The first 7 astronauts were heroes before they flew and all space historians agree they were more individualists than the later ones.

Wasn't Grissom the one who took the sandwich to space during Gemini 3, with all the implied risks of crums floating in the cabin?

Also,during his Mercury flight, the hatch blew open too early, which made him order Young to stay inside the Gemini 3 capsule , at landing, with closed hatches until the very end of the recovery (making both of them seasick)..And we know how difficult it was to open the Apollo 1 hatch.

The natural leaders of the second selections (Borman, Mc Divitt Armstrong) flew fewer times than those who accepted being first commanded by another one (Conrad, Lovell, Stafford, Young).
But everyone agrees it's the second astronaut selection that produced the most prestigious spacemen.

It must have been a combination of events (the progressing Gemini flights, the experience needed for Apollo), skills (no more just macho test pilots but test pilots with degrees (education) and team spirit) and learning from the experience and mistakes of the first selection.

Armstrong is not as outspoken as most of the others, true, but that kept him away from making unwanted declarations. Whenever he said something, he had it right.....
And don't forget: he is the one who came up with the historic words.."That's one small step....."
NASA is definitely thankful Neil was the First One!