Football’s Dirty Secret: It’s Not About the Best Team—It’s About Who Adapts | The Game Inside The Games, Ep. 3

Michael Gervais (0:21)

Welcome to The Game Inside The Games, presented by Microsoft Co-Pilot. I am Sport and Performance Psychologist, Dr. Michael Gervais.

Greg Olsen (0:27)

And I'm Greg Olsen. And together, we're pulling back the curtain on the psychology of pivotal moments that can define or derail a Super Bowl dream. For 60 minutes, two teams step onto the biggest stage in sports, the Super Bowl. Millions watching, legacies on the line, the pressure is suffocating. The game moves at warp speed. The difference between hosting the Lombardi Trophy or watching someone else do it, often it comes down to just one thing. How well can a team adjust when their plan falls apart?

Michael Gervais (1:00)

The first casualty of war is the plan. And nowhere is that more true than the Super Bowl. Both teams spend two weeks preparing for a game plan.

They spend the entire season getting ready to be able to perform at the Super Bowl. But the second the ball is kicked off, chaos takes over. It's a game changing turnover could take place, an injury, an unexpected defensive scheme. The team that adapts, those teams win. The teams that freeze, they break.

Greg Olsen (1:33)

This game won't just be won by the better team. It will be won by the team that responds better to adversity. The one who's more agile will win. Because in the Super Bowl, it's not only about who has the best plan, it's about who knows what to do when that plan is gone.

Michael Gervais (1:50)

Pittsburgh Steelers legend, Cam Heyward, is going to jump into conversation with us today. We're so happy to have him. Greg, game plans rarely survive first contact. Can you talk about your Super Bowl experience at Super Bowl 50 and how the first moment started for you?

Greg Olsen (2:09)

Yes. Obviously, our memories of Super Bowl 50 are not great. I mean, obviously, the experience, the season, everything that went into it was incredible. But the game itself kind of fell apart on us. And I think it's a great conversation for the topic you want to explore because we had a game plan going in that we need to be really good in pass protection, really good help in our edges. Von Miller, that was one of the best defenses in all of football. And we were the best offense in football.

We were scoring 30 a game. We scored 47 points in the NFC Championship against the Arizona Cardinals. We scored 30 something against the Seahawks. I mean, we played Seattle, a legendary defense. Arizona, one of the top teams in the league. So we felt like we were pretty tested. We felt offensively we were playing as well as we would have liked. We'd only lost one game the entire season. We were 17 and 1 going into the Super Bowl.

Michael Gervais (3:05)

You didn't know how to lose, really.

Greg Olsen (3:07)

We lost one game the day after Christmas. It was Christmas Day and we were 14 and

Michael Gervais (3:11)

Wow.

Greg Olsen (3:12)

And so to your point, it all kind of fell apart on us. And we picked a really bad day to have our worst offensive performance. We had a couple of stripped sacks, one for a touchdown, that kind of put us on our heels early.

But my biggest memory, like when my kids asked me, my biggest memory of that game, the first third down of the game, it was like third and nine, it was third and long. And I caught the ball and I was about a yard and a half short on my depth of my route. So I caught it, I got hit immediately and take it down, it was fourth and short. Maybe in today's football we go for it, but we don't, we punt. And I just think like that was one play. Now was it the difference of the game? Who knows? But like I think all the time, like if I get that first first down, we maintain possession, the field position is different. When Von Miller, does he strip sack us? Because we're backed up like, and you know, those are the plays that you live with forever. And no matter how good your plan is, no matter how well you think you're prepared, it doesn't always go the way you want. Things, things are happening really fast, route depths, pass protection, edges, chips. And we turn the ball over a ton. We still had the ball with an opportunity in the second half to tie the game because our defense was awesome. And we just came up short.

Michael Gervais (4:27)

So, when you came up, when you were off on your depth, and I don't think people quite realize the harmony that happens between you and the quarterback, the timing, and the number of steps and plant on your right foot and kind of turn or whatever it might have been. Like that is very, very technical. And when you knew that you came up short, that you didn't get your right depth, how did you deal with that? How did you adjust psychologically?