Before every game, Patrick Graham listens to Mobb Deep to get into the zone. The Las Vegas Raiders’ 44-year-old defensive coordinator grew up in Waterbury, Conn., immersed in the rap duo’s dark, grimy, unabashed lyrics. Revisiting songs from their catalog and enjoying a can of Coca-Cola are two non-negotiable tasks for him before kickoff.
Raiders players never see Graham’s routine — he calls plays from the press box — but they know about it. They also know about his wife, Pamela, and their two children, the football career that got him to Yale, his pet peeves, his favorite foods and other aspects of his journey that made him into the man he is today. When he was hired by the Raiders last year, Graham stressed the importance of a reciprocal exchange of information with players before anything else.
“First and foremost, I’m a teacher,” Graham said last week. “And as a teacher, the best way to get them to learn and to adhere to the lessons is to let them know that you care about the person, not just the football player.”
That extended beyond the practice fields and meeting rooms into sharing meals in the cafeteria and meeting up outside of team headquarters. The relationships that emerged transcended football, but the effects translated to the gridiron. The…
