09-05-2022, 10:43 AM
(09-05-2022, 10:34 AM)BFritz21 Wrote: I also was just watching Good Morning Football and I don't think any of the 35 "experts" picked us to go back to the Super Bowl, so it got me thinking about our own team's expectations and confidence level.
I don't even know if guys like Burrow and Chase had the confidence that we'd go to the Super Bowl last year, but how much higher is team confidence this year and how much better is the team's overall mentality?
They all saw how the line struggled all year and how we improved there, so the confidence has to be higher and having more confidence in the players around you always improves your play.
How much will is it improving the mentality of the team that we're building a practice bubble? A player's mentality will always be more positive if he knows that the team is invested in winning, so are the players seeing things like that and having it subconsciously build their confidence that the team is invested in them?
Once it's built, will the players moods be lighter and will they feel more at ease practicing in their own bubble? Will their comfort level be higher?
Will they study their playbooks and opponents harder?
How much is the team's mentality and overall confidence improved and how much will it improve play on the field?
I think a lot of the media noise is entertainment for the fans. Unless a team is bad, I think these guys are full of confidence and believe they are going to be a Super Bowl team. I'm sure if you went and asked a player on the Giants if they were going to win the Super Bowl, you might get a "uhhhh.....I don't know about that" but everyone on the Cincinnati squad should be saying "yes, absolutely".
I don't know if they will study their playbooks harder. You can't really do that, I guess. I have some old NFL playbooks and they are exactly what you think they are; pages with diagrams, callouts, formations, routes etc. Once you have it, you have it. Maybe these guys will be watching more tape but if it takes some media heads not believing in them for them to watch more tape, I don't know what to think of that. These guys have all of the incentive in the world to work as hard as they can to win a Super Bowl, everything from monetarily and legacy.
I don't think there would be much of an improvement in confidence, to be honest. This team was just a play away from winning a Super Bowl and they got better. This team should have confidence through the absolute roof.
