LOS ANGELES — Philadelphia quarterback Jalen Hurts won each of his last five regular-season starts in which the Eagles faced double-digit deficits.
Houston’s C.J. Stroud ranks third in passing attempts (151) among rookies without an interception early in his career.
Despite not throwing a single catch for Arizona in the preseason, Joshua Dobbs of the Cardinals has completed nearly 71 percent of his passes in the last three games with four touchdowns and zero picks.
Some play checkers. These guys play chess.
No one understands this better than Los Angeles-based performance coach Seth Makowski, who has worked with all three quarterbacks at various stages of their football careers, using the game of chess to teach poise under pressure, quick decision-making and how to avoid getting turned around. . error in a line of them.
“There is ancient wisdom in this game that has been around for thousands of years,” said Makowski, 47, who with his wife co-founded Poison Pawn, which he describes as a mental training system that uses chess to achieve peak performance in all aspects games. life.
“So we can kind of take advantage of that and use the game as a vehicle to really convey a lot of lessons and concepts and give them the tools to navigate good times and bad.”
Makovsky is more of a chess enthusiast than a master, and he’s not out to turn anyone into a coffee shop champion. Instead, the game teaches broader life and behavioral strategies.
“It’s about the mental process of everything you do,” said Dobbs, who has worked with Makowski for the past two years. “Especially as a quarterback, when you’re attacking the line of scrimmage, you have to know what you’re doing on every play…
“We were able to simulate a lot of these situations on a chessboard in terms of where your threats are, where you attack and how to make the best move given the amount of time you have.”
NFL quarterbacks aren’t the only ones. Among his clients, Makowski counts Dodgers star Mookie Betts, as well as the UCLA football and volleyball teams, the USA Artistic Swimming team, actor Cameron Diaz and several corporate executives, all looking to perform at their best and/or gain an advantage in the competition.
Along with his wife, Rebecca, Makowski reimagined the outdated look of traditional chess pieces, making them more streamlined, modern and appealing to a new generation of players.
“We wanted these pieces to represent a break with the past and a new way of thinking,” he said.
By education, Makowski is involved in business. After graduating from Emory University and beginning his career at Coca-Cola, he led several restaurant companies and advised organizations in a variety of industries, from airports to airlines, casinos, hotels and private equity firms.
He linked his interest in chess with his career.
“The way I learned and applied it changed the way I made decisions,” said Makowski, who reached out to and studied chess masters from Russia, Italy, South America and other countries. “The deeper I went, the faster I made decisions. If I made a mistake, I could quickly move beyond it, not let one mistake lead to other mistakes, and have a decision-making process. “
Makowski is not a lifelong football fan. He could tell a lot about Garry Kasparov, but almost nothing about Garry Kubiak. He had never watched a college football game until UCLA coach Chip Kelly invited him to work with his players.
“Seth really helped me take a step back and see the game in a bigger perspective,” said Rams cornerback Quentin Lake, who played at UCLA. “This is how you should look at chess. The main thing he talks about is strong moves. What can I do to make a move that will prepare me for something later? In football there is a direct correlation with this.”
Makowski uses all sorts of methods to test his clients. Make your move in 10 seconds. Play with crowd noise coming through your headset. Play between games on the driving range.
“In between reps, while they’re resting, I put them in situations where they have to evaluate threats and attacks,” he said. “This is not traditional chess. They often sweat. The whole goal is to dramatically improve results.”
Sometimes sessions are held in person, sometimes via video calls. Makowski doesn’t need to buy his services; clients come to him. His company’s motto is “A Player, Not a Piece,” with the goal of being a player in one’s own game rather than a piece in someone else’s.
“I can determine a person’s personality type and tailor training accordingly,” Makowski said. “For example, someone like Jalen Hurts. In his case, he wanted to be thrown into the fire right away. Other defenders might want to understand what’s going to happen first, understand every element before they play.”
Hurts, whose undefeated Eagles play the Rams on Sunday, worked with Makowski early in his career but declined to discuss it for this article because, according to a team spokesman, “he keeps his offseason work secret.”
Stroud, the No. 2 overall pick last spring, began working with Makowski in high school at the Elite 11 camp, where he rose from relative obscurity to outperform more established rookie quarterbacks and win camp MVP honors.
Although some players at the camp knew how to play chess, Stroud had never experienced it. He accepted a bit of teasing from them. This prompted the quarterback to ask Makowski to coach him, spending two hours a night studying the game.
“Suddenly he went from just seeing the complexity to seeing the process and making it happen,” Makowski said. “Bucky Brooks, his coach, was also watching and said there was a clear improvement on the field. It was CJ who showed up and ended up winning MVP.”
Just like that, from teammate to the mat.
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