The Packers have never been short of success in their history. Despite being the only ‘small town’ team left in the NFL, they have a record number of World Championships to their name and have finished top of the Division for the last three seasons – not to mention their Super Bowl win back in 2010.
But we’d really like it if Aaron Rodgers could pull another out of the bag.
Football has always been a tactical game. Let’s face it; we’d struggle to come up with a play book even to rival the Buccaneers, never mind one that would have us battling for Championships. Much of the sport is like chess, or poker. A battle of wits, with QBs bluffing to gain even just that extra yard.
There’s a certain mentality a sports star has to have, and the NFL is no different. Rodgers undoubtedly has it – after all, how else do you win earn a Super Bowl MVP and two NFL MVPs, the last coming just last season?
But what is it that makes him so special? And what does the entire roster need going on upstairs to go one step further next season and walk out at Levi’s Stadium on February 7, 2016?
Well for that, it’s probably worth channelling their inner poker player, and let’s face it, plenty of Cheeseheads play the game.
You see, to be a poker professional you need to be mentally tough. Tougher than an athlete that’s for sure, because almost the entire game is played in the head. Although that doesn’t mean the two aren’t dissimilar. In fact to become a champion, in both sports one must master all of the following skills…
Patience Is A Virtue
Of course, Aaron Rodgers knows all about patience. It took him long enough to get his break as the number one QB, and now on the field he has patience in abundance.
Like a WSOP champion, knowing the right time to strike is vitally important. Daniel Negreanu, a man who has won almost $30 million in poker winnings, believes that to play poker properly you’ll often go through long stretches of boredom, so you need the patience to fold a lot of unplayable hands.
While the life of a quarterback is never boring, the same rules of patience apply. Throws shouldn’t be forced; it’s about finding the yardage and pouncing at the right time, and that comes through by keeping emotions in check.
A poker player must train their brain to be patient, first learning to keep their emotions balanced. Katy Lederer, an author renowned for her work in poker once said, “The cardinal sin in poker, worse than playing bad cards, worse even than figuring your odds incorrectly, is becoming emotionally involved.”
Becoming emotionally involved leads to big, inexcusable Hail Marys or risky passes that’ll just get picked off. The great Brett Favre himself was even guilty of this, throwing more interceptions than anyone else in history at 336.
Rodgers is already making calming steps to avoiding emotion clouding judgement, with him being a regular on the yoga mat, alongside taking up meditation. Respiratory techniques have been proven to improve emotional management and self-awareness, and this is perhaps the reason he completed 4,381 yards last season and why he’s more than capable of winning Celebrity Jeopardy next month.
Be Disciplined
Needless to say, discipline is needed in any sport. There’s no point creating a plan if it’s not going to be followed. Both offense and defense need to be continually switched on, just like at the poker tables.
That doesn’t matter whether you’re playing in the Super Bowl, the World Series of Poker, or in training; a title won’t be won it without it. Of course in terms of the Packers, or any NFL team, that’s like preaching to the choir. To even get to that level requires extreme discipline, but it’s keeping that level constant that is important.
And that shouldn’t necessarily be an issue for football players, with exercise being a key element to produce the endorphins needed to stay focused. Foods rich in Vitamin B6 also help, which is why poultry is often a big part of a player’s diet. That activates the frontal lobe associated with rational thinking, keeping players constantly on the ball.
And you may not think it, what with poker stars not having to exert energy physically, but it applies to that game too, particularly when needing to be disciplined every day of the week. Negreanu, the six-time World Series of Poker winner, was extremely disciplined on his journey to picking up six bracelets (even the Packers only have four Super Bowl victories). Negreanu plays online and at casinos regularly to keep up his skills, talks strategy with players he respects, and watches videos of the best players twice a week, extracting their best skills and adapting them to his own game.
Know Your Opponents
Poker is a game which is all about playing the man. More than anything else, knowing how your opponent operates, what hands they like, and even their tells often makes the cards being held completely irrelevant.
And knowing each player in the NFL is almost integral for a team getting to the end zone. For example, knowing that Cam Newton or the 49ers Colin Kaepernick are big rushing players gives a defense something extra to think about, but it’s certainly better than them being taken by surprise.
The same applies all over the field; we know Dri Archer is one of the quickest running backs in the league, so someone quick needs to be put up against him.
However, this also allows for players to get inside their opponents’ heads too, which can more often than not give a huge advantage.
Poker players will constantly chip away at each other throughout tournaments, sometimes letting the cards do the talking, but it all adds up. It’s all about getting under the skin of an opponent to apply pressure and force mistakes, making the job a lot easier.
Believe
But most importantly, for the Packers to win the Super Bowl this season, they need belief. They’re once again one of the favorites to win, and with good reason.
The Packers stormed into the playoffs last season with a 12-4 record and they could quite easily do that again. In fact, plenty of the team have been there and done that, winning the Super Bowl back in 2010, so they’ve tasted victory and handled the pressure before.
Having high self-esteem, which they all should, Rodgers won MVP last season and fullback John Kuhn made it into the All-Pro team, with plenty more Packers knocking on the door.
The NFL Draft is on the horizon and it’s only a matter of months before the season kicks off. Physically they’ll be ready, no doubt about that. And if they’re mentally ready too, they may find themselves picking up a few pots, pulling out all the aces, and of course like in the most prestigious poker tournament of them all, end the season with a lovely new piece of jewelry to go on the mantelpiece.
