One of the things that are consistent amongst all great leaders is they're a great teammate that is invested in the guys around them to raise the level of play. You do that by believing in guys and caring about them.
The only thing I can control is working as hard as I possibly can to do a good job and make people right on the opportunities that they've given me.
When you care about the players you are working with, that's when they want to play hard for you.
With any player, especially at quarterback, I don't care if you're talking Tom Brady or Peyton Manning or Drew Brees: you want to make sure to continue to hammer down the fundamentals, and it all starts with your feet. Everything starts with footwork.
You show me anybody that's great in anything they do, I'll show you somebody that's persevered, demonstrated that mental toughness to overcome some obstacles and adversity.
For whatever reason, I've always been interested in those types of things - leadership books and different ways to connect with people in a real, authentic, genuine type of way.
With the inexperience I do have, I feel so fortunate to be around Wade Phillips.
I've got a lot of respect for a handful of coaches, and there's a lot of great stuff put out there on film. So, I always want to stay up to speed on those current trends and figure out if you can steal something that fits your players and your system. I'm certainly not afraid to steal from some of these great coaches.
As coaches, you want to be able to put your players in a system that's conducive to their success.
We're trying to win football games, and whoever we feel like gives us the best chance is who's going to play behind center.
Marist is a special place.
It's funny, if you've ever met my grandfather, he's probably one of the most even-keeled men you'll ever meet.
I have no life - other than I love football.
I think he's accomplished so much, I don't think it's fair to put me in the same category as Coach Payton. I think, hopefully, if you achieve even close to what he has in this league, then maybe you start to get mentioned.
When you look at what we want our individual player to represent from that makeup, if you will, we're looking for mentally and physically tough players who are smart and want to compete. And when you say smart, you're talking about situational awareness. Guys that are instinctual. That are smart football players.
What I think about is about the opportunities that Mike Shanahan gave me as an inexperienced coach. I think about watching a Kyle Shanahan work. Just seeing the stuff he was running, his approach to different scenarios, and getting another understanding of what you can do as an offense... all of that helped me grow.
I think once you stop learning, you're going to stop growing.
Some of my closest friends in life are guys that I was able to play high school football with.
You look at Matt LaFleur and where he's been. It seems like successful quarterback play follows him.
Jon Gruden taught me the foundation of what I know about this game. Took me under his arm, taught me to see it from a big-picture perspective.
