10 BOOMERPDX LESSONS FROM THE 2014 NFL SEASON

Be Smarter In 2015.

 10. Smart coaches hire smarter assistants. And stay out of their way.

Teams don’t get better with retread coaches barking the same song.

George Allen isn’t walking through that door.

Mike Ditka and Jimmy Johnson off the ‘for hire’ list for a reason?

Who in your life drains the joy and enthusiasm out of every. Single. Day?

9. Plan your work and work your plan.

Create an offense that’s part gamer strategy, part hammer, and all fast all the time like Chip Kelly, and you’ll need good salesmen on the field.

Getting a team aimed the same direction is nearly impossible in the best circumstances.

If you have a problem player, one casting doubt, they might need to play for the Washington Redskins like DeSean Jackson.

If you could trade away someone you know, who is it?

8. Players who understand the bigger picture play better.

The days of show up and crush opponents are long gone from the football field.

The rules committee finally agreed that keeping players healthy is better for business than wheeling stars off in carts.

‘Do-Not-Break’ rules apply to quarterbacks and wide receivers. Why? Because of their big play, game changing, potential. Everyone loves the long bomb.

To do that in the modern game means finding players who know how to line up, readjust, go in motion, then get to a spot in a specific amount of time.

You wonder why these guys run forty yards in 4.5 seconds? Now they need to think like a GPS.

Who is your go-to resource?

7. Better citizens play better football.

Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson showed us what to expect in a football season after accusations of violence toward women and children.

There is no football season for them and others walking in the same shoes.

Do players need to be perfect? No more than us. Just try and be a better person to those closest to you.

Fans don’t have a commissioner to decide your shades of right and wrong. Make the right call yourself.

6. Gather all available information and apply it to the problem.

The biggest problem in the NFL is winning a game. The parity in the league creates an ‘Any Given Sunday’ feel to every game.

One man who mastered that universe was Bill ‘The Genius’ Walsh.

Was he genius? Not a genius? Either way he was smart enough to win four Super Bowls with a third round throw away pick named Joe Montana.

The true genius of Bill Walsh is counting all the Super Bowl winning coaches on his coaching tree.

Are you an influencer like The Genius? Who’s on your tree?

5. Trust your gut.

Coaches coach others to go beyond expectations. Sometimes it works out.

You coach yourself to define expectations then list reasons why you’ll never exceed them.

Win the small things often enough, which means getting out of your own way, and you’re ready to try bigger things.

You can compromise without feeling stabbed in the back. You can join the party even you’re not the center of attention.

You can, can’t you?

4. Recognize THE MOMENT.

Green Bay and Seattle were locked into an overtime game to decide the NFC champion.

Green Bay had a hobbled soon-to-be-named MVP in Aaron Rodgers facing corner back Richard Washington’s elbow that would need Tommy John surgery and safety Earl Thomas who left the field and returned after his shoulder popped out then back in.

On a field full of walking wounded the mighty Packers forgot to put them out of their misery.

Instead of a trip to the Super Bowl the Packers watched destiny unfold for a Seahawk team struggling more than their namesake in a fishing net.

The game went to overtime on a freakish Hail Mary, then ended on a storybook catch for the ages.

Seattle knew it wasn’t time to give up. Green Bay didn’t know how to win.

What do you do in similar situations?

3. Recognize THE MOMENT, pt 2.

IT’s the biggest game of the year. You’re coming back. The Football Gods are smiling on Seattle.

Back to back Super Bowls. A team full of young guys ready to run the table the rest of the decade.

The Legion Of Boom claims their legacy.

Better than the ’85 Bears? Please, they’re busy writing our own history.

Better than the Steel Curtain? Talk to us after your fifth Lombardi.

Except the Legion was on the sidelines at the end of Super Bowl 49. Watching.

What do you do when you feel helpless?

2. Invite outside expertise to help you.

Remember moments when you felt alone in your struggle. You almost gave up. You were ready to walk away. Ready to quit.

And you work through it.

Eventually the NFL will see the need to reach beyond their usual pool of coaching talent. Player talent isn’t the problem. Big, strong, smart guys will find football or football will find them.

But coaches? Coaching is slow to change, new blood hard to find and harder to trust when you do find it.

Moving beyond sports is the right solution. Since the game is one of inches played in a determined time frame, the NFL will need someone well versed in time and space.

Who better than Coach Stephen Hawking? He wrote the book on time and space.

From brainyquote.com: My advice to other disabled people would be, concentrate on things your disability doesn’t prevent you doing well, and don’t regret the things it interferes with. Don’t be disabled in spirit as well as physically.

When you need help, find the best there is.

1. Break down Super Bowl XLIX’s last twenty seconds with Coach Hawking.

“Three plays from the half yard line. And a time out? By my calculations you can’t lose. Not with Marshawn Lynch ready to launch like a Walter Payton missile.

“You’ve heard me say, “The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge?”

“Hear me now, the greatest enemy to losing football games isn’t play execution, it’s probability. We get paid to make the call, the right call, when everything around us says the other call.

“Gravity, time, and distance equals Marshawn, not a gun shot look-in from the right side. Dare to challenge current thought. You can’t say you’re moving ahead if you’re following the pack. You could be moving backward.

“If the situation were reversed what would Tom Brady do? He’s the master of the sneak for good reason.”

Know what you can do, then do a little more. Not a lot, just a little.

It all adds up.