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The Mental Game
Pre-video writing prompts & Discussion Questions
- Best Life Advice: What has been the best advice you have received? Describe the advice, the person who shared it with you and why you feel it was such good advice.
- “I am not fast.” Who are the fastest athletes on your team, in gym class, and in the school? Have you ever worked on increasing your speed? If yes, describe that process.
- Private Coach: Have you ever worked with a private coach? Describe the process.
- Athletic Skill: What athletic skill have you practiced the most? How do you go about learning, practicing and reinforcing that skill? How hard is to to learn that skill? How would teach someone a skill?
Post Video
- Toughest Loss: How well do you take losing? What is your toughest loss.
- 1% What can you do to improve your skill JUST A LITTLE! Is it worth it?
Episode #2
Chapter 1: Strengths and mechanics
High School Interview:
Announcer: Tell me about Tom Brady, the quarterback. What are your strengths?
Brady: My strengths? Well, everybody tells me I have a pretty strong arm, which is good. I am pretty accurate with it. I think I need to work on my speed a little bit, but hopefully that will come in time.
23 Years Later
Beach Workout: Working on his speed. Brady is wearing a helmet and shoulder pads to simulate a game situation.
5.57
Brady: That sucked!
I am not fast. I was never going to be as good as those other guys were physically. I still working on athleticism and running. And you know, jumping. All those things that I need to do, but it’s a very minimal part of what I do. I mean throwing the ball and making good decisions and leadership ability and all those mental aspects of the game. You know, I think I’m pretty good at because it’s more inherent in who I am. (0:57)
Intro
Chapter II
The Mental Game
(1:28)
Los Angeles
July 1, 2017
Tom House Throwing Coach: Tom, that’s not that bad.
Brady: We’re getting there.
The problem I see in the games is when you settle, and then you have to create strength, then I really see.
Brady: You know, knowing what your strengths and weaknesses are and try to build on those things and being open about changing those things is, you know something I’ve really worked hard at and coached at.
Coach: This is perfect how wide does that elbow go? No wider than that hip.
Brady: I’m trying to work on my attention to detail with my mechanics so that when I cut it loose, and I rip it, in a meaningful game, does it go exactly where I want to go.
Coach: This is what I see. I can’t feel what you’re feeling. But this [elbow coming out], causes this [head tilting out].
for forty plus years, I don’t see a quarterback throwing, I see a stick figure.
Because I’ve been looking at movement at a thousand frames a second for 40 + years, I don’t see a quarterback throwing. I see a stick figure. So I can see a little head recruited out of sequence. I can see a little muscling up.
If you do that, you have to torque. If you do this, you don’t have any torque.
Brady: So it’s that. I gotta be here. You know, I just got to get this.
Coach: How easy is that? Do you see how relaxed you feel up here? (2:45)
He’s just rewiring his nervous system, to talk to his muscles, to extend the level of skill that he’s achieved.
You taught yourself to throw there. That’s in the hardwiring. What have we been trying to do?
Throwing Coach: Just keep all you %$&t inside critical mass.
Do you see where your head is? You told me I could be on you.
Brady: Sounds good. That’s what I need.
Throwing Coach: Your head came outside. You made the pass, but if you’re being rushed for time, it’s not going to be accurate.
We have been trying to fix this.
Now, don’t think too much.
Brady: That was right in between what I was trying to do and what I’ve been doing.
You know what taint (??) is. You don’t want to be taint.
A£$ or tea kettle, but nothing in between.
Brady: That was right in between.
Throwing Coach: You realize this is like this is like nothing, but it is big to him. Tom and some of these elite quarterbacks, they don’t come in to get 5% better. They come in to get 1% better.
I always feel like I’m pushing you… You are so good. But we are going to try to be perfect, right. And you want to do this until you’re 45. I am not letting you up for air.
The aging process is unforgiving. He’s not going to be able to do at 70 what he is doing now. But you can push that curve back by doing what he’s doing.
Brady: So you’re going to like this throw, because I am starting to get that feel right now.
Coach: Now find it.
Now that should have felt awesome. You had some friggin umphh into there.
Brady: It is not perfect.
Coach: We’re not leaving until you feel it.
The combination of his expectation level and his capacity to meet those expectations is huge.
That had touch.
Brady: That is what achieving at this high level, as I’ve gotten older, is all about.
Every play I want to be so decisive and I just want to cut it loose.
Coach: Money, money. I don’t know what that ball did that’s the perfect delivery.
Old age and treachery always overcomes youth and exuberance. He went through his youth and exuberance. He is into old age and treachery right now.
He has mastered probably as much or more information and instruction than probably anybody in the history of football. And he’s still on the journey.
Coach: You got that look on your face.
Brady: I just had a mild orgasm. We had a major f£”$%^ng breakthrough.
Coach: Okay,you can say it any way you like. He thinks it’s a major breakthrough. It is frog hairs.
Age is a state of mind.
Brady: I don’t give a &^%*
Coach: Yeah me either. I am supposed to be f&*%ing dead.(5:12)
Chapter 3: Reflecting on championships
(5:19 – 9:32)
Sunday, October 1, 2017
Patriots 2-1
Sports Talk Radio: The Patriots are back in Foxboro again for the second straight week as they take on the Carolina Panthers. Both teams 2 and 1 entering this game.
Announcer 2: Brady’s already been hit 19 times. The last time Brady was hit that much through the 1st three weeks of the season was 2006.
6:00 AM
Announcer: This is going to test that whole Brady process and the Brady theory in your book. So good luck fella. (5:38)
Pet dog & Hudl TB 12 Method
Watching Film
Brady: You know, if you want to perform at the highest level, then you’ve got to prepare at the highest level mentally, through stuff like this.
You know, the game now for me is just very calculated. It’s very strategic.
It’s much more like chess than checkers, you know. I think I process a lot of information really quickly. And, the more you give me, the better I usually perform.
I like to be able to reference back to seasons and games or weeks that I’ve gone through something similar, so there’s at least a starting point. (6:54)
When you have been doing something for so long, you just don’t see like tape, you see the depth of everything. Football is so visual. You read body language. You’re reading, you know, movements.
How do you know when the guy is going to blitz? You kinda look at the shape of the defense. A guy might have a little tell. Like a poker player.
It’s like. How do you know? You know.
You’ve been doing it for so long. You’ve seen so much.
I watched tape, all day Monday, all day Tuesday, you know Wednesday we practice. Thursday we practice. Friday we practice.
Then I’ll come home and I’ll watch film. And Saturday before the game, I watch film, and then Sunday morning I watch film. The whole time I’m just trying to get tells.
I don’t know why I can sit here and watch it, and you know process information quickly but I can. (7:26)
Different Aspects to Being Good: Running and lifting has been much harder to develop than this. This is kind of been in me.
I could literally like just watch film them all day. It’s almost like soothing. I guess because I’ve been doing it for so long. I can just go 4-5 hours without getting up from the chair.
February 3, 2002
Want to start the first Super Bowl.
I haven’t watched this in 15 years. The whole season was a blur. I don’t even know what happen. You know, at the end of the day It was just so much.
Going to Superdome. U2 played the halftime show.
Growth as an Athlete: It was so cool. It was just awesome. I was so young. It’s fun to watch. Maybe cuz it’s just a little posterity, but it’s also fun to watch how my technique changed. You also realize how little you actually really knew.
Oh man. This is one is so painful just clicking on it.
Super Bowl XLII
February 3, 2008
Interviewer: What are we watching?
Brady: 2007 Super Bowl. This one is still painful.
A Talent Show: When you lose on the biggest stage and you know everyone’s watching. It’s, you know, and you’ve committed so much your life to what you’re doing. I mean, you’re becoming a failure in front of everybody else.
It’s a talent show that you did when you were a kid. And you were the failure.
Randy Moss was a beast in this game. He was so good. (8:53)
The Play of His Life: Right here, I looked back at him. And that’s when he just took off. And he knew he just had to beat that guy. He knew he beat the safety. And this guy made the freaking play of his life and that was all she wrote. So. 30. I was 30. (9:15)
Toughest Loss: I’ll never let go of those losses. That scar tissue is too deep. It’s too thick.
Interview: Why would you put yourself through this?
Still a lot to learn.
It’s one thing to analyze data and put it together. And then it’s another to apply it. (9:38)
Chapter 4: Collaboration and coaching
(9:40 – 10:46)
Voice Memo to Josh McDaniels Offensive Coordinator: Hey on the 96 Cavalier, Roy, I was watching Cincy preseason. After Gronk hits the end, he can go vertical like a Hoffa. Check out that play. Cincy preseason play 30. Let me know what you think. (9:58)
This is always a collaboration. This is, you know, me watching all the film and then having my idea. And Josh will do the same thing.
You know I have really strong feelings about what I like and what I want to do. And he has very strong feelings about what he likes and what he wants to do. That’s always kind of our axe that we got to grind.
Phone Conversation.
I mean, he wants to kill me sometimes. And believe me, I want to kill him sometimes. But I think we have a great deal of respect and trust and love for one another because when we come together on game day, that we’re both giving it everything we got. We’re doing the best we can.
See ya, babe.
Week 4
Panthers at Patriots
Who Are You? You know, we worked hard through training camp but to get to September, and I think the thing I’ve learned over the years is that you really don’t know what you are. (10:55)
Gisele: Let’s Go Pats!
Announcer: Although Tom Brady has been terrific through the first three games, he has taken a tone of his. The drive stalls.
The Hypothesis: You kinda created this hypothesis of what you are, or what you think you may be. And then you go test it out for 4 weeks.
Announcer: Brady is sacked. It’s been remarkable how many times Brady has been hit. About half of his touchdowns this year have been with men draped all over him. He’s taken a lot of hits. (11:28)
The Reality: When you finally go up against competition, you are kind of faced with realities. You know, not of maybe what you hoped you were or what you hoped you could be, but is actually where we’re at.
Announcer: New England trying to avoid their second home loss of the season. Panthers 33 – 30.
Announcer: It is good and Carolina gets to road win in New England. (12:04
Chapter 5: Game day reality and loss
Reporter: Tom, given that defense is going through struggles, do you feel the offense and you in particular have an extra weight to do your job almost perfectly out there?
Brady: No. I don’t feel like that. I feel like, you know, we can do a better job and we got to do a better job all the way around….. We left some opportunities out there on offense. Press conference response
Brady: Atrocious. You know, we are the f%^&ing Patriots. Let’s just roll our helmets out there. And we’re going to win and you know, we’ll score. And they’ll quit. And, you know, on’t worry. We’ll win.
You know, a lot of times when I’m frustrated, I’m frustrated myself first. You have expectations and when those expectations aren’t met, you got to vent and frustrate. Fortunately you can do it your own car. You’re not gonna do that in front of anyone else but you don’t want to hold that inside either.
Promotional Photo Shoot
Brady: I never want to be the reason why we lose the game. I never do.
There are still a lot of things over the course of the season that you’re still dealing with. You still have life to deal with. It is not like life stops.
Losing Hurts: I think about losing for you know, DAYS! Days you wake up thinking. Oh My God it’s too painful.
You don’t have shoes and socks?
And it could feel like just a game but, but because it’s more than just a game to me, it feels like I’m losing in pursuit of what my life is.
Chapter 6: Team accountability
10:30 PM
Thank God there’s another game the next Sunday. (Watching Film)