A Study in Team Culture

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

First of all, the post isn't even relevant to the topic at hand, because the coach depicted in the article linked in the post does not have a clownish personality in general like McDaniel.  One can hardly say that if "the team takes on the personality of its coach" in Sean McVay's case, the team will have a clownish personality. Unlike McDaniel, McVay is not a clown in general.

So, "what Spider posted" isn't relevant here to begin with.

Even if we wanted to put all that aside for moment and just focus on the nature of the team celebration in the video linked in the post, the celebration is far more akin to the Steelers' celebration than it is to the Dolphins' celebration in the videos in the original post.  There is nothing silly and clownish occurring in the locker room in that video, regardless of whether the head coach is "wearing capri pants."

In other words, Sean McVay doesn't have anywhere near the clownish personality in general McDaniel does, and there is no evidence in the locker room celebration video linked that his team has a silly and clownish culture.

Moreover, the Rams are 8-2.  The Dolphins in the video in the original post were 3-7.  Even if there were some silliness going on in the locker room on the Rams' part, it would've been occurring in a completely different context in terms of how the team has performed overall.  There should be no such silliness on the part of a team at 3-7 that should be functioning with dead set seriousness on turning its season around.  Silliness in that context is an indication of team culture dysfunction.

It is your contention that is backed up with ZERO EVIDENCE that if a team is celebrating winning a game when the team has a losing record than the team is clownish.  And such clownish teams are unable to focus and win.  And it is an almost strawman claim because it is rare that a team with a losing record goes on to win the superbowl.  And while I don't know if either the 2007 Giants or 1993 Cowboys celebrated going 1-2, I do know that the 2001 Patriots has a clownish level of celebration when they won their first game of the season after losing the first two. 

[Dolfanalyst]

It is your contention that is backed up with ZERO EVIDENCE that if a team is celebrating winning a game when the team has a losing record than the team is clownish.

No that isn't my contention.  Again read the original post and my subsequent posts in the thread, or don't.  I can explain it to you but I can't understand it for you.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

The reason that the Dolphins are only 4-7 is not because of how they celebrated their four wins.  It is because of piss poor cap space management by the former GM. 

[Dolfanalyst]

The reason that the Dolphins are only 4-7 is not because of how they celebrated their four wins.

Totally agree, and I've said as much previously in the thread.  Nowhere in the thread have I said "how a team celebrates wins, in and of itself, causes subsequent winning or losing."

Again I can explain it to you but I can't understand it for you.

[Spider-Dan]

Nowhere in the thread have I said "how a team celebrates wins, in and of itself, causes subsequent winning or losing."

Direct quotes:

The nature of the locker room celebration itself isn't a causative factor in anything.  It's the team culture it reflects that's causative in winning and losing.  Locker room celebrations in themselves don't cause winning and losing -- team cultures do, however.  These locker room celebrations are simply reflections of their teams' cultures.

The problem is that the 2025 Miami Dolphins' "personality" isn't consistent with winning at a high level in the NFL, where seriousness, drive, determination, and aggression are what wins on the field in the rough and tumble game of football.

So we can tell their "personality" by how they celebrate wins, and their personality "isn't consistent with winning."
You are drawing a direct line between celebrations and culture, and an equally direct line between culture and winning.
To say "A = B" and "B = C" is to say "A = C."

Moreover, the Rams are 8-2.  The Dolphins in the video in the original post were 3-7.  Even if there were some silliness going on in the locker room on the Rams' part, it would've been occurring in a completely different context in terms of how the team has performed overall.  There should be no such silliness on the part of a team at 3-7 that should be functioning with dead set seriousness on turning its season around.  Silliness in that context is an indication of team culture dysfunction.

And finally, we arrive at "Scoreboard."

This would all be a lot easier if you just said "Winning teams are good and smart, while losing teams are bad and dumb."  And that's a completely defensible take!  It's childishly obvious and simplistic, but at least it's an ethos.  However, a take like this rings somewhat hollow if you disappear when this logic can be used against you; to take a random example, if there were a coach that you criticized as being "unserious" who was sitting at 9-3 in the #1 seed entering week 14.

[Dolfanalyst]

Direct quotes:So we can tell their "personality" by how they celebrate wins, and their personality "isn't consistent with winning."
You are drawing a direct line between celebrations and culture, and an equally direct line between culture and winning.
To say "A = B" and "B = C" is to say "A = C."

No that isn't the case.  How single wins are celebrated isn't always indicative of a team's culture.  In the case of the particular celebrations in the original post here, however, they are in my opinion.  The Dolphins' current culture is silly and clownish, and the Steelers' culture in 2006 was serious and aggressive.  If either team happened to celebrate a single win in a different fashion, their team cultures would nonetheless persist.

In other words, locker room celebrations can vary for a team, whereas its culture does not.  The locker room celebrations in the original post were merely for illustrative purposes -- they show those teams' cultures in vivid fashion.  Again in my opinion.

An analogy:  every team varies in how well it plays single games.  How good teams are overall persists, however.  The Dolphins just beat Buffalo 30-13.  Is that an indication of how good they are and how poor Buffalo is?  Of course not.  It was merely single-game variation.  And single game locker room celebrations can similarly vary.

]However, a take like this rings somewhat hollow if you disappear when this logic can be used against you; to take a random example, if there were a coach that you criticized as being "unserious" who was sitting at 9-3 in the #1 seed entering week 14.

Being the #1 seed at 9-3 isn't a valid and reliable criterion for success overall as a head coach in the NFL.  There are numerious head coaches in NFL history who accomplished similar feats and who were then fired without ever accomplishing anything extraordinary in the league.

Again are you still stuck here, using incredibly small samples of performance to measure overall head coaching success?  Have you not yet learned anything in that regard?

[Spider-Dan]

Again are you still stuck here, using incredibly small samples of performance to measure overall head coaching success?

This entire thread is about one locker room celebration, yet you're trying to complain about "small sample sizes."

[Dolfanalyst]

This entire thread is about one locker room celebration, yet you're trying to complain about "small sample sizes."

No, the thread is about how team culture can determine how NFL teams function, and how the Dolphins' current culture follows from its head coach's personality, which isn't compatible with the serious and aggressive nature of football.  The particular locker room celebration in the original post is simply illustrative of that, and there is another team's locker room celebration provided in the original post for the purpose of contrast.

Here are two former players weighing in on the matter in similar fashion:

https://x.com/FinsXtra/status/1979955001868042597?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1979955001868042597%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=

https://x.com/DavidFurones_/status/1980791927692788166?s=20

Again the issue is that McDaniel is a clown and not a leader of men.  That creates a team culture for the Dolphins -- i.e., "the team takes on the personality of its coach."  That culture -- or that team "personality" -- isn't compatible with winning at a high level in professional football.  It simply isn't consistent with the nature of the game.

That's what the thread is about.  Far more than a single locker room celebration.

[Spider-Dan]

The thread has been about one locker room celebration, which you extrapolate into various conclusions about "team culture" and then directly link to a team's ability to win.
You citing some tweets two pages in doesn't change that.

[Dolfanalyst]

The thread has been about one locker room celebration, which you extrapolate into various conclusions about "team culture" and then directly link to a team's ability to win.
You citing some tweets two pages in doesn't change that.

Once again I can explain it to you but I can't understand it for you.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

Once again I can explain it to you but I can't understand it for you.

Repeating bullshit multiple times doesn't make it true. 

[Dolfanalyst]

Repeating bullshit multiple times doesn't make it true. 

No, repetition doesn't make something true.  Other things do.