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AlbaNY_Ram
I wonder how the Mack trade will affect them psychologically/emotionally. From what little I've seen the players seemed stunned, surprised, upset, betrayed - lots of negative reactions. They would certainly be a better team right now if Mack was there and the remaining players are all aware that the Raiders are willing to take a step back this year in hopes of taking two steps forward down the road. How does playing for a team that isn't doing all they can to win this year affect a player's motivation?
Team morale was suggested as one reason you sign a star like Donald and don't do things (the Rams were never going to do but some fans thought they should) like try to force him to play for consecutive tag years.
The Raiders team reaction to the Mack trade and the way management handled him, is all very good evidence that the team morale argument is real.
For some reason some fans think that what a team is supposed to do is treat players like Donald with a heavy hand and "show him who's boss." A lot of that was motivated, I think (guessing here) by the idea that if talks were slow the fault MUST be the player. Well the accounts we have of the actual process indicate that no one was "at fault" and that it was just a tough slow long process and both sides were engaged.
The Rams acted this whole time in a much more enlightened way than the Raiders did and the result is that morale is a huge Rams asset.
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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/05/2018 05:24AM by zn.
