Great Teams and Pressure Moments

Just watching the close of the Patriots win over the Baltimore Ravens and had a thought.

There are moments in a football game when the pressure forces a team to show its character. It is the essence of competition.

Think of Montana, Elway, Favre, Unitas, Marino, and now Brady and Manning. What these quaterbacks and their teams have in common is that they all trailed late in big games and regardless of how they performed to that point, they were able to focus and lift their teams in the final moments of those games.

Tonight as a week ago, the Patriots were on the ropes late in the 4th quarter. They battled back, DISCIPLINED themselves during the pressure moment, and went on to win the ball game. It is a proven fact that lesser teams just seem to find a way to lose by cracking and breaking under pressure (like a ballon blown to capacity).

I can still see Montana calmly looking over at Bill Walsh's play call late in SB 23, Elway on 4th and 17 running through the Oilers defense in the 1991 playoffs and Tom Brady slinging the ball late in SBs 36 and 38. Calm and cool as ice. This quality is not only for quarterbacks. It is a team effort and 11 men in concert with a single focus and no mental lapse under pressure win games.

In football as in EF, cooler heads prevail and those who can muster focus under intense pressure have a championship edge. This is what competition is all about. A measurement of individual and collective (team) will and technique.