Alabama Football: Winning and the difference between talking and doing

Last week Nick Saban spoke about the ‘Alabama Factor’ which means much to Alabama football. Some values preached by Saban don’t come naturally to today’s athletes.

For seasoned Alabama football fans like myself, some attitudes prevalent among this generation of athletes are perplexing. Two of the most common are impatience and unearned swagger. Talk is cheap in the world today, particularly in the world of sports.

I don’t mean the smack talk between opponents on the field and the court. Jawing back and forth between players is part of both football and basketball and has been since the games began.

What I am talking about are bold and sometimes outlandish claims made through social media. Something that can only be defined as braggadocio. Players need a high opinion of themselves and some cockiness is an attribute. But (borrowing words from Merriam-Webster) arrogant pretension and empty boasting rarely reside with the winning side.

Even today’s youngest generation of head coaches are likely to agree, talking smack or woofin’ never won any team a championship. Though I will admit the Miami Hurricanes once tried mightily to trash talk their way to college football greatness. As many Alabama football fans remember, boasting and brash claims days before the game, did not serve the Canes well in the 1992 National Championship.

Last week, talking about what he termed the Alabama Factor, Saban stressed discipline, accountability and putting the team first. It is clear Saban believes after the LSU win, some players had lapses in putting the team first.

"If you lose your humility, it sort of creates, ‘I’m above doing things the way I need to do them to prepare for a game and go play in a game against good competition.’ And if I put my own agenda ahead of the team or winning, it’s going to have some effect on my performance."

Alabama football fans worried the 2018 roster did not have the ‘Alphas’ necessary to win another championship. There was no defensive player with the equivalent attributes of Shaun Dion Hamilton, Jonathan Allen, C.J. Mosley or Rolando McClain. Hamilton and McClain were two very different ‘Alphas,’ but both were leaders.

The 2018 Crimson Tide defense needed more maturity and more disciplined leadership. While leaders can play any position, inside linebackers, with play-calling duties, are situationally suited to lead their teammates. Most Alabama football fans will agree, neither Mack Wilson or Dylan Moses delivered in that leadership capacity.

Dylan Moses had a very productive season but not an ‘Alpha’ season. In fairness to Moses, Alpha leadership from a second-year player is rare. Tide fans remember, Dont’a Hightower was not up to it as a younger player.

First and foremost, Alphas let their own play set a standard, while also holding their teammates accountable. Holding others accountable for missed assignments does not work for players not taking responsibility for their own mistakes. As Nick Saban suggests, some degree of humility is required.

There is nothing wrong with talking trash on Twitter or other forms of social media. Those platforms are all about opinion and Crimson Tide players should have a high opinion of themselves. But no game and certainly no championship was ever won by a tweet or an Instagram video.