Moon's Minute: Don't Underestimate Chemistry

One of the NFL's all-time greats, Warren Moon will be contributing a weekly column to NFLHS.com this season. An outstanding quarterback at every level, Moon played 17 years in the NFL and six years before that in the CFL. He owns the NFL record for most passes completed in a season (404, 1991), is second in NFL history in passing yards-per-game (527, vs. Kansas City, Dec. 16, 1990), and stands third in the NFL record books in passing attempts and completions. The 1977 Pac 8 Player of the Year for the University of Washington and an All-American at Hamilton High School in Los Angeles, Moon is not only a leader on the field. He was named the NFL Man of the Year in 1989 for the tremendous work he does with numerous charitable organizations.

My senior year was my best year at Hamilton. When I became the starter my junior year, we were a very young team. I think we were something like 5-4 my junior year. In my senior year, we went all the way to the city championship semifinals. We won our conference and I was named Conference Player of the Year.

We didn't have that many outstanding players on our team, but we had a really good team. We didn't have a lot of guys that went on to Division I football, but they were good high school football players. We worked well together because we were really close. We played together in the summer leagues in LA I used to organize all of those. We played three times a week, so we really bonded and built good team chemistry through that.

That wasn't all, though: we'd eat meals together, too. I always believed in getting guys together off the football field. I did that all the way through my pro career. I'd organize parties, meals, all types of things, because after games and practices a lot of the guys would just go in their own directions, and then there were some clicques inside the team as well: the defensive backs would hang out together, the offensive line would hang out together I wanted to get the whole team together so you would talk to someone you might not ordinarily hang out with. I feel that it helped build more camaraderie among the team.

Come back next week for more from Warren Moon!

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Warren Moon: A Lot to Think About
Warren Moon: De La Salle - Poly Preview
Warren Moon: Improving Your Athleticism
Warren Moon: Fundamentals Are Key
Warren Moon: Success Through Adversity