The Mental Performance Index

Book excerpt: "You've got to continually eliminate errors and take pride in not making mental and physical mistakes. It takes extra work, extra thoughts, and extra practice to get it all done. It just doesn't happen on Sunday. You have to make up your minds to get it done and make up your minds to win." -Don Shula, Head Coach, Baltimore Colts (1963-1969) and Miami Dolphins (1970-1995). Most Career Wins (347), Most Super Bowl Appearances (6), Only Perfect Season (1972 Miami Dolphins), and 2 Super Bowl Titles with the Miami Dolphins (VII & VIII) "This is a fascinating work of remarkable scope and scholarship. Dr. Murray has devised a valid new way to measure and predict greatness in the game of football." -Steve Sabol, President of NFL FILMS "Everyone is gifted, but not everyone opens the package. Open this package and you will understand the secret advantage that helped keep me in the NFL for 12 years!" -Jim "Crash" Jensen, Miami Dolphins All Purpose Player (1981-1992), NFL Special Teams Player of Year (1988), "Miami Dolphins Unsung Hero" (2006) "As a professional kicking coach, who has spent my entire career working with professional athletes, I feel that John has done a brilliant job of demonstrating the importance of mental toughness, and intelligent play in professional football! 'The Mental Performance Index: Ranking the Best Teams in Super Bowl History' should be required reading for all football coaches at every level of the game. His book is masterfully done, and clearly outlines that mental preparedness, and intelligence on the playing field, is equally as important as physical ability and athletic talent!" "John, I truly believe that you have created a masterpiece! As a kicking coach, I am very excited about what you have done." -Doug Blevins, President, DOUG BLEVINS KICKING AND PUNTING, Miami Dolphins Kicking Coach, Football Consultant "Dr. John F. Murray is trailblazing a new frontier in understanding and appreciating football and helping teams win! This is a must read for coaches, reporters and anyone who loves the sport." -Jim Martz, Miami Herald sports writer (1970-1990), Editor of Cane Sport (University of Miami fan magazine), Author of 4 Miami Hurricanes books "Today's athletes are blessed with unprecedented physical talent, speed, strength, grace, facilities, technologies, and coaching. Unfortunately, they are often plagued by an ADD culture that inhibits their most important asset in performance - bringing their passion and focus to the moment. Whether the placekicker with a last minute game-winning field goal, an offensive lineman who goes off-sides on a key 4th down in the 4th quarter, or the safety who blows a coverage that costs a game, it is the individuals, but more importantly the TEAMS that play with collective intelligence that consistently win championships. Dr. John F Murray's Mental Performance Index helps us finally understand how and why teams like Bill Belichick's New England Patriots play smarter. I learned in almost 20 years in the NFL that it was improving my capacity to focus on the right things in the moments of truth that took me from a good college placekicker to the most accurate kicker in NFL History. Read this book and carve out new space in your life for lasting success!" -Nick Lowery, New England Patriots, Kansas City Chiefs & New York Jets Placekicker (1978-1996) "Catching or dropping the big pass in a game actually happens long before the game in great or poor mental preparation. By measuring terrific execution, or it's opposite in carelessness and mental errors, Dr. Murray is also capturing how well players prepare mentally before the big game!" -Dan Johnson, Miami Dolphins tight end (1983-1987), Caught a touchdown pass from Dan Marino in the first quarter of Super Bowl XIX