Quarterback Tips: Mental Strength

A powerful and dominant team 99% of the time has very strong leadership from their Quarterback. That's why you see great teams like the Seattle Seahawks because of great leadership from guys like Russell Wilson. Part of the reason the QB's have strong leadership is due to their mental strength. According to The QB by Bruce Feldman QB's have such a high standard for themselves that they mentally become strong enough to believe they can achieve what ever they put their mind to. "They all want to prove that they're The Guy and want someone to tell them that they're good. I can't think of one quarterback who isn't self-conscious, because they have such high expectations and high standards" (Feldman 81). This leads on to the fact that QB's have to prepare themselves mentally before games, skills camps etc. to be the best they can be mentally so they can perform to the best of their abilities.

Mental preparation before a football game is key to being able to perform well during the game.

I used this Quarterback tip of mental preparation by focusing on my task before my game. I've seen many greats preparing themselves by bowing their heads, closing their eyes and focusing on the game and task in hand. This I believe increases the ability of performing well within a game; as a quarterback if you do well most likely, the team does well also. Which makes it very important that a QB is mentally strong before every game.


Do you believe mental preparation is a very important aspect not just in football, but everything in life in general?


Feldman, Bruce. The QB: The Making of Modern Quarterbacks. New York: Crown
     Archetype, 2014. Print.

Learning how to Study the Game Properly

    As a quarterback it is very important to know every little aspect of the game of football. It is their job to know the responsibilities of every single player on the field. This forces a quarterback to know how to study the game properly. According to the book The QB by Bruce Feldman there is a very helpful tactic QB Peyton Manning uses to study and prepare for his next games. Peyton explains that he watches 3rd downs on Mondays, first downs on Tuesdays, blitz tape on Wednesdays, a complete game on Thursday and watch the same complete game again on Friday (Feldman 178). The key here to studying the game is taking bits and pieces of what you're studying at a time to be able to obtain full knowledge.

   Take note of how I'm studying only the first downs of this game displayed above. As shown here I am only watching bits and parts of the game to obtain different types of knowledge before putting all of what I learned altogether. "Instead of watching an entire game in one sitting, you're looking at stuff in increments and still getting good work in the film room" (Feldman 178). Studying in increments is a more efficient way of studying certain pointers that you want to work on.

Do you believe that studying in increments is more efficient then watching a game in one sitting?

Feldman, Bruce. The QB: The Making of Modern Quarterbacks. New York: Crown

     Archetype, 2014. Print.

Proper Throwing Technique

    Successful Quarterbacks like ones in the NFL have the ability to throw with accuracy and precision. Knowing how to throw is one of the most crucial aspects in a QB, the ability to pass can determine your team's success. According to the book The QB by Bruce Feldman in order to have perfect throwing form, "A QB's whole body needs to be engaged starting from the inside of his right shoe, and then the hip goes through. Then the core goes through as he rides that energy, and then his arm rolls into it" (105). Every little detail to throwing is crucial to how far and/or how accurate your ball will be when you release the football off of your fingertips.




Using my core to ride my energy and my arms roll into the energy when I release the ball.

    I showed an example of me using proper throwing technique when attempting an in-game pass. As stated, I pushed off of my back foot generating energy to my core, used my hips and pointer foot to guide where the ball needs to go and had my arm roll with the energy transferred from my core making me throw the ball as accurate and as far as I want it to be. Proper throwing technique as displayed in the pic above is encouraged and practiced with QB's across the nation.


    With all the talk of proper throwing technique, do you think I should research some other forms of throwing technique to improve my game as a Quarterback?


Feldman, Bruce. The QB: The Making of Modern Quarterbacks. New York: Crown
     Archetype, 2014. Print.

The Making of a Modern Quarterback

Quarterback, may just be one of the hardest positions to play in all of sports ever created. As a quarterback you not only need to be prepare physically but mentally when in this position. Every little detail in your mechanics is very crucial. In the book The QB the Making of Modern Quarterbacks by Bruce Feldman he quotes retired NFL QB Trent Dilfer stating that, "He also realized that the upper body posture and ball carriage had a pivotal role in creating the optimum passing platform, which was totally contradictory to what most QB's had been taught" (Feldman 14). The author is stating that little details like keeping your posture upright can help with technique.






In my 9 year football career, 2 of those years were spent playing quarterback. My first year playing quarterback which happened to be my freshman year, I struggled a lot with my mechanics and didn't really pay attention to detail. This lead me to struggle as a QB in the passing area of the game. Through offseason training and my being more dedicated to focus on the little details that will help me in my game as a QB, I was able to have a more successful season. My sophomore year in my second varsity game I threw for over 100 yards which is the most I've ever had in a single game.


Do you think in order to be successful all quarterback need to have the same style and technique?






Feldman, Bruce. The QB: The Making of Modern Quarterbacks. New York: Crown
     Archetype, 2014. Print.



Part of being a great quarterback is having great body posture when passing the ball. Your body needs to be upright and tall with the nose of the football facing down.