Originally Posted by
El-Gonzo Jackson
I think the "taking good enough care of yourself" midset can be established in athletes by how they came to their success. By all accounts, Ben was "the guy" growing up in Findlay OH, then at at Miami OH and had quick success as a rookie with the Steelers. If success comes to people without having to go to great lengths to "take care of yourself", or work out and study film a lot, then why do you need to be that way for further success?
On the other side, we can look at Tom Brady, who sat 2 years behind Brian Griese at Michigan, had to keep working to be the next in line and later round pick and sitting behind Drew Bledsoe. Maybe more preparation and work went into his success. Same with James Harrison. Lots of work went into him getting on a 53 man roster and to the point of him being DPOY, so its not shocking to me that he was still a workout monster late in his career.
I see a lot of this with young football players thru highschool. The ones that are fluid athletes and things seem to come easily in terms of being productive on the field, can be the laziest in practice, being on their details, watching film, etc. While the ones that are not as good of an athlete, lack strength and just arent "dudes" yet, are the ones that really work hard in the gym, film study, practice, team install sessions, etc.
Summation...maybe Football came easy to Ben, so he didnt feel like going through the extra effort was going to help him be much better.
Bonus Summation....Madden and Cowherd are both loudmouth douchebags trolling for clicks, but Cowherd at least combs his hair and doesn't wear food stained clothes, nor date farm animals.