Allen... does he have the Jordan killer instinct?

[GoBills808]

Premise is fine if a little premature. The only embarrassing part of the thread are the people shushing OP because it ‘looks bad’. Who gaf

[TheFunPolice]

Jordan and Brady are both survivors who know how to get to the final few minutes with a shot to win. I think Allen is starting to learn this, and I'm pretty confident that he will get even better at it.  Allen has talked a lot about studying Brady's game. 

 

Oddly, I think what we call "killer instinct" is more a survival instinct. Biding your time. Pick your spots. Whichever cliché you prefer. Playing Jordan or Brady is often death by a thousand cuts. Other super talented guys like Manning and Rogers (and Matt Ryan when he was having MVP type seasons) had/have an overt "killer instinct" and it does them in very often. I'll explain. 

 

I think what sets guys like Jordan and Brady apart is that both are masters of the physiological aspects of the game, which are almost as important as any other aspect. They keep the game alive, or the season alive. They play for the big moment. It's why both are so hard to put away when it really matters. These games, with very few exceptions, are won and lost in the final minutes. So get there with a shot. Both know when to turn it on at the right moments. Neither is going to make the big mistake that takes them out of the game. Obviously, that's more applicable in football than basketball (the big mistake) due to the way points are scored. 

 

But they put the pressure on you. You had better put them away and not leave them a chance at the end. Because if you do...

 

This difference in mindset dawned on me while listening to Brady do those Westwood One interviews Monday nights before MNF on my drive home from work. He talked often of surviving. Keep the game alive. Get to the end with a shot. That dictates his entire game. Get to the 4th quarter with a chance to win. 

 

Something else he said really stuck with me: if you're losing at that point, there is zero pressure. Worst case scenario, you lose, but you're already losing anyway. It's house money. The other team is the one with the pressure, trying to protect its lead. 

 

I think that mindset is one key to why Brady is always around. Yes, he was standing there looking confused thinking it was 4th down still... in October or whenever vs. the Bears in a game nobody cares about now and certainly won't remember in 5 years. Not in January, though. He's playing the supposed MVP who always seems to choke in big moments. If he loses at Lambeau field to the consensus MVP, well, everyone expected that. All the pressure is on Rogers this weekend. Brady's just an old guy on an underdog team playing the MVP in his house. 

 

House money, again.

 

On the other hand, certain guys, no matter how talented they are, don't seem unbeatable in big spots. In football this is Aaron Rogers, Drew Brees and Peyton Manning. Those guys could throw for 80 TDs, look totally unstoppable and win 15 games and I would almost expect a first round playoff loss. At a minimum they didn't have the mystique that comes with somehow always ending up on the winning side, regardless of how. If anything, it was/is the opposite. Mr. "MVP" Rogers disappears too many times in big games. Same with Brees especially. So many great Saints teams the past several years and once they get to the playoffs the offense stinks. 

 

Why?

 

They are in their own heads, playing against themselves. If you're Peyton Manning, the "sheriff," you are supposed to go out there and drop dimes all over the field for the entire game and score 30+. In the wind and cold, against tope defenses. To his credit, he did that quite often, even in the playoffs. But obviously not often enough. That also opens you up to making mistakes, especially when it doesn't go right early on. You hold the ball a bit too long and take the big hit. You force a throw out of frustration. 

 

Meanwhile, the other guy (Brady) is checking down to RBs all half, waiting for you to make a mistake. It's not that he's not trying to make plays, but he's not forcing anything. If it's not there he'll take the check down and punt. If you play a perfect game, you probably win. But more than likely someone on your team will muff a punt, miss a block, tip a pass to a DB, etc. 

 

This is where the overt "killer instinct" does guys in. Matt Ryan was known for (and this is a quote from one of his coaches) going for the kill, and the kill after the kill, during that MVP year that culminated in the Super Bowl collapse. 

 

NE tied that Super Bowl with a handful of seconds on the clock. Imagine Ryan doesn't fumble in his own end in the 4th quarter, giving NE an easy set up for a TD. Let's say instead he eats the sack and keeps the clock running. They run the ball the next play and punt it deep, making NE drive the field for that score. Very likely a different outcome. 

 

If you can score at will, sure, do it! But teams who do that often run into trouble when the stakes are highest, because it's harder to do. So the pressure builds. WHY AREN"T WE SCORING? Then the mistakes come. 

 

A lot of times the "killer instinct" is your worst enemy. 

 

Incidentally, Brady got away from this during the Patriots 18-0 run with an unstoppable offense that set NFL records.

 

And lost in the Super Bowl by scoring 14 points. Then again, to the same team a couple of years later by scoring 17 points. 

 

 

Edited January 21, 2021 by TheFunPolice

[Joe Ferguson]

I compare him to Kobe. Josh Allen is the White Mamba.