There is no NFL metric to measure toughness, though the Falcons seem determined to invent one this month. The gentle state of the team’s collective mind was an offseason issue and the coaching staff has sought to instill some grit this preseason.
And that doesn’t mean just fighting after the whistle, which happened in the first two weeks with some regularity
“How do you measure (toughness)?” coach Mike Smith asked after Tuesday morning’s workout. “I think that you measure it every day and watch the physicality of the practices. We’ve got to be smart when we talk about being physical.
“It’s easy to throw the word ‘tough’ around. It’s really about being physical and when you’re physical, you win the line of scrimmage. And when you win the line of scrimmage, you enhance your chances of winning football games. It hasn’t changed. It’s always been that way and we’ve got to continue to watch our guys perform and make sure that they’re performing with the physicality that we want as a coaching staff.”
Questioning a team’s toughness in pro football is like questioning its virility. As if to make sure the league knows Falcons are sensitive about it, the new episode of HBO’s “Hard Knocks” includes parts of a Smith address to the team on the issue: “I’m tired — your guys should be tired of it as well — talking about, ‘The Falcons were soft. The Falcons aren’t tough.’ Bull (expletive)! We are a physical football team.”
He went on to laud center Joe Hawley, who was thrown out of practice the first week for fighting. Smith told the team that Hawley had been coming to the assistance of another player in that incident, which the coach said, “was probably the right thing. If somebody is taking advantage of your teammate and you go to his defense and you send a message to the guy that you’re playing against, that’s a (expletive) good penalty.”
Asked about the segment Tuesday, Smith went a step further to question how the perception of his team’s toughness has become such a focus in the first place.
“I don’t know where this perception comes from,” Smith said. “Over the tenure that we’ve been here, we’ve been in-your-face, don’t-back down. Again, sometimes reality is not what’s being perceived and we are a tough football team. This is a group of men that’s worked their ass off.”
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