During this weekend’s Patriot’s eighth consecutive win this season, it became clear that the Patriots are consistently good at not being bad. Now, for any Patriot haters in the reading audience, I have no intention in turning you into a fan. If you haven’t been able to embrace greatness after 20 years, you won’t do it now.
My point is, the Patriots played well enough to win against the less-than formidable opponent in the Cleveland Browns. With this said, the Browns have a ton of talent but made too many silly mistakes. They turned the ball over on three consecutive offensive plays and had 13 penalties versus the four for the Patriots. While turnovers aren’t completely avoidable, penalties largely are. Bad teams need to suck less and they will win more.
I associate this with running. I completed Leadville faster than many better runners and it had little to do with my athletic ability. Instead, I took less time at aid stations (2-5 minutes and 8 at one station) and never stopped to catch my breath on uphills. MOVE FORWARD was my mantra and it worked.
It’s amazing how much we can accomplish when we do the easy things right.
The Daily Digest of Marc Grabowski 