http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...e-pulled-from-a-blowout-bruce-arians-refused/
When Peyton Manning wanted to be pulled from a blowout, Bruce Arians refused
Posted by Mike Florio on July 6, 2017
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Cardinals coach Bruce Arians knows how to coach quarterbacks. He wrote the book on it. Literally.
The Quarterback Whisperer,
officially released next Tuesday, has plenty of interesting stories from Arians’ lifetime in football, as both a quarterback and a coach of quarterbacks.
Here’s one that justifies a blurb of its own. Arians, serving as the quarterbacks coach in Indianapolis early in Peyton Manning’s career, showed a willingness few have to be blunt and candid with Peyton.
During a 1999 game against the Patriots, the Colts trailed badly. “Midway through the fourth quarter of the game, with the outcome already decided, Peyton was so frustrated that he asked for mercy,” Arians writes. “He wanted to be pulled from the game.”
Arians refused, in a colorful way.
‘”F–k no, get back in there,’ I told him,” Arians explains. “‘We’ll go no-huddle and maybe you’ll learn something. You can never ask to come out. You’re our leader. Act like it.'”`
Arians then describes what happened next as a “sight to behold,” with Manning leading a late drive that ended in a touchdown pass. Arians saw the drive give Manning a “shot of confidence.”
Before the rematch later that year, with the pre-Belichick Patriots having beaten Manning three straight times, Arians noticed before the game that Manning “had a frowning, contorted face” and that “he looked like he really needed to go to the bathroom.” Arians continued to sense that Manning was uptight about facing New England again, so Arians said to him, “‘Peyton, your footwork is all messed up. . . . What’s wrong with you, man?'”
Arians says that Manning’s footwork actually was fine, but in the process of focusing on working on his footwork after Arians called him out, Manning’s anxiety disappeared. The Colts won the game. Arians calls that moment before the game as a “turning point” in their relationship, one in which Arians pushed the right “psychological button.”
And that’s what so much of the book is about — the psychology both of being a quarterback and of coaching one. It’s already a worthwhile effort to read, and I’m only at page 26.
View: https://www.amazon.com/Quarterback-Whisperer-How-Build-Elite/dp/0316432261/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1499379029&sr=8-1&keywords=the+quarterback+whisperer
The Quarterback Whisperer: How to Build an Elite NFL Quarterback Hardcover – July 11, 2017
by Bruce Arians
What is an elite NFL QB and what separates that player from the others? One answer is the coach they share. In the recent history of the biggest game on earth, one man is the common thread that connects several of the very best in the sport: Peyton Manning; Ben Roethlisberger; Andrew Luck; and the resurgent Carson Palmer. That coach is Bruce Arians.
A larger than life visionary who trained under the tutelage of Bear Bryant, Arians has had a major impact on the development and success of each of these players. For proof beyond the stats, go to the sources.
Bruce is gonna love you when you need some loving, but he's gonna jump on you when you're not doing right. - Peyton Manning
He coaches the way players want to be coached. - Ben Roethlisberger
He made players comfortable around him and let everybody have their own personality. He didn't force anybody to be someone they weren't. It may sound a little corny or cheesy, but there's merit to that. I felt comfortable being myself and I felt he had my back.- Andrew Luck
We're a resilient group. It trickles down from the head coach. I think good teams, really good teams, and hopefully great teams take on their coach's mentality. I think that's what B.A. brings... - Carson Palmer
Known around the game as the 'quarterback whisperer', Arians has an uncanny ability to both personally connect with his quarterbacks and to locate what the individual triggers are for that player to succeed. No two quarterbacks are the same. And yet with Arians they always share success. In this book Arians will explain how he does it.
