IT'S interesting how, as an active professional football player, your opinion on an issue that is prevalent in the NFL can be so different from an entire panel of NFL analysts, most of whom also have experience playing the game.
The incident I am speaking of is the tragedy regarding Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor, who was shot and killed during what is currently being called a home invasion last Monday night. It was the opinion of every analyst from Mike Ditka all the way to Quadry Ismail that the Redskins had a difficult task on their hands playing only five days after Taylor had passed away in the hospital. In fact, on the website ESPN.com, the situation before them, and agreed upon by most football experts, was probably best summed up by the following passage: "Drained before they ever took the field, the Washington Redskins somehow steeled their fragile emotions and played to honour their fallen teammate in front of 85,000 fans waving their No. 21 towels."
While I have had numerous former teammates and coaches die at varying times during the off-season, I have never had the misfortune or experience of having to play a game only days after one of my active and current teammates had passed away. I can only begin to imagine how difficult it must have been for the players to focus in on their opponent and game plan for the week when every time they walked into the facility they were reminded of his death by his untouched locker sealed in Plexiglas, the memorials on the practice fields, and the incessant coverage by the media. In fact, it was reported that not only did the owner of the team travel to see Sean Taylor in the hospital before he passed away, but several of their active players went as well.
But where I differ in my opinion from this panel of experts and writers is how I would have expected it to affect their team and their reaction on the field of play.
When this tragedy struck, the immediate incident I recalled, in terms of playing a game in the immediacy of someone's death, is what happened to the Green Bay Packers and Brett Favre back in the NFL regular season of 2003. On the very day before their match with the Oakland Raiders, Brett Favre, the Packers' quarterback and the most important player on the field for their team, as he handles the ball on every offensive snap, had one of the most dominant performances in his storied 17-year career only 24 hours after his father died.
On that day, Brett Favre threw for 399 yards -- only three yards short of his all-time career best -- and four touchdowns en route to a 41-7 blowout over the Raiders.
A story by The Associated Press explained the miraculous performance this way: "The next day, Favre played his heavy heart out, inspiring his teammates to do great things."
Played their hearts out
The Redskins defence also played their hearts out in Sunday's game against the Buffalo Bills, not allowing a single touchdown in the game and even starting their first series with only 10 players on the field as a tribute to their fallen comrade.
But after thinking back to Favre's performance the day after his father's death, I truly thought this game was going to be a blowout in favour of Washington. Like any game I have played in, when your team is faced with extreme adversity and emotion, like the firing of a coach, or in Brett's case, the passing of his father, your efforts are often so inspired by the magnitude of events around you that the opposition simply cannot contend with the raw emotion you wear on your sleeve as your despair propels your body to new heights.
But this is where the two schools of thought part ways.
Some of us so-called experts believe that grief only raises the level of intensity and emotion which is critical in the game of football, while most others feel it is a detriment to one's focus and preparation.
The ripple effect of this situation is probably much more similar to what the Minnesota Vikings went through in 2001 than to what happened to Brett Favre.
When lineman Korey Stringer died during training camp, the Vikings completed that season with five wins and eleven losses.
In the case of Sean Taylor, I imagine his death was such an unexpected event and blow to the entire team that they were unable to control their feelings of loss for the match against Buffalo, and now, with his funeral upcoming, it seems probable the rest of their season could be lost too.
Doug Brown, always a hard-hitting defensive lineman and frequently a hard-hitting columnist, appears Tuesdays in the Free Press.
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