Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the deep dive. We've gone through the sources,
we've pulled the articles, and we are ready to get
into it.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
And today we're diving into something really interesting in the
world of high sakes performance.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Yeah, specifically, how what feels like disrespect can actually become
a massive competitive advantage.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Sounds a little backward, I know, but we've got a
brilliant case study here. We're looking at the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Okay, so just for context, they are having a great
season objectively speaking.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Oh absolutely, they're sitting at nine to four, they're in
control of the AFC South. But the core finding from
all your sources is that they're being fueled by this belief,
this conviction really that nobody rates them, That.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
The media, the league, everyone still thinks they're a joke exactly.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
And I find this so fascinating because you know, in
any elite field, sports, business, whatever, you're usually chasing success
for the respect that comes.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
With it, right, for the validation.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Yeah, but here we have a team that seems to
be succeeding because they feel ignored. It's like a deliberate strategy.
They're choosing to be the underdog, even when the scoreboard
says they're on top.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
So that's our mission for this deep dive. We're going
to unpack how the coaches the players are intentionally using
this perceived disrespect as like institutionalized fuel.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
They're not waiting for anyone to notice them, they're weaponizing
being ignored.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Okay, so let's set the stage with some facts, because
the success is real. It's not just a feeling. A
nine to four record that puts them in first place
in their division all alone.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
And you have to remember this is coming off of
four to thirteen season just last year. I mean, it's
a huge turnaround.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
A total franchise recalibration. And it's not like they're just
beating bad teams.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
No, not at all. This sources point out this run
has already tied the franchise record for most wins for
a first year head coach, and they've got signature wins.
I mean, they've beaten real contenders like.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
The forty nine Ers, the reigning champion.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Chiefs on Monday Night Football, all know less on national television.
So they've earned the attention, or they should.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
So that's the paradox, right, they're winning, they're beating the
best teams. Where does this feeling of being overlooked actually
come from.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Well, let's look at their most recent win, the one
against the Colts. It was a dominant thirty six nineteen victory.
That should have been the main story.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Jaguars cement their division lead something like that.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Right, But it wasn't. And if you look at the
media coverage right after that game, it perfectly proves their point.
What was the big story the season ending achilles injury
to the Colts quarterback Daniel Jones. Oh, the Jaguars win,
their dominance, It just became the backdrop for another team's tragedy.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Wow, so their actual performance just becomes a footnote. I
could see how that would sting. That has to be
a blow to the ego.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
It is, and it shows that this feeling of disrespect
isn't just something they're making up. It's being fed to
them constantly by how their own wins are framed.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
So their quarterback Trevor Lawrence, he talks about this directly.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
He does. He says the attention goes to every other team,
and he even calls out their rivals in the division.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
The Colts and the Texans, which is interesting because why
would a nine to four team be worried about the
attention other teams in their division are getting.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Because it's all about narrative potential. Yeah right. The media
loves the Cinderella story and Houston is the exciting new thing.
The Colts are this established brand. The Jaguars, meanwhile, are
just there.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
They're winning, but they haven't captured the imagination, so to speak.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Exactly, and that lack of a spotlight feeds this whole
belief that they're being fundamentally misunderstood.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
And the players are definitely taking that personally. I mean,
you look at the running back Travis Ettien Junior.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Yeah, his quote is so blunt after that win, he
basically says, at the end of the day, I feel
like no one likes us except for us. We're not
going to get their respect, and then he adds that
last part, we kind of don't even care.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
And that's it.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
That's the pivot, that's the whole psychological shift right there.
They're not begging for it anymore. They've accepted that it's
not coming, and now they're building their whole identity around
that absence.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Lawrence says pretty much the same thing. It's kind of
just how it is, and we'll use it as a
chip on our shoulder and keep playing. It doesn't really matter.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
That's how you turn a slight into fuel. And that
brings us to the most compelling part of this whole thing.
This isn't just players complaining in the locker room, right.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
This is being orchestrated from the top. The coaching staff
sees this energy and they are bottling.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
It, they are institutionalizing it. Coach Liam Khane, he just
accepts that the validation ain't coming, and he calls that
the beauty of it.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
The beauty of it, So he thinks praise is actually
a bad thing.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
He explicitly refers to it as rat poison. And for
you listening, that term might sound a little weird, but
it's a common idea in high level sports psychology.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
So why is praise poison?
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Because it makes you soft, at least to complacency. The
second a team starts reading its own headlines believing the hype,
they lose their edge, they lose the hunger that got
them there in the first place. Yeah, you know, your
motivation shifts from this internal drive to dominate to an
external one of just trying to maintain an image.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
And if you're just trying to maintain an image, you're
not focused on the fundamentals anymore. You start to think the.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Job's done exactly So, by making sure his team feels slighted,
coach Cohen is basically shielding them from the one thing
that could make them fall off. He's forcing them to
stay internally driven.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
It's like a psychological scaffold. It guarantees that the baseline
of motion in that locker room is aggression, vigilance.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
They can't relax, right because in their minds, they still
have everything to prove. And Cohen actually connects this to
the you know, the gold standard of this kind of motivation,
Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan, he was the master of this.
He was famous for literally manufacturing slights to get himself going.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Oh yeah. He didn't even need a real insult. If
there wasn't one, he'd just invent one in his head.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Think about it. He needed to a grievance, even a
self created one, to tap into that rage. He needed
to compete. Coen is basically making that a team wide policy.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
His goal is to keep his players and I'm quoting
here finding ways to get a little bit pissed off
and go play their tails off.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
So you have to ask, Okay, is this just talk,
you know, locker room bulletin board stuff. Does it actually translate?
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Well, you can see it in the players. Look at
the defensive end. Josh hein z Allen, Right.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
He first acknowledges the slight He says, league wise, I
think to them, we're still the Jags. They are just
waiting for us to slip up.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
So he gets it. He accepts that's how they're seen.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
But then what does he do. He immediately channels that
into this incredibly bold statement. He says he'll see them
in the super Bowl.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
So it's not just complaining, it's fuel for audacity. The
grievance has become a targeted goal. We're not just mad.
We're going to prove you wrong on the biggest possible stage.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
And that's what the coach wants. He doesn't want the
respect because that might change their entire approach is engineered
a system that runs on being the outsider.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Okay, So the final piece of this for you, the listener,
is connecting this mindset to the actual results. The philosophy
is there, but is the proof in the pudding?
Speaker 2 (07:11):
It is look at the big picture, again, a team
that many people thought would be mediocre at best is
nine to.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Four, and with games against the Jets and the Titans left,
getting to double digit wins is very likely, which is
a huge jump in one season.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
But Cohen says the real renewed focus, this angrier mentality,
it wasn't actually born from a win. It came from
a moment of failure, a really painful one.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
He points to a very specific turning point, the Week.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Ten loss in Houston, and the way they lost was
it was humbling. They blew a nineteen point lead in
the fourth quarter.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Wow, that's the kind of loss that can absolutely derail
a season for most teams.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Yeah, but Cohen says it was a good thing.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
How is blowing a nineteen point lead a good thing?
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Because it was undeniable proof that they were getting complacent,
that maybe some of that rat poison had seeped in
without them realizing it. That loss was a brutal reminder
that every game is going to be a sixty minute
football game.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
So it stripped away any unearned confidence. And the results
since that humiliation have been well, pretty dramatic.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Fource rate wins and look at how they won total control.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
They routed the Chargers thirty five to seven. The defense
just completely shut them down.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Then they had that gut check win against Arizona twenty
seven to twenty four at overtime that proves you have
great when things get tough.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Then another dominant one twenty five to three over a
division rival and the Titans.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
And finally the thirty six nineteen win over the Colts
that we started with. These aren't just wins. They are
statements from a team that is executing at a very high.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Level because their coaches convinced them there's still the team
nobody believes in.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
So to sort of synthesize all this, the Jaguars success
story is it's less about the playbook and more about
applied psychology.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
They've strategically embraced being the disrespected outsider, and the coach
is actively protecting that mindset from the rat poison of praise.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
It's a mechanism to keep them hungry and focused.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
And I think the lesson here for you from anyone
really is about the power of defining your own narrative,
even if that narrative seems to contradict the facts on
the ground.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Right, they're a nine to four Division leader. But their
engine runs on the idea that they still have everything
to prove.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
That Trevor Lawrence quote says it all. It doesn't really matter.
External opinion is irrelevant, and.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
That acceptance is the whole advantage. But that leads us
with one final thought for you to chew on. Okay,
if being disrespected is the fuel, what happens next? If
they keep winning and the media, the league is finally
forced to give them that respect. How do they keep
this fire going if.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
The outside world stops providing the insults? Can you still
manufacture that? Michael Jordan s grievance. You need to stay
on top. That's the challenge.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
That's the challenge for every elite performer.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
A great question to end on. Thanks for joining us
for the deep dive.
Welcome to the deep dive. We've gone through the sources,
we've pulled the articles, and we are ready to get
into it.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
And today we're diving into something really interesting in the
world of high sakes performance.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Yeah, specifically, how what feels like disrespect can actually become
a massive competitive advantage.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Sounds a little backward, I know, but we've got a
brilliant case study here. We're looking at the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Okay, so just for context, they are having a great
season objectively speaking.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Oh absolutely, they're sitting at nine to four, they're in
control of the AFC South. But the core finding from
all your sources is that they're being fueled by this belief,
this conviction really that nobody rates them, That.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
The media, the league, everyone still thinks they're a joke exactly.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
And I find this so fascinating because you know, in
any elite field, sports, business, whatever, you're usually chasing success
for the respect that comes.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
With it, right, for the validation.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Yeah, but here we have a team that seems to
be succeeding because they feel ignored. It's like a deliberate strategy.
They're choosing to be the underdog, even when the scoreboard
says they're on top.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
So that's our mission for this deep dive. We're going
to unpack how the coaches the players are intentionally using
this perceived disrespect as like institutionalized fuel.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
They're not waiting for anyone to notice them, they're weaponizing
being ignored.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Okay, so let's set the stage with some facts, because
the success is real. It's not just a feeling. A
nine to four record that puts them in first place
in their division all alone.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
And you have to remember this is coming off of
four to thirteen season just last year. I mean, it's
a huge turnaround.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
A total franchise recalibration. And it's not like they're just
beating bad teams.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
No, not at all. This sources point out this run
has already tied the franchise record for most wins for
a first year head coach, and they've got signature wins.
I mean, they've beaten real contenders like.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
The forty nine Ers, the reigning champion.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Chiefs on Monday Night Football, all know less on national television.
So they've earned the attention, or they should.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
So that's the paradox, right, they're winning, they're beating the
best teams. Where does this feeling of being overlooked actually
come from.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Well, let's look at their most recent win, the one
against the Colts. It was a dominant thirty six nineteen victory.
That should have been the main story.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Jaguars cement their division lead something like that.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Right, But it wasn't. And if you look at the
media coverage right after that game, it perfectly proves their point.
What was the big story the season ending achilles injury
to the Colts quarterback Daniel Jones. Oh, the Jaguars win,
their dominance, It just became the backdrop for another team's tragedy.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Wow, so their actual performance just becomes a footnote. I
could see how that would sting. That has to be
a blow to the ego.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
It is, and it shows that this feeling of disrespect
isn't just something they're making up. It's being fed to
them constantly by how their own wins are framed.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
So their quarterback Trevor Lawrence, he talks about this directly.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
He does. He says the attention goes to every other team,
and he even calls out their rivals in the division.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
The Colts and the Texans, which is interesting because why
would a nine to four team be worried about the
attention other teams in their division are getting.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Because it's all about narrative potential. Yeah right. The media
loves the Cinderella story and Houston is the exciting new thing.
The Colts are this established brand. The Jaguars, meanwhile, are
just there.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
They're winning, but they haven't captured the imagination, so to speak.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Exactly, and that lack of a spotlight feeds this whole
belief that they're being fundamentally misunderstood.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
And the players are definitely taking that personally. I mean,
you look at the running back Travis Ettien Junior.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Yeah, his quote is so blunt after that win, he
basically says, at the end of the day, I feel
like no one likes us except for us. We're not
going to get their respect, and then he adds that
last part, we kind of don't even care.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
And that's it.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
That's the pivot, that's the whole psychological shift right there.
They're not begging for it anymore. They've accepted that it's
not coming, and now they're building their whole identity around
that absence.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Lawrence says pretty much the same thing. It's kind of
just how it is, and we'll use it as a
chip on our shoulder and keep playing. It doesn't really matter.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
That's how you turn a slight into fuel. And that
brings us to the most compelling part of this whole thing.
This isn't just players complaining in the locker room, right.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
This is being orchestrated from the top. The coaching staff
sees this energy and they are bottling.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
It, they are institutionalizing it. Coach Liam Khane, he just
accepts that the validation ain't coming, and he calls that
the beauty of it.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
The beauty of it, So he thinks praise is actually
a bad thing.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
He explicitly refers to it as rat poison. And for
you listening, that term might sound a little weird, but
it's a common idea in high level sports psychology.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
So why is praise poison?
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Because it makes you soft, at least to complacency. The
second a team starts reading its own headlines believing the hype,
they lose their edge, they lose the hunger that got
them there in the first place. Yeah, you know, your
motivation shifts from this internal drive to dominate to an
external one of just trying to maintain an image.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
And if you're just trying to maintain an image, you're
not focused on the fundamentals anymore. You start to think the.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Job's done exactly So, by making sure his team feels slighted,
coach Cohen is basically shielding them from the one thing
that could make them fall off. He's forcing them to
stay internally driven.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
It's like a psychological scaffold. It guarantees that the baseline
of motion in that locker room is aggression, vigilance.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
They can't relax, right because in their minds, they still
have everything to prove. And Cohen actually connects this to
the you know, the gold standard of this kind of motivation,
Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan, he was the master of this.
He was famous for literally manufacturing slights to get himself going.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Oh yeah. He didn't even need a real insult. If
there wasn't one, he'd just invent one in his head.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Think about it. He needed to a grievance, even a
self created one, to tap into that rage. He needed
to compete. Coen is basically making that a team wide policy.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
His goal is to keep his players and I'm quoting
here finding ways to get a little bit pissed off
and go play their tails off.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
So you have to ask, Okay, is this just talk,
you know, locker room bulletin board stuff. Does it actually translate?
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Well, you can see it in the players. Look at
the defensive end. Josh hein z Allen, Right.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
He first acknowledges the slight He says, league wise, I
think to them, we're still the Jags. They are just
waiting for us to slip up.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
So he gets it. He accepts that's how they're seen.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
But then what does he do. He immediately channels that
into this incredibly bold statement. He says he'll see them
in the super Bowl.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
So it's not just complaining, it's fuel for audacity. The
grievance has become a targeted goal. We're not just mad.
We're going to prove you wrong on the biggest possible stage.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
And that's what the coach wants. He doesn't want the
respect because that might change their entire approach is engineered
a system that runs on being the outsider.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Okay, So the final piece of this for you, the listener,
is connecting this mindset to the actual results. The philosophy
is there, but is the proof in the pudding?
Speaker 2 (07:11):
It is look at the big picture, again, a team
that many people thought would be mediocre at best is
nine to.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Four, and with games against the Jets and the Titans left,
getting to double digit wins is very likely, which is
a huge jump in one season.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
But Cohen says the real renewed focus, this angrier mentality,
it wasn't actually born from a win. It came from
a moment of failure, a really painful one.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
He points to a very specific turning point, the Week.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Ten loss in Houston, and the way they lost was
it was humbling. They blew a nineteen point lead in
the fourth quarter.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Wow, that's the kind of loss that can absolutely derail
a season for most teams.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Yeah, but Cohen says it was a good thing.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
How is blowing a nineteen point lead a good thing?
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Because it was undeniable proof that they were getting complacent,
that maybe some of that rat poison had seeped in
without them realizing it. That loss was a brutal reminder
that every game is going to be a sixty minute
football game.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
So it stripped away any unearned confidence. And the results
since that humiliation have been well, pretty dramatic.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Fource rate wins and look at how they won total control.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
They routed the Chargers thirty five to seven. The defense
just completely shut them down.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Then they had that gut check win against Arizona twenty
seven to twenty four at overtime that proves you have
great when things get tough.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Then another dominant one twenty five to three over a
division rival and the Titans.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
And finally the thirty six nineteen win over the Colts
that we started with. These aren't just wins. They are
statements from a team that is executing at a very high.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Level because their coaches convinced them there's still the team
nobody believes in.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
So to sort of synthesize all this, the Jaguars success
story is it's less about the playbook and more about
applied psychology.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
They've strategically embraced being the disrespected outsider, and the coach
is actively protecting that mindset from the rat poison of praise.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
It's a mechanism to keep them hungry and focused.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
And I think the lesson here for you from anyone
really is about the power of defining your own narrative,
even if that narrative seems to contradict the facts on
the ground.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Right, they're a nine to four Division leader. But their
engine runs on the idea that they still have everything
to prove.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
That Trevor Lawrence quote says it all. It doesn't really matter.
External opinion is irrelevant, and.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
That acceptance is the whole advantage. But that leads us
with one final thought for you to chew on. Okay,
if being disrespected is the fuel, what happens next? If
they keep winning and the media, the league is finally
forced to give them that respect. How do they keep
this fire going if.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
The outside world stops providing the insults? Can you still
manufacture that? Michael Jordan s grievance. You need to stay
on top. That's the challenge.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
That's the challenge for every elite performer.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
A great question to end on. Thanks for joining us
for the deep dive.
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