In late January 2004, while studying film in his Houston hotel room, Jake Delhomme received a call from Peyton Manning. The New England Patriots had just beaten Manning’s Colts in the AFC Championship, and Delhomme, the Carolina Panthers‘ quarterback, sought advice from his longtime friend on how to prepare for Patriots coach Bill Belichick, his opponent in Super Bowl XXXVIII.
The Patriots dynasty had just started to bud, and Patrick Mahomes had yet to escape elementary school. But the paradoxical advice Manning delivered Delhomme would ring true for the next 15 years, and it still holds up now, as Mahomes and Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid become the latest quarterback-coach combo to face Belichick in the playoffs, in Sunday’s AFC Championship.