Dan Campbell says Sean Payton never let losing turn into doom and gloom because great teams diagnose the substance of a failure instead of reacting to the emotion surrounding it
“Here’s the first thing I would say about Sean. Sean never got down. He never went gray or dark. He was always like, ‘Hey man, next day we’re ready to roll.’”
“Everything was always positive and upbeat. It was simply, ‘Guys, this is why we didn’t do well. This is why we lost. This is why this play wasn’t successful.’”
“It was never like doom and gloom and, ‘Oh my God, what are we going to do? Guys, we’re in trouble.’ It was always, ‘Hey man, let’s just look at it and face it for what it is. Let’s look at the substance in it.’”
“That’s what I always call it. I tell our players, look at the substance in it. Let’s not go off the emotion of, ‘Oh no, now the fans or the media are saying what’s wrong.’ Block all that out. That doesn’t matter.”
“You know what matters? Take away this penalty. Keep your hands inside when it’s third-and-six. We missed a sack. You got your hands on him. Wrap him up. Pull him down. You’re trying to do too much.”
“If you just clean up about two or three plays, you win those games in the NFL. Keep the main thing the main thing and don’t let all this other stuff come into it.”