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“Gridiron Genius” Quotes

I recently read Gridiron Genius: A Master Class In Winning Championships and Building Dynasties In the NFL by Michael Lombardi. Here’s the quotes I found most interesting:

“Champions behave like champions before they’re champions.” -Bill Walsh (9)

“Take pride in my effort as an entity separate from the result of that effort.” (16)

“Walsh opted for less experienced men who shared his curiosity and displayed a willingness to learn his system and methods.” (23)

“In the ultimate team sport, real success doesn’t depend on tactics or discipline or order. It always comes down to how well a coach leads.” (35)

“Belichick is not worried about where an idea comes from; he cares only about whether it makes the team better. He knows that as the man running the organization he’s going to get the credit by default, so he makes sure to spread it around.” (38)

“That’s what being a first=time NFL head coach is like. It is more than likely you’re going to be bad at it. You just have to keep working at it until you get good and pray that you don’t end up a one-hit wonder.” (42)

“There simply has to be a thread of unity running through any successful team.” (102)

“Weirdly, Walsh’s offensive success – and his unique perspective on the passing attack – stemmed in part from his experience as a defensive coach. Belichick also used his defensive knowledge to design one of the most prolific offenses in modern football. Both men understood the checks and adjustments that occurred within defensive schemes. They built a counterattack by knowing their enemy.” (118)

“When a TV announcer asked their offensive coordinator about it, he said if Peyton Manning ever went down, they were “fucked” and “we don’t practice fucked.”” (185)

“One of Belichick’s favorite sayings is “To live in the past is to die in the present.”” (230)

“J. Roscoe Miller said: “I have two kinds of problems: the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important and the important are never urgent.” (232)

“Walsh called this the three F’s of decision making: firmness, fairness, fast.” (235)

“A pessimist leads an unhappy life, waiting for the next bad thing, never trusting the emotional highs. A realistic optimist may seem a crank to casual observers, but in actuality he’s quite content.” (239)

Liked the quotes? Buy the book here.

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