Bill Belichick: 8x Super Bowl Champion on Winning, Leadership, and Discipline

0:00 The big thing about preparation and success is is the price has to be paid in advance. You have to put in the work before you get any results. If you can eliminate all those things, then you can actually make progress on being a better football player and and winning games. Was there ever a time where you kept a player on the roster who might not have made it from a talent level, but sheer work ethic sort of kept them around not only because they were improving, but because they made everybody else prepare harder? Yeah, absolutely. Let's start with Tom Brady.

0:32 Welcome to the Knowledge Project. I'm your host, Shane Parish. In a world where knowledge is power, this podcast is your toolkit for mastering the best of what other people have already figured out. Today's guest is Bill Belichick.

0:45 Coach Belichak is an eight-time Super Bowl champion, who's widely considered the greatest football coach of all time. He is the only head coach in NFL history to win six Super Bowls, all with the New England Patriots. He's currently the head coach of the University of North Carolina football team. And this conversation needs no introduction. This is amazing. I'm so happy to have Coach Belichick on. It's time to listen and learn. When I thought about where to start, I think The place that came to mind was the sign you had in the Patriots facility. And as every employee walked in, they read these four things. Do your job.

1:26 Work hard. Be attentive and put the team first. Right. Why did you want everybody in the organization to read that on the way into work? Well that's really our game plan every day. Um didn't matter whether it was um A day in the off season, a day in training camp, or the day before the AFC championship game, or the day of the AFC championship game.

1:45 Those things never really changed. That uh We all had a job to do, whatever that happened to be, and every job was important. Every member of the team was important that they do their job well. And being attentive and working hard, uh is really the formula to getting better. That's how you improve. You

2:01 You figure out what it is you need to do better, and that's by being attentive and listening to Um people who can instruct you or or help you get better. And then putting the work in to to make that positive change. And always thinking team first. Um, that's that's always the most important thing. What do we need to do to win? And what can I do to contribute to the winning cause and

2:21 So regardless of what the task was, whether it was a coach, a player uh staff member, um, really any employee. It it kinda fit for all of them. So um And again, because we played and practiced in the same facility, as I said, it didn't matter whether it was the AFC championship game or whether it was a a day in March or a day in June. Um it it was the same every day. And so we strove for that consistency.

2:47 What does it mean to work hard? There was a term in your book that stuck out to me called eye wash. Working hard. Sometimes people can come in and and put in their time and check the box. You know, a player can come in put on his gear, go out, run around, break a sweat, take a shower and say, Well, I you know, I practiced today, I Well, but if you don't really accomplish anything, then that really is not not working hard. It's actually we refer to it as a day off.

3:12 Um, no days off actually means, you know, you come to work and you go to work. You don't come to work, check the box, kill the time and then leave. Uh you need to be productive while you're there. So Um You know, that it's really a just a way of saying, Yes, we're gonna put in the work, but we need to accomplish uh the things that we set out to accomplish for that for that day and then build on those tomorrow.

3:34 Was there ever a time where you kept a player on the roster who might not have made it from a talent level, but sheer work ethic? sort of kept them around not only because they were improving, but because they made everybody else prepare harder. Yeah, absolutely. Let's start with Tom Brady. Tom Brady was a fourth string quarterback his rookie year. Uh, he had three players ahead of him and um

3:56 And You know. He just he just worked his way up. Uh no no team keeps four quarterbacks at at any level. High school, college, the NFL It's it's really almost unheard of. Um

4:07 And He he he would be exhibit A. Um Steve Neal, you know, a a guy who never played high school football, never played college football, was a was a wrestler. in college and and then became uh you know an offensive guard starter for us for seven years, Julian Edelman.

4:24 who played uh quarterback in college and and then became a receiver and upon returner two positions that he never played. in college in the NFL. Um and became very good at'em. So Yeah, absolutely. That work ethic and that day to day improvement when you just stack those days together on top of each other for a sustained period of time on You know, it levels out the talent.

4:46 Um Sure, talent's important, but Uh guys with a great work ethic and and who really are committed to improving can catch a lot of players with more talent who don't work as hard. Is there an example of a player who just had outrageous talent but didn't work hard at all that sort of ended their career a lot earlier or they never made it, you know, they got to the

5:06 The big league and then they they sort of just faded away. Um, yeah, sure. I mean there are lots of'em, um, unfortunately. Uh you know, I referred to one of them in the book that, you know, talk about coming in and being a running back and you know, being a combination of uh you know, two great running backs that were in the hall of fame and Yeah, I think he had barely a hundred yards in his entire career.

5:27 So it's uh Uh, you know, talent's one thing, but the application of turning that talent into being a productive football player and a great teammate. All is is It's hard to do. It it's not that easy and and talent gets you through high school. It might get you through um college, but once you get to

5:46 The NFL level. Uh that talent. Uh that field levels out and There are only a few players that have such elite talent that they they don't have to work very hard and can stay better than a lot of their competitors. Um for the other

6:00 Ninety five percent. Um If they don't stay on it, they're either gonna get replaced or in a lot of cases players that don't trade hard will get injured. And their careers are getting cut short that way because they don't you know, commit to a a good training regimen.

6:15 Are competitive people competitive everywhere? I think of like you, Michael Jordan, Tom Brady, and you're always competitive in every everything you're doing. And I'm wondering if that's a trait of hyper competitive people or just the ones that reach the pinnacle of success. No, I think it's I think it it transcends everything. It's unbelievable how competitive guys are. Uh literally over nothing. I mean it could be for a T shirt. Um there's guys are making millions of dollars and it's for a for a T shirt or a um you know, uh not having to run a couple of sprints or uh an hour later on curfew, uh they'll compete and it and it and honestly it isn't even necessarily for the prize at the end. It's just to be able to say, you know, I I won, I competed and you know, I I beat you today or

7:01 Um if they don't win just the the love of the competition, the the love of the prize uh in and fighting for that, the the pride to say, Hey, you know, um we would have a lot of kinda team competitive events like um for example trivia. You know, or know your teammate. Um and you know, ask questions about different teammates of Um you know, maybe what position they played in high school or maybe another sport they play or

7:28 you know, some other random fact about teammates and And play offense against defense, or the wide receivers against the D B, or the O line against the D line. and the rookies against the veterans and you know, create different competitions and uh whether it's free throw shooting or cornhole or trivia uh or you know, all different things like that. Um guys that like to compete love to compete and and um It was a lot of fun actually to to move some of the targets around for the competition.

7:58 Um, you know, some guys are good at free throw, some guys are good at trivia, some guys are good at uh you know uh closest to the hole, golf shots, you know, whatever it is. Um but it's just fun to see him compete. Uh one of the best things we did, Shane, was we would have Usually one of our rookie offensive and defensive linemen. uh would compete against each other uh to catch a plant. Right. And so you put a a you know, an offensive tackle and a defensive tackle back there and

8:23 And uh you know, you go one at a time and the punter would would punt and you know, we'd make sure that it was at least four seconds hang time. So that you know, the ball was up in the air and then Um, whichever You know, whichever guy caught it first. um then that group would win and the other group would have to do extra sprints or the the group that won would get out of bed check or you know whatever it was. But it it was a good way of team building because all the players were rooting for their their guy. who had never caught a punt in his life, probably, right? You know, watching Vince Wilfort and Matt Light back there catching punts, uh, you know, trying to track the ball and catch it and and of course I made him

9:02 Plump, you know, so the returner had the sun in his eyes. Uh you know, had to deal with that. Uh but you know, to watch those guys do something they hadn't done before for Some type of a reward. uh was uh you know it was a great team building exercise and and um

9:18 They but they they do they love to compete. Competitors are the the guys that really love to compete. Um You know, are are honestly The guys that get the most out of their talent. You know, because they just are are determined to work hard, prepare and and go right to the very end. They might not be as talented as somebody else.

9:38 But they They play and compete. You know, to the max. You mentioned the last dance in your book. What w what was your reaction to watching that? I mean, I thought it was awesome and you know, Jordan's one of the greatest competitors uh in any sport ever

9:52 And Um You know, just just you know, his competitive spirit. is uh you know

9:59 up there with the guys that he played with, like Lawrence Taylor at North Carolina, those guys they still compete all the time on the golf course. So Um I I thought it was, you know, a great insight into it. You know, Brady's a tremendous competitor. Julian Edelman, Bruske. Bruce came back from stroke and and continued to play, you know, some of those guys, Rodney Harrison, uh it's just It's it's at an elite level, which it should be in the National Football League, but it's it's just at an elite level. I think one thing that surprised a lot of people when I talked to friends who maybe casually follow the sports, um, it was how much

10:33 You know, Jordan's teammates had maybe a not love relationship with him. Always. And Do you think that's true? Yeah, I wasn't around him uh enough to you know Th the comment about that, but

10:45 Um I I think if you don't really like to compete. that a a top competitor will kinda wear you down and it kinda Um No, I'll say resist to it, but you know, just to resist and feed at that level.

11:00 Um, so uh I I have seen that from time to time. But the guys that really love to compete love to compete and they just join in there and and compete with them. One of the things you you said in the book is you you cannot win until you keep from losing, which reminds me of inversion from Charlie Munger. What what does that mean in a football Context. Oh boy. Oh where do we start?

11:22 Um Anything that Anything that prevents you from achieving your best. Um That you control.

11:30 So it's not the opponent. It's it's something that happens internally. Examples would be Um you know, guys getting uh suspended for uh performance enhancing drugs or Guys that uh

11:44 Uh wouldn't hydrate. And would Whole muscle. Yeah, pull a hamstring, pull a grind, pull a calf. Uh because they weren't fully hydrated.

11:54 Those aren't That's not Buffalo. That's not the Jets. That that's us. That's us. And in the game, um I'd say two of the biggest examples. Well, there's a lot of'em, but let's start with penalties. Um pre-snap penalties, so penalties that happened before the ball snapped.

12:10 Those are our fault. You can't blame'em on the other team. Falk illegal motion, too many men on the field, delay a game. Like all that, that's that's our inefficiency. That's not our opponents. And really for the most part post whistle penalties, plays that happen after the whistle of blow has blown.

12:28 Getting a guy out of bounds, taunting, illegal celebration. You know, stuff like that were Uh you just get carried away emotionally in the moment and and cost your team, you know, personal fouls. rough and a pass or rough and a punter or stuff like that that That really happens after the play is over.

12:45 Those are examples of of beating yourself. You know, you can't win until you keep from losing. Those plays aren't because of what the opponent did. Those plays are because of either our lack of concentration, communication, discipline, whatever it happened to be. And I'm not just putting it on the players, I'll put it on the coaches too. You know, that's our responsibility. Uh to eliminate those. Um and other things, turnovers, for example, when when the offense turns the ball over Uh and the defense doesn't make a good play. It's just the offense fumbling a snap, uh fumble and a handoff, uh the ball goes off a receiver's hands.

13:18 uh pops up in the air and the defense intercepts it. Uh plays like that that don't have anything to do really with good defense. Um the offense just gives the ball away. you know, snap the ball over the guy's head, the quarterback's head, snap it over the punter's head, drop the snap, um stuff like that. Just plays that are Poorly executed.

13:37 Buy us. So As you can see, it's a long list, Shane. Uh some of'em are off the field and some of'em you know, some of'em are on the field. You know, and college football would be you know, being academically ineligible. I mean that's No, that's not your opponent's fault. That's you know

13:52 That's that's a lack of commitment and And um, you know, doing the require academic work to be eligible to play. So Those would all be examples of you can't win until you keep from roots. And if you can eliminate all those things, then you can actually make progress on being a better football player and and winning games. I remember reading something a while ago about the difference between Um

14:12 being beaten and losing. And it sounds like what you're saying there is kind of hinting at that. Yeah, oh absolutely. Uh you know, we've always said more games are lost than one in the national football league league. And when I say lost, I'm saying those type of things, missed opportunities, um, missed assignments, um, poor clock management. Just just fumbling the situation more than the other team um

14:38 You know really really playing well to win. A lot of times if you just kinda get out of the way and let the other team make a mistake, they'll make one and and you can capitalize on it and take advantage. Now not all the time, again, you know, as you go deeper into the season and play play better teams and play offs and things like that, that happens less frequently, but Um, in a lot of close games, when you go back and really look at the way the game the outcome of the game was

15:04 The team that lost. really probably should have won. or or had uh had many good chances to win. And and just Kinda messed it up.

15:13 And Uh more than like I said, the winning team going out there and making all these spectacular plays. So again The big thing is Um You know, number one, keep from losing, and number two

15:25 Make the plays you're supposed to make. I mean, sure there's some great plays out there, but Before we get to the great plays, let's just make the the plays that you know you're supposed to make, just the the regular ones, the normal ones, and that's execution, concentration, uh, and discipline to to do it all the time. You tell your players to focus on the the drawer to help them focus on what matters. What is the drawer and how does it help? Drawers are

15:51 Um was a saying that that we used to Uh, especially at the end of the year, like as you get into the holidays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, and then the play offs. Um you know, the end of the season's in sight and wherever you are, you know, you've put in you know, all the work back into the spring, training camp, you know, ten, twelve, fourteen regular season games, whatever it is.

16:13 And now you're really coming, you know, coming down the home stretch. And and the drawer was just a way of saying Um, unless it's a a family or personal thing that's really important. Um put it in a drawer deal with it after the season. You know, you Do you need to go to sign these cards at the mall? Do you need to

16:33 Um You know Go look for a new electronic whatever it is. Can you put those things aside and just Finish the season, spend that time on preparation for our opponents, spend that time on um, you know, rest, recovery, training, so that you're your absolute best when we really need you here in these last few stretch weeks. And and as you know

16:55 You know, Shane, when you get to a certain point, every it's a one game season. You know, if you lose, you're done. And if you win you get to play another week, so When you get into that scenario, clear it off until next week. And if you're in it next week, clear it off until the week after that. Um, but this is what we've worked all year for. Put those things in the drawer and then

17:15 And then open the drawer when the season's over. No, we would joke about it and you know, guys would say, Hey coach, you know, my drawer's getting pretty full here. Um so you know what, maybe you need a bigger drawer, or maybe you need two drawers. Uh but the idea was to to put those things um on the back burner and focus on on the very special opportunity that we had in front of us. Which was playoffs or or championships.

17:38 One thing that seems to have evolved since you started coaching is that time becomes more fragmented now. Players have cell phones, they have more distractions. They're, you know, I don't have an hour to sit there and and do a meeting. I'm I have all these competing things for my attention. How have how have cell phones changed the locker room culture and made coaching easier or harder? Or technology in that way. Well, first of all, we don't have cellphones and Apple watches and things like that in our meetings, so that They're not

18:06 When the meetings are over, you know, a lot of times the guys race to see what, you know, messages and texts and so forth are there. Um, you know, I my thing on that has always been Again, other than you know, family and and very personal situations. Um You know, the guys that are most important to to each of us are the guys in that locker room.

18:25 You know, the guys that you um you know, win and lose with and live and die with each day and that you count on them and they count on you. So uh was really very important for us to to focus on those relationships and I I tried to downplay the You know, how many likes or thumbs up or whatever you get on different social platforms. I don't even know what those are

18:47 Um but what's more important is what the guy next to you thinks about you. And the respect that that you ha guys have for each other and the trust that you have in each other. And and that's something that, you know, in a you know, on a football team you you just you earn every day. Um every day you come to work uh as a coach. You know, you earn the trust and respect of your players and and your other coaches by

19:09 being prepared by showing that you're there to help the team and you can help the team win. And again it's the same thing for every player and and when you earn that every day you build that trust and and you build a cohesive team. And when you don't You know, those are the players that Again, that other players don't don't trust as much. Is he gonna run the right route? Is he gonna be at the right depth? Is he gonna block the right guy? Is he gonna be in the right gap?

19:32 And And that causes Uh, when you don't know what your teammate's gonna do, that causes a lot of hesitation on your part and you're kinda waiting to see what he's gonna do instead of knowing what he's gonna do, and then you can aggressively do your job because you're confident of the people beside you. And um I learned a lot about that with the um especially with the Navy SEALs, those elite teams. I mean you know, Blue Angels would be another example, you know, those guys fly eighteen inches apart and you know, the amount of trust and preparation and and teamwork that's involved in something like that going

20:04 You know, six hundred miles an hour or seven whatever it is. Um is is pretty amazing. But you know, the seals, it's the same thing. Like everybody's got a job to do and And you learn your teammates so well that you can even in a dark room uh, you know, pick out his you know, his silhouette or or something about him that identifies him and and, you know, each of you count on each other to do their jobs and accomplish the missions and Um

20:29 Yeah, that's Obviously that's at the highest level football. We're not talking about life and death here, but We are talking about the championship level of performance of having that same type of trust and and um And belief and and confidence in your teammates so that you're never questioning what they do.

20:47 And you can be more aggressive in in in doing your job and there's never that look over your shoulder of Is he where he's supposed to be? You know, if you know he is, then then you can perform better. So Um Those are kind of the you know the themes that we we try to instill there. I remember talking to a Navy SEAL once and he said, You know, when things get hard

21:06 You're doing it for the person next to you when you want to quit or when you wanna give up or How much of that is in football too? I think there's definitely a carry over on that. You're You know, you're you're playing for the team, but you're playing for the guy beside you too. You know, and And uh especially in a sport like football or in in a real kind of battle situation like like the SEALs are involved in

21:27 Um yeah, you're talking about potentially getting hurt or you know, or or or worse in a SEAL situation. Where You know That guy beside you, like you have to count on him to to do his job to and you do yours for the same reason to protect each other. One your most famous press conferences, you said SnapFace or something, and I I literally spit out my water when I heard you say that. I was listening to the about social media. You're like, Snap face or whatever the hell it is. Like Yeah.

21:56 Oh, I've battled those social media platforms and uh And and now I'm actually on one. So um college football is Uh it's kinda changed that a little bit. I mean I'm not too active on it, but I am on it. But Um but again, I look I don't really have anything per se against social media. It's just You know, prioritizing it and and as I said, I think that in a football locker room, the relationships between the players, the team, and the coaches are

22:23 are paramount, uh, more so than people you've never met or seen or or heard of before what their opinions are. And so I always you know, try to encourage our players to Um Yeah, not be too consumed with that, but

22:37 You know, won't worry about the guy next to you. That's the one that matters the most. How is technology changing the way that players prepare in the sense of uh you know, the story that comes to mind is sort of Jaden Daniels last year using VR to get more reps. H how walk me through how technology's changing and where it's really impacting Uh people who are willing to put in the work. Yeah, that system that Jaden Daniels uh was referring to is one that he used at LSU and and then um also used uh with the commanders last year.

23:07 Uh it's actually one that we have as well. It's it's uh one that's very hard to get. It's only available very selectively and and so I'm pretty familiar with it. Um and it's an incredible system. It it enables you to see the game, you know, on a pair of goggles, um, in real life in real space. And it it actually feels like you're getting hit. It feels like um you're you're right in the middle of the game, but you're actually able to see things. Um

23:31 what you do and then you can program in what your opponents do. uh to create a a a very realistic picture. And then you're also able to adjust the speed so you could actually play the game at let's call it A hundred and five or a hundred and ten percent. of the actual speed.

23:47 Um so that theoretically you're you're having to react even quicker than you would in in a real game situation. So Um, I can see, you know, how that could really help, especially uh for skill positions uh like quarterback or um I'm

24:04 You know. Positions like Like that where you can you you You have to see a lot of things. uh very quickly and and identified quickly what you know what decision you're gonna make.

24:15 That's true of every position, the quarterback, especially when you talk about distributing the ball. Um And and also for a player who's um who's injured. Um so let's just say that you had a leg injury and you weren't able to to practice uh or run full speed for a couple of days.

24:32 Um you could actually see the game through this product. And Get your recognition and your reads without actually having to run and and Yeah.

24:44 uh that physically you're just not you know what not ready for. Um but I'd say a lot of the other technology is just, you know, things that maybe make it go a little bit faster, ways of grouping plays together, or grouping situations together that you know, allow you to to research and and um analyze those things a little bit quicker, but That's probably about across the board about the same for everybody. They all We all have the same opportunity on that. I mean, ultimately a lot of those situations come down to preparation, but also maybe a gut feel of the way the game's going.

25:16 You said in your book the price of success is paid in preparation. But you also said it was a way of working. What did you mean by that? Well, I think the big thing about preparation and success is Is the price has to be paid in advance.

25:32 You have to put in the work before you get any results. So there's no way to to honestly know how good your preparation is or isn't Um that's why I always try to emphasize keep preparing, keep working. Um you don't know what the other guy's doing. He might be

25:49 you know, working just as hard as you are in in that preparation. You know, y it can't be after the fact of like, Oh, I wish I would have studied more It's too late at that point. You have to do it on the front end. So Um Getting a traditional.

26:02 Um, you know, studying preparing all your film and your opponents and all that. Like those things are are all have to be done on the front end and you know, a lot of times Uh, there's I would say a little bit of a tendency to just sort of let up on the preparation. Well, I watched some film, well I've done some extra sprints. Well, I've done this, I've done that. Well, is it but is that enough?

26:23 You know, is it really enough? And and If you do more, will it make a difference? Um not to the point of diminishing returns, but to the what point of you know, comprehensive preparation. So Um

26:35 That that's really what we try to ex uh try to um I'll emphasize on that. The way that I think about that is sort of the you know, the pain of losing is sharp, but it's over fairly quickly, but the pain of regret Not putting in the work, not doing the things, you didn't leave it all in the field, that lasts forever. Exactly. That's exactly it.

26:56 The pain of regret is much more than than the pain of preparation. Absolutely. I think you had a twenty four hour rule sort of after winner losses, you have twenty four hours to think about it and then you're you move on. Is that That's right. Yeah, you play the game, you go back, you analyze it, you what do we do well, what did we do poorly, what do we need to do better, what adjustments should we have made, what coaching errors did we make. And so forth and and then you you factor all that into

27:22 you know, how does that affect this next week? Sometimes there's a lot of carryover. Sometimes the play team you play the following week is completely different and Some of those lessons may not really become ac applicable for a week or two weeks or three weeks. Until you see a you know a similar type of opponent.

27:39 Um, say like a scrambling quarterback, you know, maybe you play two or three weeks where those quarterbacks Aren't you mobile and then when you get up against another scrambling quarterback, you go back and look at a how you know, how how do we need to to handle this better? Uh against this type of an opponent. So Um but yeah, you look at all those things after twenty four hours, win or lose or draw.

27:59 Are you Yeah. take your lessons and and you decide how you're gonna incorporate any of those things into this week's preparation and practice, uh what we're gonna do differently, or maybe do more of, or do less of, whatever it is. Um and then You're done with that and you move on to your opponent and and spend the next uh

28:19 Five days. Six days, whatever it is, of just You know, digging in on that opponent and And what they do. Talk to me about the relationship between the best talent in the world and

28:31 You know, you're playing in the NFL, you're coaching in the NFL and confidence. Well, again, it it's all relative, you know, Shane. I mean, as good as um As good as as the players are in the NFL Um the guys on the other side of the ball are pretty good too. And um

28:48 You know, I'd say every team, generally speaking, every team has about you know, five or six players there. Elite. Have elite payments, elite contracts. Uh, and then you might have some younger players in their first through fourth year.

29:03 Yeah. Two or three, four, whatever those. That are elite players that just haven't hit those top contracts yet. Um But they don't necessarily match up in the same position. You might have a tackle, I might have a guard, you might have a linebacker, I might have a a corner, and so forth.

29:18 Um Um the way those elite players match up is is very um specific from game to game. And how you want to match them, your your matches against theirs. And how you want to deal with that is, you know, that's uh a big part of it. I I think the confidence thing is really

29:37 Um interesting. I I think what really separates the great players Um is their ability to do it even when the bullseye's on their back every week. Um, like it was with Tom Brady, like it was with Lawrence Taylor, like it is with Patrick Mahomes, um, like it is with you know Players like that, Lamar Jackson and so forth. Every week the the teams are geared towards stopping those players and game planning against them or putting their best guy on them or or however they're gonna handle them.

30:04 And for those players to continue to be productive. um in spite of the game plan attention they get. Is is what truly makes those players, you know. I think that um

30:17 You know, when we had Coby Bryant come in and talk to our team, I think it was around eight two thousand eighteen, nineteen, somewhere in there. And You know, Kobe talked a lot about evolving. You know, and he said Um

30:31 You know, look, it when I was twenty two, twenty three. You know, I could just get the ball and drive by anybody and and score. He said, I can't do that anymore. I still score, but I found different ways to score. moving without the ball, jump shots and you know

30:47 being better in pick situations and all those kind of things. Um that you know, he said I found I found ways to evolve my game. Um because I just couldn't do the things I used to be able to do as well. Um, but there are other things I found that I can actually do better.

31:04 And I thought that was a great message for all of us to hear that as we Um you know, as w as we go through our careers. Do the things that are working, do the things that are you can do well, but also evolve, continue to learn, continue to, you know, find ways to to be productive that are maybe a little out of your comfort zone or Um Or not.

31:25 um, you know, habitual for you now. But if you can become good at'em. Um, they can be great. You know, great tools for you. Are there any other people that you brought to speak from sort of different sports that sort of had

31:39 Uh a different message that resonated with you or the team and just stands out in your mind? Oh yeah, we had a lot of'em. Yeah, we had a lot of them and and it was great because, you know Just the guys, you know, they hear a lot of football stories, but it's good to hear all the ones uh one of the ones I thought was particularly entertaining, a couple of them, one was uh Paul Asciante. They won like

32:01 Fourteen national championships in a row. They won like a hundred and sixty some games in a row, matches in a row. I mean and At the Patriots, we were favored in almost every game, you know. Not every game, but most every game for quite a while.

32:16 And so you know, I brought Coach Aceante and I said, you know Here's guys won like thirteen straight national championships. They won one hundred and sixty some matches in a row. I mean you talk about being favored now, like They're favored. And And and like let's listen to what that's really like. And he was great. He talked about

32:34 It it doesn't matter whether you are or aren't, or how many you have or haven't won. Every day is an opportunity. You make the most out of each day and you just get better each day. And you don't worry about what you've done in the past. You just you look at today's opportunity and make the most out of it. It was great. So One of our coach one of our players takes his hand up and says, Hey coach. I have a question. What's squash? I thought it was a vegetable.

32:58 Ha. Jimmy Johnson, you know, we were going into the playoffs and and Jimmy came up and he was doing a um Uh you know, a story on somebody and I said, Hey, would you mind, you know, talking to teams. So he said, Yeah, let me tell you a little play off story here. You know, when I was in Dallas, we were getting ready for the playoffs and

33:16 Uh, we're in a special teams meeting. I'm standing in the back and I see I see one of our one of our players back there kinda dozing off and and not paying attention. And he said he wasn't a he wasn't a starter, but he played in special teams. And he said it just really annoyed me and so I went over, I flipped on the lights, turned the lights on at me. Yeah, I I went over to him, I said, That's it, you fall asleep in this meeting.

33:38 Uh we don't want you. This is your primary job. You take your playbook and and go see the general manager, you're done, you're cut. Everybody like, Whoa, you know, that that woke everybody up and it you know, it was right before the playoffs. So Yeah, any questions?

33:53 Um. Um What would you have done if that had been Troy Aikman? Should we say well I wouldn't have turned on the lights. I probably would have gone over to him and nudged him and said that Hey Troy.

34:05 Pay attention. And The message was If you have a lot of peltts on the wall You you you might have a little more slack.

34:16 If you don't have a lot of pelts on the wall You don't have any room. You don't have any room. You can't live on What you've done'cause you haven't done enough.

34:26 You better know where you are. And until if if you're Troy Eggman and Tom Brady You you go but he goes, Those guys would never do that anyway. But you m that you might be able to survive that. But if you if you don't have that kind of resume, you haven't had that kind of production for this team.

34:43 So you nobody wants that. You're replaceable. They'll find somebody else who will stay awake in the meetings and who will be more attentive. And uh that's pretty funny. I'd just nudge them and say, Hey, pay attention. Did you treat everybody the same? I remember one story, and maybe it's just uh sort of the press doing the press thing, but were you sent Uh Gerrell Rivas home from practice'cause he was like two minutes late or something. Oh, we had a few of those. Yeah, we had a few of those.

35:11 And honestly, those are tough ones, you know, Shane,'cause when you send a player home It it hurts the team. it it doesn't just hurt the player, it hurts the team because you know, you need the timing and and the communication and the teamwork out there, but I try to treat'em all the same, but I I do think Jimmy Johnson, I believe that, and and Coach Parcel's uh you know, same thing. Yeah, this did the same thing. There were

35:35 Um, certain players got a little more grace than others based on Um You know uh what they had done for us and and they I would say kinda earned that. So Um

35:46 I tried not to do that, but there were times when you know when I did I but I try to treat everybody the same even though they're not all the same. Uh, but you certainly want everybody to feel that You know, we're all team members and it's not um You know, we don't have a an elite society here. We have different ranks and certain f players can do s some things and other players couldn't. So

36:08 I try to make it as consistent as possible, but at the same time Uh I think you have to be flexible in in a professional football environment. for some latitude and and maybe for some It's called exceptions to your rules. You sent one player home from the Superbowl for having somebody in his hotel room

36:27 Was that a hard decision or was that a How did you make that? Was that team first and you violated the rules you're you're out or You know, I made it very clear before we went down there. That you know, it was a business trip and yeah, we had a great year and

36:41 And we were all celebrating the the Superbowl and and uh and what we had accomplished to get there. Um, but here are the rules and And You don't have to break the rules. Go to the other person's room if you want to be with them, but our flour secure.

36:57 And And at the Superbowl in particular, there's a good reason for that. Um, you know, with Super Bowl tickets and and guys with valuables and stuff like that. If it's not one of our players on the floor. I don't know whether that person is a friend of our players.

37:13 Or an intruder. There's really no way to know and no matter w you know, I mean unless I knew the person for some reason. But you know what I mean, you just don't know who that person is. So our policy was Players only on the floor. Period. That's it.

37:27 And so um You know, it was unfortunate because I wasn't trying to say hey you can't have guests or you can't, you know be with your friends or your your companions or anything. That wasn't it. It's just Don't do it on that floor.

37:42 Do it somewhere else. I don't care. And And again, I was trying to protect the players by not having people on our floor that we didn't know. Uh, that could roam in and out of rooms or could You know, and and if you don't

37:56 If you don't remove those people, then you end up with You know, potentially somebody leaves their room, then that person walks in and then you have a big mess on your hands. So That was our policy, not just in that game, but everywhere, but unfortunately uh because that game was, you know, we were there for five days. Um

38:13 I just felt like it was a a blatant violation of our rule. I wanna come back to confidence for a second. One of the follow ups I meant to ask, was there ever a moment where you had your confidence shaken? And how did you handle that? Oh plenty of times. Um I I mean, honestly Shane, there were times when

38:33 You know, I I wasn't sure if we were gonna win another game the entire year. You know, and Yeah, we ended up Winning a lot of them. You know, but sometimes you just see Um

38:46 problems and and maybe you wanna fix them, but you just don't have the resources to fix'em, or you've tried a couple of different things and it still isn't really uh the way you want it and you can see in the future some real problems coming up with your opponents and some matchups and Whatever the case might be and and you're like I mean, I don't know. Like I I mean

39:08 Mm-hmm. I'm trying to fix this, but I just don't feel very confident that that we actually are gonna be able to handle it the way we need to. And uh And ultimately, you know, in in most cases Um

39:21 It wasn't as maybe as bad as what I thought it might be. I was expecting the worst and And that usually didn't happen, so that's a good thing, but Um yeah, I don't know if that's a lack of confidence or or I don't know what the exact word is, but Yeah, you definitely have those apprehensions. And certainly opening day Is a is a

39:39 is a difficult day because You don't know very much about your team, you don't very know very much about your opponent's team. Um, and and unless you have a really veteran team You don't know exactly how the team is gonna react. in certain situations, particularly tough and critical competitive situations.

39:59 Um so You know, even though you have a good team, how are they gonna react when you know, you're really in a in a really a tight ball game. And that's That's something that you don't know until you've been in a few.

40:12 Unless you've been in a few with those guys and it's the same guys. When you first started in the NFL, you worked for nothing. You were y you worked part time for nothing and then you switched to full time for nothing. Yeah. And one of the things that you said was I did anything and everything. And I think of this as like a taste for salt water. You do the hard things, but you were snapping the football, but you were like, Oh, the benefit was I got to listen to the coach talk to the QB. And walk me through like how that's changed today and what people miss when they hyper specialize.

40:45 Well, I think one thing that that I see with, you know, some of our younger staff members, coaches and things like that is they're they're very concerned about their title, you know. Could I be the Can I get this title, can I get that title, and the coaches of you know, can I be the run game coordinator, can I be the blitz coordinator, can I be the zone coverage coordinator? Can I be the I mean It's like what are those titles for? Like they don't impress me. I know what your job is.

41:12 I mean Do you need that title to, you know? Validate what you're doing. Or is it for somebody else? And I'm not really interested in helping somebody else. I mean we we all know what we do here. I mean, honestly, I was a general manager

41:26 Um For almost thirty years of my NFL career and I never had a general manager title and that was never important to me. Um doesn't care about what the title is. You just you do the job that you have to do. So

41:41 I see that, but for me When I look back at it retrospectively, um, Shane, the big thing was I was so low on totem pole that I did all the jobs. at the very bottom of the organization. I saw film, I lined the fields, I

41:58 moved equipment out there. I ran off Zero's copies. I You know made notebooks, I sharpened pencil. I did all those things. And

42:09 As you move up in the organization It really helped me because I understood how everything functioned, you know. At the you know at at the At the level of You know, making things work, you know, deliveries and

42:23 you know, mail and stuff like that. I mean, all those things that needed to happen. Um, I understood kind of the process of it, how it worked, and what was hard about those jobs and what wasn't hard about those jobs. And and as I, you know, gain more responsibility in the organization. I was always able to show appreciation for the people that were doing those like, Hey, I know this is really hard or hey, I know this is a tough week. I I could sense what you're going through and and I th think that built some, you know, camaraderie and trust there. But also

42:51 It helped me understand how everything worked. And there were multiple times when people will come to me and say, Oh, coach, we can't do this. You know, we can't do this, we can't do that. And I said, Wait a minute, I've done that job before. We can do that. Here's how you do it. Here's This is how you make this work. And

43:06 And so I I felt very confident about all the aspects of the organization, how they fit together and you know, scouting and coaching and like I said, equipment and video and security. And travel and all those things because I was a part of those. um in one form or another at at different points in my career. So I I think

43:26 You know, for a lot of But people You know, when I talk about we need to start at the bottom, you really need to understand how the organization works. There's a lot of I wanna skip those steps. There's I wanna you know, I just wanna jump up and and coach the line linebackers or the tight ends or whatever it is.

43:42 And I go that's okay. But It would really help you to understand What happens In the

43:51 And if you want to really move up and become a coordinator and a head coach Those will be very valuable for you because you'll understand You know, the the different uh intersections of of various departments and how the organization works and and where the conflicts are. You know, and Sometimes there you just

44:09 Yeah. kind of two people doing the same thing or nobody doing one thing and you you miss that intersection somehow. And And that's just part of it. But you know, how do you avoid those and how do you make that more efficient? So Um I really try to encourage our our The younger people

44:27 you know, to do those jobs and embrace them. Don't How quickly can I get done with this so I can go do something else? No, embrace the job and embrace the process and And you know, understand it because it's gonna help you in the long run. And the other thing is, you know, as I mentioned a couple of times in the book with

44:44 Um, you know, Josh McDaniels and Nick Acerio and Brian Dable. Um I if somebody has one of those jobs and they're really good at it. And they say, Well, I wanna move you, uh you know, I wanna move to more responsibility. And I said, Well, I want you to move to more responsibility too, but first you've got to train somebody to do your job because what you're doing is really valuable. And that's when Brian Dable hired Josh McDaniels to replace him, and that's when Josh McDaniels hired Nick Casario to place him. And so

45:11 Uh, but it forced those guys to make sure that the person that was replacing them was not only good But they train them. the way they needed to be done and and that really heightened our efficiency. But also enable them to move up to um responsibility move up in responsibility. And so

45:30 Um that really worked out well. I was, you know Uh I thought that that was For me that was a good way to handle it because Those guys were very invested. in making sure their replacement did a good job'cause they knew they were going back to do that job if if that person if their replacement failed.

45:48 A lot of people when you ask them to do sort of the unglorious task that just Look at you and say, That's not my job. Yeah. Yeah. It's not my job, or or I'll get to it, you know, tomorrow or I'll get to it next week or whatever.

46:04 And those are Yeah, I I I mean I don't like to have those type of people, you know around and sometimes it's it's inevitable and you have to put something off. I mean, I get that. But

46:15 Um The quicker you get it done, the quicker you can move on to something else and be more productive and you know, the more you procrastinate it, then You know. Yeah. It just slows everything down. So

46:26 Um There's gotta be a priority system. I mean, I'm fully aware of that, but Um You know, but people that want to put stuff off and and kinda hope that it won't need to get done. Um

46:37 They didn't do very well in our organization. One thing you mentioned that stands out to me, I think of this like stepping stones where people have a job, but they see it as a stepping stone to the next job. Right. So they're never fully present in the job that they're doing because they're always looking ahead. And those people don't actually tend to do very well at the next level. Absolutely. And and like I said, then they miss some of the things that they really need to understand at the level that they're at. And again, that's just part of do your job. You know, that's just part of it is is everybody has an important job to do.

47:10 And if you're trying to do somebody else's, then you're probably not doing yours well enough and Um Yeah. Be patient and and you know, you're your opportunities will come, um as long as, you know, you show that you can handle

47:23 The responsibilities that you currently have. But You're right. A lot of times there's a a big rush to move ahead and and that Um a lot of times also brings sloppy work, incomplete work. Um and honestly just a a feeling that

47:38 I don't not really confident promoting that person because You know, they're more interested in what they are gonna be doing than what we need'em to do right now. How would you define discipline? Discipline is is

47:50 is doing the right thing. Over and over again, doing it every time. It's just continuing to do it every time. In in the national football league, the players are very skilled and talented. And

48:02 And I would say, you know, all of them can do something. Um, they can all go out there and produce, you know plays at a very high level. Um The discipline is what

48:13 Is what really separates the players is their their consistency and their discipline to do it. Over and over again. Well so you can count and depend on them. Um, you know.

48:24 Uh at at a very high at a high rate. Are there any stories in your mind that stand out about discipline or consistency involving players you've coached? Well, I mean, I told the story of Edelman, you know, uh catching balls before the Superbowl tennis balls and stuff like that. I mean th those kind of things that Um you know the players do, they have a routine and You know, if a guy's played eight, nine, ten, whatever years

48:48 Um, if they skip a day in the routine, I mean, is it gonna be the end? Probably not. But they're just so disciplined and so consistent to just continue to do it. Uh and maybe even do just a little tiny bit more. Um to to make sure that they're prepared for the game.

49:08 Uh, especially the big games that Um, that's that's just who they are. So I mean I I really I really respect that, but You know, it's it's a little bit like the shopping cart, you know. Um, when nobody's looking, are you gonna take a shopping cart back and put it in the you know, where it belongs or just leave it there in the middle of the parking lot?

49:27 And it's the same thing with a really disciplined uh player and teammate. Um, is is he gonna be disciplined to You know, go in and and get treatment after practice. Um

49:40 You know, even though it's two days before Christmas or, you know, whatever it is. Where is he just disciplined to not let something get in the way of of his productive routine. And that's um Yeah, the

49:54 The guys that do that, um, I would say have for the most part have had very long and productive careers. And and the guys that haven't have careers that that go to a certain point with talent. Uh but they don't have the same

50:08 the same kind of uh longevity and consistency. uh of a player like Matt Slater or Devin McCordy Or Tom Brady or guys like that that people keep saying you just keep waiting for those guys to drop off. Well they're a year older, they're a year older, they're a year older. But you don't see the drop all because their routine and their and their discipline is so consistent.

50:29 that they're able to they're able to sustain that level of performance Um Yeah, uh far longer than really what the expectations in some cases are. Do you believe you can motivate people, and if so, how?

50:42 I think you can definitely motivate'em and and it depends on the person. I think there are different types of motivation. Um You know, we could uh there were times where I think you could really, you know, motivate a player by just, you know, flat out challenging him. Um, based on something that you know somebody else said or Intimated or Something that might have happened in the past.

51:03 Uh think you can, you know, motivate people by Um Uh you know. Especially, you know, sometimes maybe a a more selfish type of player you could motivate by You know, making him see

51:17 uh what the reward is for himself as opposed to the team. Um an example I like to use, Shane, is if you have a a receiver And you want the receiver to come in and block on a running play and come in and block a safety, which is a hard job. Um, you know, some receivers don't really want to do that. They're really not too excited about that. They want to catch passes. Um, but if you say, Well look, if you come in and block this guy

51:40 Um and we need you to block'em as a team. We need you to block him. You've come in and block this guy. Um then the next time we come in and and you'll do the same thing, but fake it. And we'll be able to throw you a a pass when the defense comes up with solid play. Well, the player's not coming in to block'em because you asked them to block him and we knew really need you to block'em. Um Julian Edelman would do that, but um not everybody would necessarily do that. Uh

52:05 But when they understand okay, if I come in and do it this time, that opens up a t opportunity for me the next time. Uh then they might do it. Right. And so now I get what I want, he gets what he wants.

52:18 Um there's some management and motivation in there, but In the end. Um both parties are able to accomplish their goals. I get the team goal.

52:29 The player gets the individual goal. He sacrifices for the team, but for the other reasons. Um so Um I again, I think there are different methods of doing that. It really depends on, you know

52:41 how the player's wired and and maybe what circumstances, you know, you can use. Certainly when you've lost to a team previously, um, that's a pretty good motivator for for most of these guys. Um because you know, you you take those losses personally and Since we lost as a team, that is everybody. It's not You know.

53:00 one guy got a pass caught on him or one guy got a tackle or I mean it's It's a full team law, so a lot of times you can you know, you can generate a lot of um uh energy. toward your opponent by

53:13 Um you know, reference in that, you know, that that loss or situation that might have happened in a previous encounter. As a leader, how did you know when to be hard on players and when to sort of back off? And I'm thinking, you know, when a player makes a critical mistake in a game and they know they've made a mistake, what's your role in that moment? Well, again, Shane I think it depends on the stake, you know, if it's um

53:37 Sometimes, you know, something uh kinda unexpectedly happens and Maybe the player made a bad decision or maybe he did something that You know, he's caught that pass a hundred times and and he's dropped it once and this is the one time. Um You know.

53:52 uh some of those are are a little easier to handle Um I'd say the ones where You know, you've told the player ten times this is what you need to do when this happens. And then they don't do it, I'd say the reaction's a little bit different in that situation. You know, how many times do they have to be told and you know what, maybe

54:08 Maybe y you know, you just don't want to do it. We'll put somebody else in there to do it. As I can see that, you know, you're not Yeah. You you just don't care enough to to follow your assignment. So Um

54:19 You know, it it kinda depends on those. I I think one of the biggest things in football is correcting mistakes. And we all make a lot of'em. Um, but when during the game when time is of the essence and and you don't have much time Um you need to figure out what went wrong pretty quickly and fix it. So

54:37 Uh let's say defensively we came off the field and we'd given up a twenty yard run. Um, and maybe a fifteen yard pass and another third down conversion. And say, Okay, I like what are the issues on these plays. Well Let's say the fifteen yard run.

54:53 with the If one person knows that that they messed the play up. And just says, Hey, it's my fault. I messed it up. Like that was we were in good shape. I was right there. I shouldn't have made the tackle. I just missed the tackle. I'll make that play the next time. Well great. That clears it up for everybody. We all know we're gonna do the same thing we did the last time and and this time I know that You know, my teammate's gonna make the tackle versus

55:16 Um You know kind of a blame game where I was here, I sh you know, I don't know, I should have been there. Should I do this and should I do that? And was I too deep and this and that. And then

55:28 It's you know, what's the issue? How do we fix it? Right. And so if you know you did something wrong, just own it. All right. Admit it. And and let's move on. Um sometimes it's not that simple. Sometimes you kinda have to figure out, Well, I did what I thought I was supposed to do, you do what you were supposed to do.

55:44 He did what he was supposed to do, we still had a problem. Okay, now that needs to be fixed. And so Um But again, identifying mistakes and fixing them quickly. Is really the name of the game and

55:55 If uh as a coach, you know, when I would say Um Look, that was that play was a that was a bad call. I shouldn't have called that defense against uh that personnel group or against that formation. Uh that's my fault. It's all me. I'm not gonna do that again. Forget about that play, it's not gonna come up again because I won't call it again in that situation. Okay, well then all right, we'll so stop worrying about that play. Let's worry about something else. So Owning up to those mistakes and and making the corrections is key.

56:24 If you don't know what it i is exactly then then that's when you have to figure it out pretty quickly whether those are players Or coaches or some combination. because if you don't, you're just gonna keep you know, you'll keep dealing with the same issue over and over again and Yeah, none of us want that.

56:39 When I say the words on to Cincinnati, what does that mean to you? On to Cincinnati, well it it first of all means it was a long night in Kansas City. Um Yeah, we got we got Totally. beaten in that game.

56:54 Um out coached, outplayed, out everything. They were just a far superior team than we were and as a head coach you have to look at that and say You know, I didn't have our team you know, where they should have been and we didn't play well, we didn't do anything well. And it starts with me.

57:11 Um But that game's in the books, it's over and there's nothing we can do about it. We can't get it back. So we're we guess have to move on to Cincinnati. And Make sure that we don't

57:23 perform next week. Like we did last week, you know, don't let one game become two bad games. Don't let it become three bad games. Don't let it become a habit. um change the things that we need to change. So Um We played Cincinnati the following week and you know, our players uh did a great job of

57:41 putting the Kansas City game behind us and Focusing on what we needed to improve on and and do better. And get ready for Cincinnati, who was, you know, a very good football team. as well at that time. And so Um, you know, we're able to do that and

57:57 You know, it it became You know, one of those one of those catch phrases, but Uh really the idea of it was move on. And I'll start getting ready for next week.

58:09 Kind of similar to the situation we had in uh two thousand one uh shame where we you buried the ball, you know, we We lost to Miami. We we didn't play very well. Obviously didn't coach very well. And we came back and, you know, we just took the team out there. I got a shovel. I dug a hole, I took the ball.

58:27 Uh you know, we we put it in the ground, we put the dirt on the ball, we stomp on it, we spit on it, we kicked it, we You know, took our frustrations out. But that was the funeral. Game's over. Done. We lost. Buriedable.

58:43 Buried our feelings. Move on. I'm not saying that was, you know. This great thing, but Visually it

58:51 It's sort of W the point of it was put the game out of your mind. It's over. We've had the funeral Life goes on.

58:59 I've heard you say we're building a team, not collecting talent. What's the difference? The difference is it so it fits together. So that the that the team is functionally as efficient as it can be. Um not just a bunch of guys wearing the same same uniform. Oh, with different numbers, but

59:17 Um a group of people who function well together. You know, as a team. And when you think about football Um Shane football is a is a team of teams. Right. You you have the offense, you have a defense, you have a hands team, you have a punt return team, you have a nickel defense, you have a dime defense, you have a goal line offense.

59:36 And so forth. You have all these teams. And they all come together to form one championship team. And so You know, the idea is Whichever team you're on.

59:48 Um, you need to be the very best team that you can be in that situation, if it's a hands team, that's a punt return team, whatever it is, like that is critical to our success. And you have your responsibilities on that team. I have my responsibilities on some different teams, but ultimately we all come together. And And those shared responsibilities and those shar teams.

1:00:11 Um so that we can operate together functionally as a team. are are really what we're trying to accomplish. So it's not just getting a bunch of guys who you know, can do have good skills, um and can run fast and jump high or whatever. I mean that helps of course, but They have to be able to operate as a team and as a team of teams.

1:00:29 And you know, a lot of that is a mentality is a willingness to uh to communicate and work with and and efficiently uh cooperate with your teammates so that collectively we can accomplish our goals when when our units out on the field. How has coaching changed in the past five years? You know, outside of rules changes and and things like that. Um

1:00:51 Uh you know. There are some trends and I know I think as Look, when you're on defense You have to react to the offense, right? If the offense have three has three tight ends on the field You're not gonna be playing the same defense that you had when they have three receivers on the field.

1:01:08 Um so defensively a lot of what you you have to deal with Now you can say, look, we're gonna play the same thing and make them adjust to us, but I mean there are certain matchups that just become Um you know, difficult to to sustain that philosophy. So

1:01:23 Um again, what I'd say is It's important to defensively be able to adapt to what the offense is doing because ultimately You don't control who they put on the field. You just have to stop'em. you know, offensively

1:01:36 Um you know, you take the talent that you have and try to make the most of it. So Um I was saying college football. Which is where we get our resources from the NFL.

1:01:47 Um, you know, some of that's a function of of what's available. You know, what's coming out. uh what they're teaching in college, what type of players they're developing. Um'cause that's really what you have to choose from. So I do think there are some trends, but fundamentally

1:02:01 It it really comes down to, you know, having good solid fundamentals. Um and doing the little things right. that will enable you to win your one on one matchups and I'd say I don't think those have changed. Too dramatically over the years.

1:02:15 U on the way out of the building, you had a sign that read, Ignore the noise, manage expectations, speak for yourself, and don't believe the fuel or hype. Can you walk me through those? Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Um Well, speak for yourself is is you know, pretty obvious. Um

1:02:36 You know, if you have any comments to make, just make'em, you know, personally, you know, don't say things like Well, Shane's looking really good this year. I mean, he should probably have fifteen sacks the way he's he's rushing the passer. You know, and start making expectations and predictions for other people, things like that. Ignore the noise. I mean There's so much um airtime that's filled.

1:02:56 uh whether it's uh on the radio, on the internet, on T V Of people talking about Football. All right, and players and matchups and everything. And again, with all due respect, and and look, I've been part of that too, so I understand, but

1:03:12 Um you know, with all due respect. The the people that talk about it. haven't been in our building. They haven't watched us practice. They haven't watched us prepare for the game. They don't know what our matchups are. They don't know what You know they don't know what our game plan is.

1:03:26 Um So with all due respect what they say as it relates to us. It doesn't matter. If other fans want to listen to him, I mean, that's great, but you know, when they say, Well You know, Shane Parrish has gotta shut down Belichick or they're gonna lose That's you know, it's just hot air.

1:03:44 So ignore the noise. It's just Ignore what other people who aren't really no don't know what they're talking about or saying And focus on what the people in our building in this room are saying, what your teammates are saying, how they can how you can communicate with them, how you can anticipate a play and

1:04:00 And help them react to it and that kind of thing. Um Yeah, don't feel the hype. You know, when things are going good, I mean People can't wait to You know

1:04:10 You're three and oh and they're selling Superbow tickets and they're already talking about you know, repeats and all this stuff. And Our thing was don't Don't add into that.

1:04:24 We can't control that. Once we say it. Now now we have to own it, you know, and so Oh, Belichick says, you know Um

1:04:34 Oh, we should be in the ASC championship game and we've only played four games. Well then everybody else has to react to that. Oh, Shane, what do you think about what Belichick said? Tom, what do you think about what Belichick said? Grant, what do you think about you know you it just creates a distraction. So Um fueling the hype or believe in the hype. that four games into the season we're talking about an AFC championship game.

1:04:56 is ridiculous. It's just way too premature. So you know, don't deal with that one. What was the last one? Ignore the noise, don't feel the hype, speak for yourself. Manage expectations. Expectations. Right. And so like what are realistic expectations? This week it's to be the team we're playing.

1:05:15 Like our focus is on beating Buffalo this week. That's who we play. That's where we're at. Um You know, in terms of winning the division. You know Which is eight weeks away from now.

1:05:27 Don't talk about man win winning the division like that's not an expectation. We can't achieve that. Right now, even if we wanted to. It's only the fourth game of the year. Now if this was the game to win the division, then okay. Let's talk about winning the division. But until we get to that point You know, manage the expectations. The expectations are

1:05:45 Have a good day today, have a good week, and to win this game. Those are our weekly, you know, and uh expectations. You know, not where we're gonna be in January, who were gonna play in the playoffs or Um again, managing expectations of like oh this guy should go out and you know, he should have two hundred two thousand yards receiving. Why don't you just worry about what you're gonna do and

1:06:09 You know, stop talking about what other people what your expectations are for them. That's speaking for yourself, but that's also uh managing expectations or or a player saying, Well, I expect uh, you know I expect to go to the Pro Bowl. Is that your goal to go to the Pro Bowl or is our goal to win a championship? And let's go back here for a minute. You know what What are our expectations? Like let's

1:06:31 Let's think about what's first things first, put the team first. Yeah, and that's you know, team teammate self, that was the whole You know. Um progression of

1:06:40 Yeah, trying to put the priorities in order for for each of us. I wanna end Uh I usually end with one question about success, but I actually want to change that a little bit here and flip that around and I want to talk about the Atlanta Super Bowl. You're down twenty eight to three. And the thing that astounded me as a fan

1:06:58 uh who's watched a lot of football and a lot of games. uh was that nobody was sort of like hanging their head. You know, you look at Brady on the sideline, you you're down twenty five points, and he still had confidence. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? It's funny. Sometimes you play a game

1:07:15 And you feel like you have control of the game, but you don't have control of the score. And that was that game. Um, I felt like we had pretty good control of the game, but we didn't have control of the score at all. There are other games where you have control of the score. And you don't have control of the game. You know, maybe you're ahead by

1:07:34 Ten points, but You know, they fumbled, they threw an interception, you got a lucky break. and and you're ahead, but you really haven't been able to move the ball. You really haven't been able to stop'em. Um they've just fumbled it away a couple of times and and you've kind of maybe got a lucky play to to You know, get your points. And so you feel like you don't have control of the game, but your head on the scoreboard.

1:07:56 And what you really want, of course, is to have control of the game. And control the score. Um, but in that game we had a real confidence at halftime when it was twenty one to three that Um you know, we given up a touchdown on a third and goal from the twelve. We gave up a pick six.

1:08:13 We fumbled going in. Um You know, we miss some opportunities. Uh to You know, maybe be tie or could have even been ahead in the game at halftime, ten, seven or

1:08:24 Maybe ten, ten, something like that. And so Yeah, the score was bad, but we felt like We were had control of the game. Well then they go out and score and make it twenty eight to three.

1:08:35 And now I'm thinking You know. we might have control of the game with twenty five points is a lot to make up and and there's a lot of things that have to go right. Um, so two two point conversions and a strip sack and two kickoffs where we tackled them inside the fifteen yard line so they couldn't get in a field goal range. Um and another sack and another holing penalty.

1:08:58 And literally everything went right for us in the last, you know, twenty minutes of the game. There was no lack of confidence because we actually felt like we had control of the game. We were moving the ball, we were playing good defense. But we just had a couple of bad plays in there that that skewed us and skewed the score. Um but once that kind of settled down You know, we we were okay. And um And then once we kinda got rolling again, we had some plays that we needed to make and and we made'em, you know.

1:09:26 um on both sides of the ball hand in the kicking game on those kick offs. So Um everything had to go right and and it did, and we were very fortunate in that one. I really appreciate you taking the time today, Coach Belichick, and thank you for writing uh The Art of Winning. I loved reading it. It was a great read. Thanks, Shane. I appreciate it. Thanks for the opportunity to be on. Uh it was a pleasure. Enjoyed speaking with you and Um

1:09:48 Yeah, look forward to catching up down the road. You know, I just uh would be remiss if I didn't, you know, say how much uh you know, Michael Lombardi has contributed to to my career and in indirectly to this book. I mean, a lot of the things that that we talk about and I talk about here are things that I share with Mike or that Mike helped me do and Um, you know, it's great to be able to work with Mike, uh, you know, at at North Carolina. Uh but he's um a great motivator, very well organized.

1:10:16 Uh very efficient and you know, is an excellent partner to you know, to build the program down there. So Um I really appreciate all of uh Not only Mike's hell, but his guidance and and you know, his

1:10:29 uh the Daily Coach and and the Um You know, the motivation that he puts out on a daily basis is something that You know, we all uh look forward to and enjoy Carolina. I'm looking forward to getting down there and watching again.

1:10:43 Uh I look forward to having you, Jane. Thanks for listening and learning with us. Be sure to sign up for my free weekly newsletter at fs.blog slash newsletter. The Farnum Street website is also where you can get more info on our membership program. Which includes access to episode transcripts, my repository, ad free episodes, and more. Follow myself and Farnum Street on X, Instagram, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop.

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