Former 49ers linebacker Patrick Willis approached game day with a mindset shaped long before he ever stepped onto an NFL field.
Speaking recently on Fred Warner‘s “Real Ones: The League” podcast, Willis explained that his mentality as a player was inspired by the gladiators he watched growing up.
“I was born in ’85,” Willis said. “And being born in ’85, I remember the early ’90s. I remember seeing a lot of gladiator movies on TV, a lot of action movies. I don’t know what it was about seeing those gladiator movies or seeing those action movies or just seeing the guys go at it, but I just thought it was super cool the way the gladiators competed.”
The idea stuck with Willis even as he began playing football and eventually reached the NFL.
“I remember saying to myself, ‘Man, one day I would love to do that,'” Willis explained. “I think if I was back there in those times, I could have done that. You fast forward and you start playing football, and the football field kind of gives that same kind of gladiator feel to where you’re out there and you are pretty much entertaining.”
Despite the violent nature of the sport, Willis’ pregame routine wasn’t about getting overly hyped before kickoff.
“For me on game day, it was quiet before the storm,” Willis noted. “Let me be reserved. Let my actions speak louder than my words.”
He even experimented once with the loud, high-energy pregame approach common in football locker rooms — and quickly learned it wasn’t for him.
“I thought you were supposed to be all loud from the time you go into the locker room to the time you get on the field,” Willis added. “And I remember by the time the game started, I was tired. I was like, ‘Holy crap, man. This ain’t for me.'”
Instead, Willis relied on a focused mindset that kicked in just before kickoff.
“My mentality really was that gladiator mindset,” Willis stated. “When it’s time to go, it’s time to go. When it’s time to lock in, it’s time to lock in.”
After the pregame introductions and national anthem, Willis said he would take one final moment to center himself before the game began.
“I remember after we would run out and after they would do the national anthem, I would look at the entrance where we came in and I would say, ‘Only one team can leave this field victorious, and it will be us today. And if it’s not us, I’mma die here trying.'”
That mentality helped Willis become one of the most dominant linebackers of his era during his eight seasons with the 49ers.
And it’s the same mindset that defined the way he played the game.
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