Why Players Sometimes Lose It

Getting ready to write the previews. David Ferris will join us again, on Redskins at Seahawks.

Scott Pianowski did a nice job spreading the blame away from Kitna for Sunday's loss by Cincy. Of course, he's correct in noting those other breakdowns. But I'm not buying into Kitna's first-half stats, especially that QB rating (a very flawed stat, as Scott would agree). Bottom line on Kitna's first half: 5.5 yards per attempt. That's far below the acceptable threshold.

But I have to acknowledge that Scott was right in saying that Taylor must have spit. The question now becomes, why?

I have to thank Pianow for this insight, courtesy of his very generous Christimas gift to me, "Blink," by Malcom Gladwell. Near the end of the book, Gladwell writes about the Amadou Diallo shooting. How could the cops have shown such poor judgment by blasting a man 41 times for merely reaching for his wallet in a dark alley? Recognizing this is a very politcally charged way to get into something as inconsequential as a player expectorating, I'll nonethesless soldier on....

There's a point where arousal improves performance: the range when our heart beats between 115 and 145 times per minute. That's about 60-75% of the maximum heart rate for people the age of the average athlete. This type of arousal is typically a good thing for an athlete because it narrows the senses and allows him to focus on the threat in front of him (a onrushing lineman trying to block you, for example, or, if you're a QB, a blitzing linebacker). When aroused to this degree, we lose our ability to hear (that's why so many athletes talk about blocking out all crowd noise when they're "in the zone"; it's not discipline that does it but the natural biological consequence of this optimum level of arousal). In place of nonessential sensory loss such as hearing, athletes gain extreme visual clarity and, as they often note, the feeling that time is slowing down just for them.

However, when their heart goes beyond 145 beats per minute, the body and the senses start to break down completely. They lose complex motor skills. As they approach 175 BPM, cognitive processing is lost. The mammalian mid-brain "hijacks" the human forebrain. So trying to rationalize with an angry athlete at this state of arousal is, according to one expert, like trying to argue with your dog. They lose vision and judgment and become hyper-aggressive.

Research such as this has led many police departments to ban high-speed chases. Most of the major riots have happened as a result of what police officers do to suspects after chasing and catching them. With their hearts pumping like crazy, they lose all perspective and reason. A former LAPD officer referenced the old saying, "A dog in the hunt doesn't stop to scratch its fleas." Taylor, in that moment on Saturday at Raymond James Stadium, was over-aroused to such a degree that he became a dog in the hunt.