Big contracts = big pressure

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

I was just reading today's WP article about Andre Carter and he mentioned the pressure that comes along with the big contact he signed. Archuleta has also said that he had trouble this year dealing with the pressure that comes with the big contract.

It's an interesting theory to consider that perhaps one of the factors that played into our downfall his year may have been very simple... pressure.

Not only with the contracts, but the pressure of the high expectations. Bringing in an offensive guru in Saunders, the all-star collection of coaches here, and right from day one in camp Mark Brunell stated that anything less than a Super Bowl was going to be a disappointment this season. I understand that all teams to a degree have this mentality in August, but I think for the Skins they definitely felt under the gun to produce a Super Bowl season this year. It was Gibbs' 3rd year, time to turn the corner, etc.

In summary, I think one of the main reasons for our downfall this year was the pressure, the pressure of winning, the pressure of living up to the big contracts, and the pressure of having an all-star cast of coaches.

Thoughts?

I think pressure was a factor in keeping some of the early season games close against teams we should have been blowing out. You get down when you don't expect to be, and you get off your game and all of a sudden, it's the 4th quarter and you are trailing. At that point, if things break right, you win, if they don't like they didn't vs Tennessee and Minnesota for us, you end up losing.

Ultimately, pressure was not responsible for missed tackles, blown coverages and our D falling from top 10 to bottom 4. That was a seperate problem.