No coach in the history of football has taken the field with his team with the objective of being "a finesse team," yet it is a label that often gets thrown around in media circles and by the water cooler at work.
The idea that a team that throws the ball 50 times a game typically isn't as physical as a pro-style team is simply misguided, and yesterday during his presser, Mike Leach buried the idea that good finesse teams are able to exist anywhere in football.
"There's just no such thing as a good finesse team. That's a term that just gets thrown around. There's no such thing as a good finesse team, there are only good tough teams."
Leach's point is that in order to be a good team, you've got to be tough - having a finesse group at offensive line, wide receiver, defensive back, linebacker, etc. won't get you very far, and certainly won't help you win ball games. The bottom line is your guys have got to be tough.
"Any team that was great that's been referred to as a finesse team has been a tough team. You saw them have extremely tough blocks, you've seen them have extremely tough tackles."
"The 49ers back in the day were sometimes called a finesse team, but that couldn't be more ridiculous. I mean, their offensive line was one of the best in the league, they had Ronnie Lott playing back there in the secondary, I mean tell me all the finesse moves that Ronnie Lott had. Ronnie Lott would tear your head off if he got a piece of it."
"There's no good finesse teams. There are only good, tough teams."
Hear more from Leach in the clip.
https://youtu.be/SywZlgyLYcc?t=2m7s