Super Bowl LI Match-up: The Tale of Two Mindsets

Let's take a look at some factors that may influence the outcome of Super Bowl LI between the New England Patriots and the Atlanta Falcons.

The Franchise Systems

• Patriot head coach Bill Belichick's management and leadership secrets have been well documented in books and magazine articles such as James Lavin's Management Secrets of the New England Patriots.  Owner Robert Kraft is a successful businessman who built his fortune with Gillette.  

• Arthur Blank, co-founder of Home Depot and current owner of the Atlanta Falcons has a long history of success as a businessman, and has a set of leadership principles that he follows closely.   

Advantage:  New England Patriots

Super Bowl Experience

• This is Bill Belichick's seventh Super Bowl appearance with Tom Brady as his starting quarterback. They have won four of the six Super Bowls they have participated in.  Brady was voted MVP for Super Bowls XXXVI, XXXVIII and XLIX.

• This is the second appearance in the Super Bowl for the Atlanta Falcons since their were founded in 1966.  It is their first Super Bowl since the 1998 season.  Dan Quinn has been an assistant coach for Seattle Seahawks during their Super Bowl appearances.  He knows what it is like, but he has not been head coach there.  

Advantage:  New England Patriots

Mental Conditioning, Team Training and Team Building

• In the off-season, Atlanta Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff and director of sports medicine and performance Marty Lauzon had a four day team-building session with seven veteran Navy SEALs of Acumen Performance Group.  

• Falcon head coach Dan Quinn spent several years with the Seattle Seahawks and their head coach Pete Carroll.  The Seahawks embrace the use of mental conditioning and employ various high-profile mental conditioning coaches, including Michael Gervais and George Mumford (Michael Jordan's meditation ) guru.

• Bill Belichick is a master of getting his teams prepared for playoff and Super Bowl games.  He understands the mental aspect of the game as well as anyone.   

Advantage:  Atlanta Falcons

Neuroscience

• For the past 3 years. Tom Brady uses the BrainHQ training program developed by Dr. Henry Mahncke, CEO of Posit Science.  A cognitive enhancement tool and brain training program, Brady had it installed at his TB12 Sports Center.  BrainHQ has 29 brain exercises that are done on a computer screen. One example of an exercise that Brady uses is called “Double Decision.”

• Matt Ryan, the Atlanta Falcons quarterback uses a device called NeuroTracker that he says has helped him sharpen his cognitive skills, providing an edge when he targets receivers or chooses plays. The focus has helped fuel an MVP-caliber season.  Ryan uses the 3D glasses at least three times a week to improve peripheral vision.

Advantage:  None

Motivation/Complacency

• The New England Patriots won the last Super Bowl in which they participated two years ago.

• The Atlanta Falcons have never won the Super Bowl.  This year they have embraced "The Brotherhood" as their rallying cry.  

Advantage:  Atlanta Falcons

Distractions

• New England has been distracted by the focus the media and the public has placed on Tom Brady's alleged support of Donald Trump; the injury to star tight-end Rob Gronkowski, and the long-standing Deflategate controversy.

• The Atlanta Falcons are slight underdogs in Las Vegas.  This may take any pressure off of them.  

Advantage:  Atlanta Falcons

Overall Advantage:  Atlanta Falcons

What is your prediction?  

The Winning Super Bowl X-Factors: Patriots vs. Seahawks

Welcome to my annual Super Bowl prediction!  OK, that's not true.  This is the first time.  I've never attempted this (I did do a post Super Bowl analysis once upon a time).  Please be gentle.

Anyway, here goes.  With all unfathomable, unknownable and unpredicable factors being accounted for and controlled, the most important intangibles, or X-Factors, in winning this year's Super Bowl XLIX are:

X-Factor #1:  The New England Patriots have the longevity, stability and culture of a proud and successful franchise with a mindset and expectation of winning.  Similarly to the San Antonio Spurs of the NBA, the Patriots have a strong organization that has installed a unique system of success and excellence that has stood the test of time.  Advantage:  Patriots

X-Factor #2:  The Seattle Seahawks have incorporated a very systematic approach to mental conditioning that is unmatched in professional sports.  Their collective use of sports psychology. positive psychology and mindfulness has provided great value.  They believe in their ability to be resilient and have leveraged that for two years. They could not have comeback against the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship without this cultivated and deliberate approach. They have the mental skills to deal with adversity and bounce back from real-time setbacks.  Advantage: Seahawks.

X-Factor #3:  The Seattle Seahawks are defending Super Bowl Champions.  They have the recency effect going for them.  They will have swagger.  Advantage:  Seahawks.

X-Factor #4:  The Patriots have lost the last two Super Bowls in which they have played.  They were favorites in each loss.  They have a Super Bowl albatross around their necks.  They are slight betting favorites again.  The Seahawks are slight underdogs.  Advantage:  Seahawks.

X-Factor #5:  The Patriots have lost the last two Super Bowls in which they have played.  They were favorites in each one.  They have the motivation of having something to prove.  They are not playing the New York Giants.  Advantage: Patriots. 

X-Factor #6:  Deflate-Gate has been a great distraction to the Patriots.  This has to affect their focus and preparation to some degree.   Advantage; Seahawks.

X-Factor #7:  Nevertheless, the absurdity of the media coverage and sensationalism surrounding Deflate-Gate has kept the Patriots loose and relaxed.  Advantage: Patriots.

X-Factor #8:  Marshawn Lynch is in full beast mode.  He has also kept the Seahawks loose and relaxed, by taking the focus and pressure off the rest of the team.  Advantage: Seahawks.    

It is difficult to quantify each of these X-Factors, but if you add them all up, I give a slight edge to the Seattle Seahawks in a surprisingly low scoring game.  Overall Advantage:  Seahawks.  

What's your prediction?  Your comments are welcomed.          

         

Mental Conditioning is About Focus, and Freshness

“I think any time you get that break, it can be a good thing if it’s utilized properly. I think there definitely was a sense of relief from all of us – coaches and players – of just not having a game-plan last week, and having the whole mental pressure of coming up with a game-plan, and each day thinking about game-plans and adjustments. … The weight of studying for a final exam, if you will. You’re grinding through a week of preparation and then you go for the final exam. After you’ve had eight of those, it’s nice to have a week where you don’t have to study, you don’t have to game-plan, and you don’t have a final exam. You don’t have all the mental adjustments you have to go through. Now this week, we’re back into that and hopefully we have a little bit of a freshness, or a better approach to it than that after eight weeks of doing it.”

--Bill Belichick, head coach of the New England Patriots, following a mid-season bye week.

Mental conditioning is certainly about focus and intensity, but is it also about staying fresh and combating mental, emotional and physical fatigue. 

Do you take regular, systematic, structured breaks to recharge?  Do you find your thinking more creative, more effective after a break?

Make sure that you plan downtime.  Make sure that you are not just escaping or procrastinating.  Give yourself permission to take a break to recharge the batteries.  Escape and procrastinating is not as satisfying as a structured, planful break to decompress. 

Bill Belichick understands this as well as anyone.  Belichick has taken his team to 5 Super Bowls and won 3 of them. 

Excerpt for ESPNBoston.com (11/6/2012).

Key to Long-Standing Patriots' Success: Stand Behind the Coach and his Decisions

”Coach has a lot of confidence we can make a yard and a half to win the game. They showed us the drive before they can go pretty fast and score. Coach was being aggressive and I love that about him. As a coach, you’re not thinking let’s punt it to them and see if they can do it again. He’s thinking, ‘We have 450 yards of offense.’ ”

-Tom Brady, New England Patriots' quarterback, defending head coach Bill Belichick's decision to go for it in fourth down deep in Patriot territory late in the game. The decision backfired, and the Patriots' opponent, the Indianapolis Colts, got the ball and scored to win 35-34.

"It was a really bad coaching decision by coach Belichick. I have all the respect in the world for him, but he has to punt the ball. The message that you are sending in the locker room is: I have no confidence in my young guys on my defense.

"This is the worst coaching decision I've ever seen Bill Belichick make."

--Rodney Harrison, sportscaster and former New England Patriot said on NBC's postgame show.

Still, in the Patriots locker room, there was no questioning the call.

”He’s the head coach,” Faulk said. “No matter what, to us that’s the right call. We are the employees.”

If the Patriots would have made the first down, they probably would have been able to run out the clock and win the game. If the play had worked, Belicheck would have been labeled a rogue genius.

Belicheck should have been applauded for his moxie and innovative, despite the play not working. This type of decision-making and play calling has led to four Super Bowl appearances and three Super Bowl wins.

"We thought we could win the game on that play," Belichick said. "That was a yard I was confident we could get."

It is particularly impressive that the Patriots stuck together after the game and did not question the decision, despite the outcome. This is rarely seen in the NFL today. It is not typical in corporate America either.

How many organizations can say they do not second-guess their boss and their organization after a failure or defeat?

This type of team solidarity is difficult to find.

Should you reconsider your reactions to mistakes?


Note: The Colts are now 9-0 and have the inside track toward home-field advantage through the A.F.C. playoffs. The Cincinnati Bengals, at 7-2 and with an easy schedule remaining, seem headed for a first-round bye. The Patriots are now 6-3, and though they still have a firm grip on the A.F.C. East, their chances of a first-round bye are sinking.

Bottom line: There are seven games left in the regular season. There is alot of football left to play and many more decisions to make and plays to call.

Let's see which teams stick together and which implode.

Excerpts from the New York Times and ESPN.com (November 16, 2009).

For more on Peak Performance Teams, click on Team Pulse. For more on the New England Patriots, click on http://www.squidoo.com/patriotscasestudy.