Hard Work Beats Talent When Talent Doesn’t Do Hard Work. USA Today’s preview edition of the NFL profiled several talented young quarterbacks. For anyone that is a young leader (or experienced one for that matter), the following quotes give us insights into what is required to be a great leader in our chosen profession.
Aaron Rodgers (for more on Rodgers click here)
- “The guys that really dominate and excel are in the same system for three or four years.” – Jon Gruden
- “When I’m not thinking about what we’re doing and focusing more on how I’m going to react to what I see on defense, that’s when I know that I’m in a good place mentally.”
- “This will be a big year for him because teams now have two years of tape on him. They’ll continue to challenge him with different types of pressures.” – Head Coach Mike McCarthyÂ
- “He has outworked every one in Green Bay, in the quarterback camps, in their weightlifting, in their running.” – Ron Jaworski
- “He was in every offensive staff meeting. He did all his rehab. He knows the playbook, and he is studying defenses. He put more time in a building than anyone I ever have seen.” – Jet Head Coach Rex Ryan
- “I’m the guy; you can trust me.”
- “You want to play. But the best thing I got was the chance to sit back and see highs and lows.”
- “I always believed I could play at this level, but you never know until you get out there in the heat of battle.”
- “I’m just trying to do my job and feed the ball to the open guy.”
- “Joe really has some natural talent that I don’t want to screw up.” – QB Coach Jim Zorn
- “The thing that goes along with chemistry is the confidence that Joe has in the guys on the field. We’ve been able to develop that this whole offseason and through training camp.” – TE Todd Heap
- “He was here March 16Â 0r 17, whatever the day the first day of the offseason program was…His whole objective was just to learn and to get better, not anything else.” – Lions Head Coach Jim Schwartz
- “The best thing that could have happened for Vince’s career was for him to have some failure.” – Titans FB Ahmad Hall
- “You get to this level, you’re not the best athlete anymore. You’ll have to do some extra things, and guys that don’t, they don’t stay in this league very long.” – Offensive Coordinator Mike Heimerdinger
- “You play this game for one reason –   to win a Super Bowl. Our goal is to give ourselves every opportunity to play in that game.”
- “At this level , you need to be big, strong and able to take hits.”
Leaders, Bradford is correct. At every new level there is a new devil. You are going to take some hits. Learn from these men how to prepare for that day.
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