Hi,
I hope all is well with you.
This week was another choice, between three this week…
Firstly there was Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos getting badly beaten. Unexpected, and another example for me of why Tom Brady wins in the battle of ‘who is better’ – Manning is seemingly prone to massive wobbles and collapses in form, much more so than Brady.
Secondly there was the jersey worn by the Green Bay Packers. They were in their throwback jerseys. I love the throwback jerseys, and the Packers are tied for my favourite along with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Neither of those won my choice though. No, for this week I was struck by many elements when watching a superb performance by Jonas Gray for the New England Patriots.
Gray was signed by Miami as an undrafted free agent, but spent his time there in the injured list after a kneee injury.
Then he went to the practice squad at Baltimore. The practice squad is there for, well, practice. The players are basically thought not quite good enough or ready to play on a team’s actual game roster.
Then he was signed to the practice squad with the Patriots. In October he was activated, and in week 11 he played only his 4th NFL game in the big live Sunday night game.
He ran for over 200 yards on 37 carries, scoring 4 touchdowns. Those figures are stellar numbers for any player, let alone someone so new, and with his backstory of being nearly there, but not quite there.
Long time readers of mine will know that’s the kind of story I lap up about goal achievement – keeping going, working hard, with no guarantee of any breakthrough.
There’s also another example, and it’s down to the coach, Bill Belichick. He is a moody old so and so – he deals with the media because he is obliged to, not because he wants to. His focus is on his team and the next opponent, and he can be unpleasantly surly to the media.
I don’t like that personally, but he has won 3 Superbowls, with another 2 appearances. That doesn’t happen by accident.
His ethos is to build a team. Yes, he has one of the legends of the game playing at quarterback, but for the rest of the team, it’s about players who can fulfill specific roles in his game plan. He doesn’t care if they are superstars or never heard of.
That’s why he succeeds, and his motto is ‘do your job’.
This can be seen as clear as day with Jonas Gray. As a new NFL player, he ran the routes Belichick told him to run, he did his job, he played his part and the stellar result followed when you throw in his unquestioned talent.
A nice story, and well worthy of my moment of the week!
Ok, let me know what you think – I love the feedback!
‘Til next time,
health & happiness,
Gordon
P.S. Don’t forget, I’ve written a free guide covering the basics of my book FB Passion Profits, which shows how to use social media to turn passions into profits, and sport is a massive niche which is perfectly suitable! Get the free guide here: FB Passion Profits – The Basics
“Keeping going, working hard, with no guarantee of breakthrough”… how true. At the same time, not giving up and have faith! Like the next part, “do your job”. Just do what needs to be done and at peace with the results! Keep learning, keep growing!
Yes, the coach has always stressed the ‘do your job’ part. In team sport, often players make mistakes because they think they have to do the job of team mates. Belichick always says, if you do your job, and someone else doesn’t do theirs, I will deal with it – if you stick to your job, and everyone does that, we will win. 3 Superbowl wins later, it seems a good mindset to follow!
cheers, Gordon