You've heard the saying that a fence is only as strong as its weakest link. Nowhere is that more true than in the game of football. Of all sports, football may the one most dependent upon teamwork - if just one player is out of position, a whole play, and even a whole game, can shift.
So, how does this type of accountability affect players in their personal lives and in their personal development? If you talk to some parents, they will tell you that it has a huge - and positive -- impact.
Wide receiver Reggie Wayne of the Indianapolis Colts has had an extremely successful career. However, what his mother, Denise Wayne, sees is the development of her son from a boy to a man.
"Football has enhanced him to be the young man that he is, his morals his values," she said. "It's given him the discipline to do things that are right. Football is a great discipline. It shows a man how to be a man. It's a responsibility. Kids look up to you. You have big shoes to fill."
For Ann Cockrell, mother of Pro Football Hall-of-Fame running back Thurman Thomas, she saw football teach her son how to be part of something bigger than just himself - not just in football, but in life.
"Thurman was an only child," Cockrell said, "so he learned not to be selfish, to work as a team and that gave him a lot of responsibility. And in life that's what you have to do. You have to be a team player."
Wilma McNabb, mother of Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb, discusses how football created a solid foundation for her son, impacted his overall maturation as an adult and how that has served as a message and inspiration for others.
"Donovan has matured into a man that I am so proud of," she said. "I think that working with a team and being a team leader made him the man that he is. You want to be able to get boys off the streets and into something. If they see what that little Donovan from Chicago did then they know that they can do it, too."
When it comes down to it, football can truly make someone a team player, in more ways than one.