Final

For my final project in this class, I have decided to write letters to ten NFL coaches and ask them questions about coaching, their teams this season, and concussions. This relates both of my topics from quarters one and two into a ten hour project. The teams I decided to write letters too were the Los Angeles Rams, the Baltimore Ravens, the New Orleans Saints, the Chicago Bears, the Green Bay Packers, the Atlanta Falcons, the New England Patriots, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Los Angeles Chargers, and the Minnesota Vikings. I chose to write to teams as my final project because throughout the quarter I have been reading and blogging about coaches and their lives, but I wanted to get some personal answers and or stories that I can use to further my knowledge about what it takes to be a coach in the NFL. I also wanted to know how concussions have affected these men personally, and the game they love. I first started my project by choosing coaches I wanted to write too. I did this by looking at my essential questions for the quarter and finding teams I know could answer them, and also there are a few coaches I would like to ask questions too such as Sean McVay of the LA Rams, Andy Reid of the Kansas City Chiefs, and Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots. To contact these teams, I first had to research the offices of each NFL team that I wanted to contact, and address each letter accordingly. I then had to think of questions I wanted to ask them. I decided on asking every coach a few of the same questions and then a few specific questions based on the coach I was writing to in particular.

Each of these letters contained questions about coaching, their team in particular, and concussions in the NFL, along with a few questions I wanted to ask particular coaches. The questions that I asked to every coach were, what are the affects, positive and negative, that coaching football has had on your life?  Being a head coach, do you ever feel solely responsible for the outcome of a season? and, do you believe that concussions are a problem in the NFL today, and if so, what can people with influence such as yourself do to fix this problem? My first letter was to Mike Zimmer of the Minnesota Vikings. On top of the questions listed above, I asked Mike if their was an advantage, in his opinion, of playing in a stadium with as loud a reputation as Minnesota? I also asked him although he is a fairly recent head coach there, what kind of effect do the constant swinging seasons have on the team and the fan base? My second letter was to Sean McVay of the LA Rams. Along with the standard questions, I asked Sean if he believes there was an impact on the team moving them to LA? I also asked him if it is tough keeping control of a team being younger than most of the players, and how he tries to lead them? I then asked him what he attributes this super bowl season too and if he thinks the Rams have begun a new era with him and Goff. To Sean Payton of the New Orleans Saints, I asked what has kept him with the Saints for so many years, and if he ever sees himself coaching anywhere else? I also asked how working with the same quarterback for many years gives the team an advantage? To John Harbaugh of the Baltimore Ravens I asked, what is your next move to get this Ravens team back in playoff contention? I also asked if he believed that Lamar Jackson was the new face of the franchise, and if he believed he would coach a team led by Lamar to the Super Bowl? Along with that I asked him with him struggles on defense this year, if he had a plan to replace key players such as Suh and Reed on the defensive line? To the head coach of the Bears, Matt Nagy, I asked hoe big of an effect he believed Khalil Mack had on this team, especially late in the season. I also asked with a season so close to winning a playoff game, what adjustments does he believe this team has to make to win big games such as the wild card game that they barely lost this year? To brand new Packers head coach Matt Lafleur I asked, what challenges do you believe you will have to face starting off with this team? I also asked if he felt any pressure to do well immediately due to the fact that the Packers have been a playoff contender for years now? Lastly I asked what approach will he taking leading this team when there is so many leaders already on the team? To Dan Quinn of the Atlanta Falcons, I asked what his next move was too beef up his group of receivers? I also asked what he is going to do to turn this team into a consistent playoff contender? To Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots, I asked, along with if he will ever stop winning, what he contributed his un-parralelled success too, and how much longer he thinks it will last. Being a die hard patriots fan it was hard to narrow it all down into one letter, but I also asked if he will ever coach anywhere else, and what made New England special enough for him to stay for so long? To Andy Reid of the Kansas City Cheifs, I asked what makes him so good at creating all star quarterbacks? I also asked why he thinks everyone who comes out of his program makes a great head coach? To Anthony Lynn of the LA Chargers, I asked how he plans of channeling the success of his team, and his all star players, into next season and hopefully the first playoff win in 6 seasons. I also asked what affect Todd Gurley has in the locker room, aside from his excellent play on the field. Along with my questions I asked every coach, I tried to get a variety of information from all the coaches, differing from team to team.


Because of my project consisting of me sending out letters, I have no immediate response or conclusion to my project. There is no guarantee that I will get any responses, but I am exited to see if I do, and what the coaches say in response to my questions? I am especially wondering what they will say to my question about concussions, considering they are the people sending these players into the situations where they are vulnerable for a concussion. This project, and class in general, affected me in a fairly significant way. I love the game of football, and I hope for it to stay a part of my life for the rest of it, but it opened up a harsh reality of concussions and the side of them one normally doesn't see. It is a very dark side to a game that doesn't deserve to have a dark side, and it is not easily fixed. There needs to be much more funding that goes into Concussion and TBI research, and players need to be more aware of the risks they are taking. The second semester in particular opened up my eyes to how much work coaching an NFL team is and the amount of time they put into these teams. Knowing that, it was interesting asking them the toll coaching takes on them because on the outside they don't show it, but some are definitely overworked and exhausted. Overall this class taught me so much about the game I love and I enjoyed reflecting on it in this way being able to write letters to NFL coaches.