Team chemistry is an intangible defined as an interplay of physiological, social, and emotional forces that elevates performance. This manifests in several ways on the football field, on both sides of the ball. The more snaps players have together, the more they are able to understand and predict the behaviors and reactions of their teammates. Players with this ability are more valuable to teams because of their ability, not only on the field but in meetings and in the locker room as well. As players stay in the same system over multiple years, they gain an understanding and ability to teach that can remove some of the pressure of teaching players new to the league or to the particular system. This additional value is typically what separates the players that make the team from the players that do not.
Year after year, we see talented teams that underperform as well as teams without significant talent that consistently outperform expectations. A big factor in this is typically chemistry. We can look at the Patriots dynasty from 2001 to 2019 as an example of this. We all know Tom Brady had a significant impact on the success of these teams, however, he was not the dominant offensive threat early in his career that we now see him as. In the early years, the team's success was based on a strong defense and an efficient offense that did not make mistakes. Because of Bill Belichick’s ability to get players to buy into his scheme and culture, the Patriots were able to build consistent winning teams without spending a surplus on elite talent. We consistently see teams with talented quarterbacks or talented rosters that cannot put everything together for a successful season, while teams with fewer elite players but a solid identity and a culture centered around players holding each other accountable find success almost every season.
