The Seattle Seahawks are ready to win a Super Bowl. They have the quarterback. They have the receivers and they have strong defense that should keep them in contention for the entire season. With the right players in place, head coach Pete Carroll is making sure everyone is in the right mental state. So who better to come talk to a team than a coach coming off back-to-back championships, Erik Spoelstra.
The Miami Heat coach is a Portland, Ore. native so being up in the Pacific Northwest is nothing new for the coach. He understands exactly what is needed to play an entire season while keeping a championship mindset. Both the Heat and Seattle have a talent roster on hand, but the head coach talked about a player's mental game as well. The message resonated with quarterback Russell Wilson.
"I think the biggest thing that correlates with us and the Miami Heat is the way we practice and the way we go about our business," Wilson said, via the News Tribune. "We can't compare ourselves to them yet, we haven't done anything yet, and they've done a great job of winning the whole thing. That's what we want to learn from them, how they got there through all of the things that are going on. With all of the positive things that have been said, all of the negative things that have been said, how do you continue to focus on the work ethic part of it, the sacrifice of it all. That's what he was talking about today."
Wilson spent time talking to several of the Miami stars while attending this year's ESPYS, learning what it takes to have a championship work ethic. He learned about the idea of sacrificing things for a team, referencing how LeBron James and Dwayne Wade gave up money to join the team and help win a title.
"That sacrifice that it takes to be great, and to be great so often is kind of what he was talking about for the most part, and having that discipline too as well is something that he also talked about. Just working hard, continuing to work hard, continuing to believe in yourself, and ignoring the noise and that kind of stuff. That's the main message he gave, and it clicked with us," Wilson said.
The Seattle Seahawks came very close to having a successful postseason run last year. They lost to the Atlanta Falcons in the playoffs, ending their hopes of possibly making it to the NFC Championship game and beyond. The Seahawks could be back in contention once again this year and the talk from Spoelstra might just help.
