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The huddle is where everything begins.  During a quarterback’s career, no matter how short lived, he has found himself staring eye to eye with his 10 teammates in a tight knit circle hundreds of times including games and practices.  The huddle is the last bastion of encouragement, instruction, and non-verbal affirmation of trust in one another before approaching the line of scrimmage.  The play is called, the snap count given, and a cue of “ready’ followed by all eleven players clapping their hands together once and simultaneously yelling “break” as they begin the jog to the line. If done right, an assertive break of the huddle accomplishes several things.  First, it signifies to every member of the offense that the collective unit is ready to attack the play with the confidence and determination to win that particular down. Second, it lets the defense know that they are going to have their hands full for the next six seconds and probably for the rest of the game. An emphatic break of the huddle can even be heard from the stands.  If enough members of the offense decide to break the huddle without clapping their hands or yelling “break”, the unit sounds weak and without purpose.  If this occurs during a game, there isn’t time to correct the problem.  If this happens during practice, the quarterback (or the coach) will call everyone back to break the huddle again.  If a leader allows the unit off the hook by continuing to approach the line knowing that the break was not up to standard, bad things have the potential to start happening.  Number one, the QB knows in his own mind that he has not done his job of holding himself and his teammates accountable to their expectations of excellence.  Second, the defense may sense that they have a mental advantage given that the offense doesn’t sound ready to play.  Yelling one word while clapping once and jogging a few yards doesn’t require a great deal of effort.  Whether our huddle consists of ten teammates or just the man in the mirror, our day starts with an attitude.  That attitude is determined by a decision.  And that decision can set off a chain reaction of events that can last well beyond six seconds.