Andrew Luck against the Chicago Bears, Sunday October 9th, 2016.
Have you noticed that people will blame the face of a company/quarterback of a football team/CEO of a business without really looking at the whole situation? How come they never consider that an employee/player made an mistake and it wasn’t the head honcho’s fault after all?
If you follow several of my posts, you will know that I’m a Colts fan! Go Colts!
In a Washington Post it says Don’t Blame Andrew Luck, Blame The Offensive Line IS RIGHT ON THE TARGET. However, you will never hear Andrew Luck blame anyone else because he is a strong leader. In fact, he’s taking the blame for all the sacks he’s had during the 2016 season.
According to ESPN, Luck held the ball longer during the 2012 and 2015 seasons. In 2012, Luck's rookie season, held the ball an average of 2.63 seconds, according to ESPN Stats & Information, and was sacked 41 times. He held the ball an average of 2.67 seconds and was sacked 15 times in seven games during the 2015 season. The NFL averages for quarterbacks to throw the ball during the 2012 and 2015 seasons were 2.60 and 2.48 seconds, respectively. The 2.81 seconds Luck is holding the ball is .13 seconds longer than he did in 2014 when he set a career high in passing yards (4,761 yards) and touchdowns (40). Luck was only sacked 27 times in 2014.
The 20 sacks and 42 quarterback sacks on Luck are also the second highest in the NFL. Luck is on his way to getting sacked 60 times this 2016 season (well technically if you add the numbers he’s already there). This is only 5 weeks in during 2016. Let me repeat, Luck was only sacked 27 times in 2014.
“I don’t think the sacks are necessarily indicative of how well our offensive line is playing,” You can probably blame me for holding the ball too long. It is that clock developing in the game.” -Andrew Luck
Luck is a franchise quarterback, smart, responsible, and humble. I remember watching him check on an opposing team’s player after that player was injured. I watch my quarterback and deep down I wonder if he knows that everything is not his fault. If he scores a touchdown, and comes off the field, and the defense lets the other team scores 3+ touchdowns, there’s nothing he can do about that. Also, if the defense isn’t getting the other team to a fourth down, that won’t get you on the field any quicker. Luck, you’re the best and it’s not you. Yes, you are a big play quarterback that likes to throw the ball. What you are saying is a minor problem that can be fixed.
If you want to read the ideas ESPN has for the Colts offensive line, you should. It’s great.
P.S. If you are not sure what big plays are, this is an unofficial statistical measure of plays that generate significant yards for the offense. As a result, this has the potential to greatly impact the game. Anything greater than 11+ yards gained on the play is considered a big rushing play. If 26+ yards are gained while passing, it’s considered a passing big play.
Let me give you a few personal examples.
It wasn’t pleasant, but after I left school, I didn’t order sweat shirts for the Kreneks. At the time, I had zero funds. It wasn’t intentional. My friends’ passing away was on my mind. I just came off two family funerals. My family was dealing with issues. I no longer cared about school, what I did wrong (or what I did right even haha) because there was a lot on my plate. I was also trying to dive myself into my passions to get a new start.
I found out later that the person I told a few details to made the biggest fuss (that’s usually how it goes).
Why am I telling this story? Not out of spite. I just want this to be clear: Know regardless of your situation, people aren’t really sensitive to it. And see, this is why I originally didn’t say anything to most people in the first place. I’m really careful who I share my weaknesses with for this reason. If there’s anything you can learn from my situation, people really don’t care. They want what they want. I’ve always remembered this in business and it has helped me out quite a bit. There’s a picture out there that said something like “some call it ruthless, I call it business.” Remember that people don’t care about your problems, however, they want you to solve their problems.
So nowadays, as a leader in a few companies, if I hear b**** I turn around and say why thank you. (And no, I’m not fishing for bad compliments and I aim to be a team player. But life happens, and I stopped trying to please everyone.) Screw trying to be perfect. There are times when you do everything right and there’s things that can still go wrong, and I’m ok with that! Do you get what I’m trying to say?
And speaking of that. I’ll give you a business example.
In a business that I’m currently involved with, one of the team members (I’ll say Myles) completely dropped the ball by not doing their fair share. I was in regular contact with this client, and I thought delegating the rest of the task to Myles meant that the job will get done, and I focus on other aspects of the project.
The client ended up telling me Myles never followed back up with them even though he said he would.. I didn’t do it and Myles was reminded to follow up with the client several times that week. But the thing is, the client doesn’t want to hear that bull. They want you to solve their problems and they don’t give a damn about yours. Just the fact that one person didn’t complete the job, it’s a bad reflection on everyone, especially the people in charge.
So What To Do?
- There are times where your employees will make mistakes and you will get blamed for it. It’s part of being a CEO/President/Face Of Your Company/Head Honcho. Sometimes it will drive you batty because you might have every right to fuss.
- If you need to let off steam, try to find someone that understands what’s happening to you-so if you have a friend that’s also a business owner/CEO, that’s perfect.
- To this day, I still don’t understand why in school they punished everyone for what one person did.
Hilary Rushford, of Dean Street Society explains this perfectly. Honestly, this video so good I probably could have gotten away with just showing this video in the post and not write anything at all. I’m going to go re-watch this myself. Her tips are great also.
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