How Important is the Mental Game of Football? Cleveland Browns Head Coach Kevin Stefanski Provides His Thoughts

Photo by Al Kornspan

When we talk about the mental game of football it seems fitting that a Cleveland Browns coach is discussing this part of the game.

Of course, all professional football coaches value the importance of the mental game of football, but since we are covering the Browns practices it is important to provide coach Stefanski’s thoughts on this crucial aspect of the game.

Now you may ask why is it fitting that a Browns coach is discussing the mental game of football?

Well, according to Dr. Steve Graef (a former NCAA national championship football player at Ohio State University and owner of Mindurance) and his colleagues, the founder of the Cleveland Browns and Hall of Fame Coach, Paul Brown, was one of the first individuals to assess the personality and intelligence of football players.  

When Brown was the head coach of Massillon, he collaborated with a professor at a local university to design a psychological testing program.

So obviously there is a long history of discussion of the mental game of football here in Northeast Ohio.

But let’s fast forward about 85 years and look at the current Browns head coach, Kevin Stefanski’s thoughts on the mental game of football.

Stefanski’s Thoughts on the Mental Game of Football

At Monday’s pre-practice press conference, Stefanski was asked “How do you mentally help them mentally balance a day where they’re maybe up and then the next day they’re down? I feel like that’s a process, isn’t it?”

Stefanski talked specifically about the importance of being resilient and stressing that they talk a lot about  resilience with the athletes they are coaching.

“You’re going to have a good quarter followed by a tough quarter,” said Stefanski. “You’re going to throw an interception, potentially. You got to bounce back. So, one of the things we talk about a lot is resiliency. And if you don’t have that, you’re not going to make it very long in football because you face tough times week in and week out, sometimes by quarters, sometimes it’s every third game. The tough times are coming. You really just have to have that mentality that we’re going to bounce back.”

This concept of resiliency and being able to overcome the adversity that we face is of course a main concept in the fields of positive psychology and sport psychology.

It just may be that the Cleveland Browns coaches and athletes ability to apply the concept of resiliency that coach Stefanski discussed at practice on Monday will be one of the main reasons why a successful season is achieved.

We here at NEOSI would love to know your opinion on the mental game of football and how important you think it will be to the Browns success this year. Please let us know in the comments below or on social media.

Browns Practice in Rainy Conditions

After Stefanski’s press conference, the Browns had their third open practice in front of Browns fans on Monday.  

The Browns began practice mostly focused on individual drills such as ball security drills.

After the individual drills the team focused on various scenarios.

During these practice drills many fantastic plays were made.

In particular, great plays were made by Austin Watkins at the wide receiver position and Nick Chubb at the running back position.

After a day off on Tuesday, the Browns return to the practice field for their fourth practice in front of Browns fans, Wednesday at 2pm.