Perfect Practice

My rookie season in the NFL, I had the best coach I could of had. He was a perfectionist, and would only talk to you when you made a mistake! So you can imagine he talked to me a lot during training camp. Coach wouldn’t just give you constructive criticism... he would GO OFF ON YOU for running the wrong route, or making the wrong read.

In 1996 we were still running the run-n-shoot offense in Atlanta, and every play had multiple options for every person. If the play called for a simple 12 yard out route, I could have a combination of routes based on the coverage of the defense, and the position of the defensive backs. My head was swimming the first week. But I soon figured coach out. He knew you were going to mess up occasionally. But as long as you don’t make the same mistake twice, or make the same mistake that someone else just made, then you were fine.

I decided to take daily notes in our meetings of my mistakes and the mistakes of others to make sure I wouldn’t do it again. This habit allowed me to make the team and play over guys who were bigger, and faster than me. To quote coach, "I’m going to cut you, before the owner cuts me. If I can’t trust that you are going to do the right thing every time, then I can’t play you in a game."

If you want to make it to the next level, start paying attention to the little things, and do the right things right every time!