Conventional Wisdom

[smashmouth59]

I just read the article on field gulls "Runaway train" and found this little bit on conventional wisdom to be super interesting. I recently had a conversation about "groupthink" with some Mormon missionaries that came to my door. There is a direct correlation between the success of our football team and the reason i was enjoying family time while the missionaries were were promoting their religion but i won't expound on that... It is known.

Check out this little bit from Davis Hsu:

http://www.fieldgulls.com/2013-nfl-offs ... te-carroll

"Conventional Wisdom? My corners don't have to be fast, but one of my safeties does. Huh?

The NFL is a passing league, but we are going to be a running team. What?

Hurry up offense? We only run 61 snaps a game. We only throw 24 times a game!

I need my edge pass rushers to be almost as fast as my cornerbacks. My corners look like safeties. My safety looks like a corner. My other safety looks like a linebacker. My strong side linebacker looks like a defensive end. My defensive end looks like a linebacker. My other defensive end looks like a defensive tackle.

We are a one-gap defense, except that we also two-gap.

My quarterback is the shortest quaterback to start in decades. My split end looks like a running back. All my players have dreadlocks. My running back looks like a beast. I just paid a slot WR $67M dollars. I made up the idea of a "double Leo".

I am making history."

I am all smiles this morning and this tidbit highlighted many of the reasons why.

 

[Attyla the Hawk]

I just emailed that exact snippet to a buddy of mine in MN an hour ago. For some reason that really resonated with me.

 

[kearly]

I am not Mormon, but I grew up in a predominantly Mormon place and to be fair, I think there is an important difference between religious belief / cultural pressures and being part of groupthink. I think groupthink is a case where somebody fails to investigate against conventional wisdom out of laziness despite the existence of signs that point to the err of that conventional wisdom. In the case of religion, there is a lot more that goes into it and it's more than a simple logical exercise.

I get your meaning, though.

Pete Carroll has been successful precisely because he lacks the fear of being different. If you do something against the norm, and it doesn't work out, it looks a lot worse than doing something normal and failing. A great example of that is Josh McDaniels burning a 1st round pick on Tim Tebow. If he doesn't draft Tebow, I'd bet you he lasts more than 2 seasons. McDaniels really is an idiot and deserved to be fired, but had he drafted Jimmy Clausen instead with the same results, I'm guessing people would have cut him a lot more slack than they did.

 

[SalishHawkFan]

Great article.

 

[mikeak]

Pete Carroll has been successful precisely because he lacks the fear of being different. If you do something against the norm, and it doesn't work out, it looks a lot worse than doing something normal and failing. A great example of that is Josh McDaniels burning a 1st round pick on Tim Tebow. If he doesn't draft Tebow, I'd bet you he lasts more than 2 seasons. McDaniels really is an idiot and deserved to be fired, but had he drafted Jimmy Clausen instead with the same results, I'm guessing people would have cut him a lot more slack than they did.

Going against conventional wisdom is one thing but doing it somewhat smartly is another.

You get Lynch here you see the production - you then pay him big money.
You draft Sherman fifth round it pans out
You draft RW third round it pans out

The downside with the above items are not enough to get anyone fired because they were calculated smaller risks.

Trading up to get Tebow in the first run (a second, third and fourth) was STUPID and he should have been fired for simply coming up with the idea of doing so......

 

[Basis4day]

Two ways to run your team:

1. Innovate
2. Duplicate

You're going to get better value when you innovate because everyone else is clamoring for the players that fit a similar scheme.

 

[smashmouth59]

I am not Mormon, but I grew up in a predominantly Mormon place and to be fair, I think there is an important difference between religious belief / cultural pressures and being part of groupthink. I think groupthink is a case where somebody fails to investigate against conventional wisdom out of laziness despite the existence of signs that point to the err of that conventional wisdom. In the case of religion, there is a lot more that goes into it and it's more than a simple logical exercise.

I get your meaning, though.

Pete Carroll has been successful precisely because he lacks the fear of being different. If you do something against the norm, and it doesn't work out, it looks a lot worse than doing something normal and failing. A great example of that is Josh McDaniels burning a 1st round pick on Tim Tebow. If he doesn't draft Tebow, I'd bet you he lasts more than 2 seasons. McDaniels really is an idiot and deserved to be fired, but had he drafted Jimmy Clausen instead with the same results, I'm guessing people would have cut him a lot more slack than they did.

I didn't want to focus on the Mormon Church for fear of offending those of Mormon faith, though i have noticed from many personal stories that the this church in particular falls victim of group think more than most. It is isolated predominantly in Utah. People surround themselves with those that share the same opinions denying outside knowledge, science, and progressive ideas as a whole. People are regularly excommunicated for crimes such as premarital sex and blasphemy. Yeah, i'm going to have to label this line of thinking as a product of groupthink, which is promoted mostly by fear of the unknown.

The science of developing a football team is a constantly changing, ever progressing field. Some of these GM's (football scientists) are clinging to old ideas. Some are not. We happen to fall into the latter category and are reaping the rewards of outside the box thinking.

It is known.

 

[Scottemojo]

This post would have been awesome if you had just stuck to football.

 

[smashmouth59]

This post would have been awesome if you had just stuck to football.

I know, my bad.

I will learn from my mistake and attempt to progress in my posting by admitting my shortcomings and valuing the opinions of others while developing my own ideas.

 

[Scottemojo]

This post would have been awesome if you had just stuck to football.

I know, my bad.

I will learn from my mistake and attempt to progress in my posting by admitting my shortcomings and valuing the opinions of others while developing my own ideas.

That sounds like group think to me.