Leadership is earned, not appointed.

[McC]

(08-25-2015, 01:22 PM)GarbageDisposal Wrote: McCarron showed far better leadership than Dalton ever has in leading the team back from that abortion of a game with an 80 yard TD drive. Does anyone find it troubling that Marvin/Whit said they "passed" the leadership baton to Andy Dalton? Maybe he's just not cut out to be a leader. You can't force somebody to be something they're not. How can you be a leader and tell other people what to do -- call them out for their mistakes -- when you're constantly sailing interceptions left, right, and center? (and you come off as a complete cornball but that's another story) I kind of laughed when I read about Dalton "chewing out" Bodine for snap issues. At least he's doing that during practice and not during games. For Dalton it's the reverse -- front-runner when everything is going right, absolutely panics and self-destructs when the chips are down. We're in serious trouble if this is who we appointed as "leaders."

A lot of people blame Green, anybody but the QB, but when you have "fake leaders" running the show, people trying to assume roles they're not good at, does this not hurt team morale and have a trickle-down effect? I am 100% sure elite players would not be making so many sloppy errors if Peyton Manning (even the hobbled, no-feeling-in-fingertips form) were running the show. He just wouldn't allow it. When Dalton hits you with the "Aww shucks, please stop that" try-hard "leadership," it rings hollow.

Do you want this man leading your team?

Here's the thing about all that leadership talk--they may be saying it, but nobody really believes it.  What else can they do, though?  Stuck in a bad place and trying everything they can to make the most of it.  Bottom line, though--it's a bunch of empty words.

A leader wakes up a leader every day.  A leader doesn't grow into it or learn it or take ownership of it.  It's in his DNA.  You have it or you don't and it's no more complicated than that.  A leader makes everyone around them better and no one around him dares let him down.  Do we have that here?