saintz08

Q: Do you think of yourself as a leader?

Delhomme: “I don’t think you can teach leadership. I don’t care what anybody says, you can try all you want but you want the guys to know you mean it. The guys can tell if it’s fake, if it’s false enthusiasm or what not. I feel I am a leader, but I feel I am a leader in the right way. I prepare well and I am going to do whatever I can to win for them. I think that’s the first thing. When I am out on the field, if it’s me trying to throw a block, I’m going to try and throw a block. I may get teased about it the next day in film but that’s fine with me because I know they see that I’m trying to do whatever it takes to win. I’ll try whatever it takes. I’m a rah-rah guy, meaning that I get fired up but I’m not one to get on somebody, because you have to know. As quarterback you have to be part psychologist half the time. You have to know who to pat and who to chew out. You just develop good relationships with guys. If that adds up to being a leader, then I guess it does. It’s just something I have done all my life. You want to get guys to believe in you and play for you.�

http://www.profootballweekly.com/PFW...meQA013004.htm

WhoDat

Man could the Saints use that kind of attitude and intelligence at the quarterback position?!

JKool

\"I’m a rah-rah guy, meaning that I get fired up but I’m not one to get on somebody, because you have to know.\"

What the heck does that mean? That isn\'t even gramatical. I\'m not trying to get on Jake, but that doesn\'t sound like anything to me - why would you think that was intelligent?

Either way, this doesn\'t sound like what you guys want in a leader at all! You guys who have been ragging on AB have all said he doesn\'t get on people like he should, he\'s too happy (rah-rah) and so on; Haz is a terrible coach because he doesn\'t hold people accoutable, and so on. Here is Jake saying that he doesn\'t think that he\'d get on somebody about their bad play and suddenly he\'s the greatest leader of all time?

This, and sorry to sound like a sad-sack, is no answer at all to the leadership question. In fact, all Jake said is \"I do what I do, and I try hard.\" Wow, that is insightful.

"... I was beating them with my eyes the whole game..." - Aaron Brooks

Cassady37

No, what he actually said, if you would include the line after that was, \"you have to be part psychologist half the time. You have to know who to pat and who to chew out.\" That is EXACTLY the right way to be, seeing how not everyone reacts the same way to correction. And whatever he\'s doing must work because it goes without saying he took the starting job and for WHATEVER reason he\'s led them to the Superbowl. Could someone else have done it for the Panthers besides Jake? Who cares, the fact remains he was under center, he did it, and he\'s there. History will not say, oh, it\'s because of this and that, and this happened just right. Nope, it will say Jake Delhomme, in his first season as a starter, led the Carolina Panthers to the Superbowl.

JKool

Actually, the reason that I didn\'t include the second sentence is because it might well be in contradiction with the one I did quote. If he knows who to chew out, why would he say this: \"I’m a rah-rah guy, meaning that I get fired up but I’m not one to get on somebody\"? It is because he sees he needs to chew someone out and doesn\'t, or doesn\'t like it, or figures his psychology will help him? It is totally unlcear - thus, it says nothing about how to lead (though, Cassady, I agree with you that people respond differently to criticism of different kinds - so, IF Jake is saying that, then I agree he has shown ONE characteristic of being a leader). Also, the nature of Jake\'s entire quote is just as I noted, \"I just go out there and be myself\". I am fully willing to grant that Jake is a leader (whether I agree or not), but this statement by Jake says NOTHING about what it is to be a leader - he even ends with \"if that adds up to being a leader, then I guess it does\" which seems to indicate that Jake himself was not trying to say what it is to be a leader.

If all history is going to say is, \"Jake Delhomme, in his first season as a starter, led the Carolina Panthers to the Superbowl\", then it also will tell us nothing about being a leader. This whole post has resolved nothing about leadership at all - other than some people think that Jake is one.

Furthermore, if someone else could have \"led the Panthers to the superbowl\", then I would say that that guy would have to be a leader too - otherwise, what you have said is that Jake is NOT a leader. Thus, the question \"could someone else have taken them there\" is very important if you are someone who thinks that Jake clearly is a leader (and I personally am going to suspend judgement on that for now).

"... I was beating them with my eyes the whole game..." - Aaron Brooks

JKool

As long as I\'m on a rant, and probably not making friends, here is another thing I don\'t think is right:

\"I don’t think you can teach leadership\"

Does that mean that whether or not you are a leader is purely genetic? That is ridiculous. How you are raised, who your role models are, who you\'ve learned from, what your childhood was like, and so much more, are things that influence your leadership qualities. Thus, you do learn to be a leader. (I\'m sure all Jake meant is that it takes a long time to learn to be a leader, NOT that it can\'t be taught at all.) Being a good role model is a great way to teach leadership - that is, leaders create other leaders, AND that is a kind of teaching!

"... I was beating them with my eyes the whole game..." - Aaron Brooks

GoldenTomb

Is leadership purely genetic....not exclusively, but more often than not. There are persons that can be groomed to be leaders, but yet there are others that just have that natural personality trait. No one sits down with these guys and says \"This is how you can be a leader\", just like others are naturally shy, overbearing, or obnoxious.

I will support the Saints even through their bonehead moves(and it seems like there are enough to go around every year), but I don\'t see how you can defend the Saints on the Delhomme issue. Supporting Brooks is one thing(and I support Brooks)but trying to distort the obvious to support him is another. We DO need to face facts though...AB will be with NO for at least the next year. We have to hope that we can ride the wave of offensive talent that we have, because it\'s obvious that AB doesn\'t have the leadership to will our team to win. He\'s not the best, but he\'s the best we have.

[Edited on 1/2/2004 by GoldenTomb]

codename47

Just for the record...

the sentence actually was:
\"I’m a rah-rah guy, meaning that I get fired up but I’m not one to get on somebody because you have to, y\' know.\"



[Edited on 1/2/2004 by codename47]

WhoDat

Actually, he seems pretty devoid of emotion as a leader, except for his lackadasical approach to the game. Maybe this is why the Saints don\'t buy Brooks\' attempts at being a leader - \"The guys can tell if it’s fake, if it’s false enthusiasm or what not.\"

JKool

codename47, thanks for the reprint, it makes a lot more sense now. Jake sounds much smarter as a result. (But, really, I was just trying to stir up some trouble on one of my favorite topics - leadership.)

WhoDat, I think I can agree that AB seems to be fairly devoid of emotion during the games I\'ve seen. However, I don\'t know if I have any evidence one way or another about whether or not AB puts up false fronts. Your hypothesis seems like a good one, but I\'d need to hear more to decide what I thought.

Now that I\'m feeling a bit more in my right mind, I was merely questionning whether or not Jake\'s quote told us anything about being a leader. Here is my conclusion so far: Jake\'s quote says a few things that indicate he has leadership qualities (the point about motivating guys in different ways), but it doesn\'t really say much, on the whole, about whether or not he IS a leader or leadership in general.

[Edited on 1/2/2004 by JKool]

"... I was beating them with my eyes the whole game..." - Aaron Brooks