How Much Better Is Team Confidence And Mentality?

[Soonerpeace]

(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 Burrow & Chase never had a confidence problem. Part of the turnaround was the focus of bringing in players from winning cultures. The NFL outside world don’t get the Bengals. They think they just were a fluke ( thank you Fredtoast) and just went on a roll. You don’t win all those close games late w/o a ton of confidence. Winning clutch games has to be accompanied with confidence. Frankly over confidence may be our nemesis this year more than the lack there of.

I don’t think the new indoor is a factor. I think practicing outside in January worked for us.