I watched the clip a couple of days ago..and being an NFL fan i've watched barry sanders since i was a kid. I also had a season ticket to my club in london for a few years. I was a rugby player, and though ive never played american football, the differences between footbll and rugby are vast. Yes you have to be fast, have good acceleration, be agile, and all the rest of it...I was a shit footie player and a good rugby player. Some of my friends could make the transition, but they tended to be smaller and learn to control their aggression in football...every time i played football I got yellow carded or cautioned. The type of fitness was also very different, I was strugling after 45mins of football but could play 80mins of rugby being smashed left right and center and feel fine. An NFL player would be blowing hard after twenty mins on a football pitch...garunteed.
To put it bluntly players of different sports are tuned to the requirements of that sport. So its not the same skill set, I say this as well to people like Sev who try to compare Rugby and NFL players...different sports, the athletes train for specific requirements. Again with intelligence, the intelligence is completely different, quickness of mind cannot be compared...facing a rush defence in rugby, or a blitz in NFL or a proper zonal system in football are require you to react within a split second if you dont have the intelligent understanding of the game you end up looking like a fool. You cant say an NFL player requires more, no they dont, its just different.
Rugby and football are not in the same universe.
After reading your post, I would agree that a small portion of the skill set for soccer and football is different. The endurance for each sport is a bit different. Football players do get a brief "rest" between each play, while soccer players run a bit more without breaks, although not every player has to constantly sprint. But the running football players do is much more difficult, because they are wearing a lot of gear, trying to execute plays, and trying to avoid getting whacked (or trying to deliver a blow).
I do think that because the speed of the game is so much faster in football, the athletes are so much bigger, stronger, and faster, and there is the equivalent of a car crash on every play, the mental aspect (in addition to the physical aspect) is a bigger component in football. I'm not saying you don't need all of those things in soccer. Just that there is so much more involved.
Take the smartest, toughest, biggest studs on the field (fullbacks
). When they huddle before a play, they have about 5 seconds to listen to the play being called. That is was 1 of over 100 plays. He then has several seconds to get in the proper formation. Eyeball the defense. Recognize the defense. Know what all other 10 players are going to do on the play. Listen for an audible, which can change the play in a few seconds. Keep still (unless he's put in motion) and wait for the right snap count. Then run block, pass block (including picking up a blitz, if any), carry the ball, or catch the ball.
QBs have an even greater responsibility, except they don't get hit nearly as often.
I don't think you could take an existing NFL player and put him on soccer field and expect him to thrive, and vise versa. But I do believe that if players like Barry, Vick, Vernon Davis, LeBron, Rice, Moss, etc., who are just freaks, played soccer from a young age they would dominate the sport.
