Tony Dungy Ball Quotations

The game has changed since the '70s as more coaches have looked at ways to make it tougher on defenses. But I'm glad my career turned out the way it did - I would have never gotten a chance to learn the defensive side of the ball.

I enjoy watching football on TV. Many times I can visualize the whole field, even on the TV screen, because I still know enough about what the teams are doing.

For some reason the football coach of a major college program is seen as one of the leaders of the campus. And some way we have to let our young people know that that leader can look like anyone.

We only wanted to pay significant sums to keep truly special players.

I had 10 to 12 close buddies who I played ball with all the way from elementary to high school. That is where I learned to compete.

There's a difference between making incremental improvements and making sweeping changes that take you away from your core values.

We believed it was not our formations that made us good, but rather how we played.

I hired top-notch people, trusted them to do their jobs, and then came to grips with the fact that I wouldn't be coaching as much.

What's important is not the accolades and memories of success but the way you respond when opportunities are denied.

And if God has given you a lot of ability, I believe you should be held to a higher level of expectation.

At the end of the day, the only people a One Voice doctrine silences are those who should be the most loyal.

There are certain bridges that are not worth crossing, no matter what others think. Loyalty and relationships are important.

I needed to do my current job well, keep preparing, and wait on God's timing. I needed to trust His leadership rather than try to force an outcome I wanted.

We spent our whole married life in the ultra-competitive world of professional football, Lauren and I had always tried to view it through God's eyes. As much fun as it was to be winning, we tried not to get caught up in it. We knew that our family life and our faith walk were more important.

We wanted guys who had been productive in college, and we made it a point to pick performance over potential.

If we do what we do without panicking, we can accomplish great things.

Football is a vocation and an opportunity for ministry. But it's not a life.

Keeping ridiculous hours doesn't mean you'll be successful.

I learned it doesn't matter how you win. You play to your team's strength.

Pain prompts us to change behavior that is destructive to ourselves or to others. Pain can be a highly effective instructor.

I've always tried to coach people the way I would like to be coached; positively and encouragingly rather than with criticism and fear ... I've tried to be as fair as possible.

God allows us to feel pain for a reason: to protect us.

I can't very well preach unity and tell the guys we're all in this together and everyone's important, then cut a guy because we might improve by one percent if we bring in someone else.

First, there is no typical grief cycle, and second, it's not something I went through. I'm still grieving.

I was able to look at football as something that God was allowing me to do, not something that should define me. I couldn't take my identity from this sport.

Once a player joins our team, our priority is to teach him, not worry about the player we didn't select.

Change isn't always bad; we should always be learning and improving. But the change I was seeing involved principles, not procedures.

I found that while life drags on when you're losing, it marches on when you're winning.

I said all along that God is in control.

God's definition of success is really one of the significant differences our lives can make in the lives of others.

If I can't get the captains to respond appropriately and show the leadership I expect, how is anyone else going to respond?

Gay marriage and who should be on a football team have nothing to do with each other.

They were unwillingly to give 100 percent if they didn't personally think it was important. What you don't understand is the champions know it's all important.

At some point in life's journey, professionally and personally, we have to be able to trust our preparation.

Our goal was to win, to win a Super Bowl, but also to win in the right way, to be role models to our community, to represent Indianapolis, the state of Indiana and the National Football League.

I love coaching football, and winning a Super Bowl was a goal I've had for a long time. But it has never been my purpose in life. My purpose in life is simply to glorify God. We have to be careful that we don't let the pursuit of our life's goals, no matter how important they seem, cause us to lose sight of our purpose. I coach football. But the good I can do to glorify God along the way is my real purpose.

You may not win the Super Bowl. Your kids may not go on to be doctors and lawyers and everything may not go perfectly. That doesn't mean it was a bad plan or the wrong thing. It's just like a football season. Everything's not going to go perfect.

Winning would create greater potential for change than talk alone.

When it's over, it's over is part of football's greatest appeal to me. When a game ends, win or lose, it's time to prepare for the next one.

What's important is not the uniform or the number, and it's not what team you play for or whether anyone else sees your value; it's who you are on the inside. And when you're in Christ, that's never going to change.

The best solution for falling just short of the goal is to focus on the fundamentals but perform them better.

And as a football coach in the National Football League, I know for sure that it's going to end someday.

With the (defensive) looks we're getting, I would bet we'll end up running the ball more than we did last year. We feel like we can operate whatever the defense allows.

A good leader gets people to follow him because they want to, not because he makes them.

It's the journey that matters. Learning is more important than the test. Practice well, and the games will take care of themselves.

He's a physical guy, who is a good special teams player. He's a good guy and a good athlete and we'll get a chance to see what he can do, for a few days at least.

They are playing the way they played three years ago in terms of just pressuring the passer and playing a lot more man coverage. I think once those young defensive backs get in a flow in things and get a feel for how fast the ball is coming out, they are going to be even better,

We've knocked a lot of balls loose and had some fumbles on the ground, but we just haven't gotten them. We've got to keep pressing and persevering because that will not win for us down the stretch.

Our mission is to win a Super Bowl. And we know we've got a very, very tough team in front of us. New England has won about 13 straight and they're playing the best ball of anybody in the league. Going up there is going to be tough. We know what the challenge is, but we're not going to be satisfied just getting to the championship game. We think we've got a team that can win it.

We drove the ball and just didn't finish some drives. If people want to make us go down the field at a slow pace, we can do that when we don't have all the penalties, dropped balls and missed assignments.

We knew they wanted to run the ball and use the clock. Once we got ahead, we were able to not let that happen.

I think (the Steelers) are playing a little bit sharper and maybe with a little bit more resolve. I think they made a commitment to run the ball when they left here, and they're certainly doing it very well.

Baltimore is very physical. They run the ball very well. they pound it. They've got an improved groups of receivers. Defensively, they do a lot of things. They have very good personnel and they're physical. It's going to be a tough, rough game.

We've got a tough group. You have to do something special to get a game ball from them, but (Smith) did a great job.

It's just that guys were very focused. We knew where a lot of the balls would go, and once we got into a situation where Martin had to throw and try to make some plays ... that's when you generally get the interceptions.

To lose a game - I'm sure I'll get over this a lot faster than I'll get over my son. It's our job and it's football and it's disappointing and you want to play well, but it's certainly not the end of the world.