A Week as an NFL Quarterback: Saturday

Cue Elton John singing, “Cause Saturday night’s the night I like” and I could not agree more with that assessment. Welcome to the weekend as an NFL quarterback and just like the aforementioned artistic legend, I enjoy Saturday nights. The grind of meetings and practice has finished and tomorrow you get to play. There is work to be done before you get to the evening though and this post will take you through what my Saturday looks like, hour by hour, and should serve as a good proxy for other NFL quarterbacks.

But first, a few notes to level-set before I begin:

1. For context, and so I do not have to redefine football jargon, I take the assumption you have read my earlier posts on a week as an NFL QB. While not necessary for this Saturday post, if you are going to backtrack, I recommend starting with Wednesday and working forward from there. Links: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.

2. In general, the purpose of Saturday is final review, travel and winding down for the calm before the storm. Required team activities are minimal and usually in the morning.

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Morning

Here's a look at my morning schedule:

6:15-6:45 am

Play calls on the drive in (via voice memo): Check the Wednesday blog for what this entails.

6:45-7:45 am

Recovery Modalities: I hit my hip and back mobility routine to start this time block. This entails myofascial release, stretching and muscle activation to prime my hips for tomorrow. For modality number two, I cycle through some ankle stability exercises as they make me feel grounded on Sunday (I do this outside to get morning sun). Modality number three is typically the sauna for twenty minutes, where I simultaneously hit my breathing exercises or meditate to wind down my sympathetic nervous system.

7:45-9:30 am

Call Sheet Meeting: After turning my sympathetic nervous system off, I paradoxically fire it right back up for this monster of a meeting. This meeting, if I'm starting, is done with the head coach, offensive coordinator, and the quarterback coach. If I'm not starting, I have this meeting with the assistant QB coach and Bryce Perkins. This is a rigorous and all encompassing meet, where we go through the entire gameplan. You cover the intent of each play, anticipated coverages and what your personal favorites are so the play-caller can mind meld with you on the field. When you walk out the door, you feel two things: (1) that you are going to play well (2) that you need an espresso shot.

9:35-10:30 am

Walk Through: The entire offense walks out to the field for the final stretch of morning activities. This is the final walkthrough before the game, where the priority calls and any late adjustments are covered. If I'm backing up, then I stand behind the offense, call the plays to myself and mimic Matthew's movements as if I am taking the rep.

10:30-11:00 am

Dynamic Arm Care: The day before a game, I cycle through a set of arm care exercises that range from the use bands and cuff weights to plyometric balls. These exercises facilitate blood flow through the throwing dominant muscles and pattern my arm path so that I am peaking on Sunday.

Afternoon

11:00 am-5:30 pm

Travel or Head Home: If we have an away game, then I am getting on the bus to LAX for our chartered flight. If the gods are kind, then it's a home game and I head back to my house. Outside of being at home or on a plane, my day looks the same. I start by knocking out any remaining film I want to watch asap. This takes 30-40 min. After that, I turn my brain completely off. Sometimes I read, other times I nap or turn on mindless movies. This job has its stresses, gameday being one of them, and the day before I try to find my Zen.

Night

6:00-6:45 pm

Drive or Bus to Hotel: Home games, I drive to the team hotel in Manhattan Beach. Away games, we bus to a nice hotel in that city. Either way, I use that time to flip on my voice memos or a podcast, with the choice predicated on how complex our gameplan is.

8:45-8:55 pm

Team Meeting: Time to run through a wall. This meeting entails one last message from our head coach, and he always has some juice. As testosterone starts to build, Sean turns to our head video coordinator, who flips on a hype video with some swaggy music and even swaggier edits. While I don't think speeches and videos make a difference on gameday, I love them nonetheless. After all that, I walk upstairs, hit the lights and go to bed.