Why do NFL Personnel not refer to players by name? (1 Viewer)

[Illegal Pants Downfield]

I've often wondered why this is -- it seems whenever an NFL GM or Coach or Scout or Player is talking about a player, they almost never refer to that person by name.

It always seems to be references to "their quarterback" instead of Eli Manning or "number 88" instead of Dez Bryant or "the kid from Central Michigan" instead of Eric Fisher.

Is it meant as a sign of disrespect? Is it because they actually don't know the player's name (i.e. their training/focus is literally on the jersey number, not the name?)

 

[NCPanthersFan]

It is the same in the US Military.

 

[ConnSKINS26]

Coaches use players names all the time. Young players are more likely to be referred to by their number, postition, or college. But tons of press conferences prove that this thread is based on a false (or at least overblown) premise.

 

[Christo]

Watch what you say, 26.

 

[DoubleG]

WTH are you talking about????

 

[Steed]

Makes them easier to cut

 

[DoubleG]

Makes them easier to cut

And here I though slow cooking in the crock pot is what did that...

Good Lord, is the preseason here yet??

 

[nirad3]

Colloquial-speak.

 

[butcher boy]

Because then someone like Chad Johnson would change his last name to something like "Douchebagsayswhat" just to hear the refs say it.

 

[notdarkyet]

Makes it seem like you rely less on a particular player than what that player's position is supposed to do. If you say "the quarterback" is vital to our success, that is true whether it is 1st or 2nd or 3rd string. If you say a particular QB name, then when that guy goes down, there is a psychological hurdle to overcome that your particular QB isn't there.

 

[Young 8]

Makes them easier to cut

Billy Beane's textbook ?

 

[Adam Harstad]

I haven't noticed it as much with coaches, but scouts are terrible at using names. They call everyone "that kid from ________". Someone once told me it started because scouts wanted to give the impression that they grind so much film that the players all start to run together and they can no longer remember names. Either way, it's spread so far that now anyone who watches so much as a Youtube highlight video starts calling players "that kid from ______". A Google search of Scout + "That kid from" returns over 8 million hits, most of them fans on team forums or recruiting websites urging people to take a second look at that kid from Rutgers, or wondering whatever happened to that kid from Indiana.

 

[massraider]

John Madden addressed this in his first book, I think. One of the reasons was to take away the mystique of players. His example was Dwight Clark. You tell a young CB he will be covering #87, and the kid thinks, 'yeah, I can cover #87', rather than thinking about covering Dwight Clark.

 

[Vector]

John Madden addressed this in his first book, I think. One of the reasons was to take away the mystique of players. His example was Dwight Clark. You tell a young CB he will be covering #87, and the kid thinks, 'yeah, I can cover #87', rather than thinking about covering Dwight Clark.

That's Dwight "Freakin" Clark to you.