Perhaps we should clap on every play, or have the coaches play a clap tape. Possibly a ratings system like in the olympics could be instituted, with every player having his own section, so we can be sure whether one players good performance comes courtesy of another players poor performance or not, as was the concern of the OP.
Or, we can just figure that the fans are trying to support the players as much as possible, and even if they get it wrong a little, it really is nice to see.