell: Recipe for Disaster

The NFL is a top-down league: The guys running the show matter.  The Packers, Patriots, Colts, and Eagles get that, and that’s exactly why they win consistently.  All of these franchises have the most skillful people in the most important places.  For more proof, look at the teams that have struggled over the past decade.  The Lions, Raiders, 49ers are some of the prime examples.  What did these teams have at the key positions?  Matt Millen, Al Davis, JaMarcus Russell, Alex Smith, and different coaches seemingly every year.  Constant turnover in coaching, systems, quarterbacks, and philosophies directly leads to losses on the field.

So what we’ve learned this NFL season is something that’s been under our noses for a while now.  An NFL team is a business, and to be successful you need a good business plan with the right people to implement it.  You can’t install that plan if your employees are constantly in flux, you lack leadership, or your morale is low.  And what we learned about the Packers this season is that they know—and have—exactly what it takes to be great in professional football.

--from Adam

(first image from thewoodstockindependent.com and others from zimbio.com)