Your Best Player Is Pressing. Say These 3 Words. | Zach Allen

Want to trust yourself under pressure? Take the free Inner Game Performance Profile: https://join.theinnergame.app/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=performance_profile&utm_content=ep04 Coaches: help shape the next version of The Inner Game with Tim Gallwey and Bob Bowman. The founding coaches cohort gets full access and a private community. Application only: https://theinnergame.app/founding-coaches?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=founding_coaches&utm_content=ep04 — Zach Allen wasn't a first-round pick. Today he's a Denver Broncos defensive lineman, a 2025 first-team All-Pro, and he has led the NFL in quarterback hits two years running. After he signed a $102 million extension, offenses had a game plan for him for the first time, and for four weeks, in his words, he was losing his mind. Then a coach told him three words: less is more. He picked up The Inner Game of Tennis because Tom Brady called it one of his favorite books of all time, and looking back, it explained his best games, including one he played sick on no sleep. In this episode he explains the ten-minute exercise behind his best year yet, why he films every rep and watches it as a mirror instead of judging it in the moment, why he never writes "don't" in his notes, the perspective trick he learned from J.J. Watt, and, partway through, he coaches me out of my own rut. — Audio/Listen only: Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-inner-game/id6818346372 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0g48LMGmub7fZPSFC5RUqk — Follow The Inner Game: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theinnergame/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@the_inner_game YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theinnergame74 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-inner-game-app Website: https://www.theinnergame.app -- 00:00 Intro: Pressing After a $102 Million Contract 01:42 Why an All-Pro Picked Up Tom Brady's Favorite Book 02:04 Sick, No Sleep, Best Game: How to Play Out of Your Head 04:23 Tim Gallwey's Untold Story: Why Coaches Over-Explain 06:10 Game Film as a Mirror (and Peyton Manning's Lesson for Coaches) 08:42 Calm on Game Day, Worked Up All Week 10:10 Why He Never Writes "Don't" and How He Resets on the Sideline 12:53 Jiu-Jitsu, Tennis and Rick Rubin: The Same Lesson 15:15 The NFL Roller Coaster: Best in the World to Getting Cut 16:18 What Tom Brady Knows That Talented Quarterbacks Don't 17:24 The Inner Game for a Team: When to Correct a Mistake 19:13 When the Stakes Are High: How to Get Back on Track 21:15 The 10-Minute Thursday Exercise Behind His Best Year 21:55 "Less Is More": Pressing After the Big Contract 24:15 Why Athletes Don't Open Up to Team Psychologists 26:55 The Best of the Best Demand to Be Coached 27:31 Pressure Is a Privilege: J.J. Watt's "You Would Kill for This" 29:40 Zach Coaches the Host 30:35 Not a First-Round Pick: Brick by Brick 32:14 Discipline Comes From "Disciple"