Chiefs players channeling bulletin board material ahead of Super Bowl LV
Kansas City Chiefs players admittedly don’t spend much time on social media, but several players do pay attention to what has been said about them and their team. They’ll see all the hot takes from the national media and the radio shock jocks. They’ll take notice of all the lists and rankings involving their play.
For players like Chiefs DT Chris Jones, he’ll channel all the material on his bulletin board and use it as motivation.
“Honestly, I get a lot of motivation from Twitter,” Jones told reporters on Thursday. “I read everything. I might not ever speak on it, but I read everything, see everything that people say. I take it personal. I take it very, very personal. No matter if it’s good or bad, I just take it to heart. I wear my emotions on my sleeve when it comes to that type of stuff. I’m not an opinionated person but when people tend to have an opinion of me or the way I play, I tend to take it personal.”
Andy Reid would tell you that his guys don’t pay much attention to all the outside noise, that they focus on the things they can control. That’s, of course, the work they put in when they’re in the building and out of it. The truth is, sometimes it’s hard to avoid the critics. When players can take that criticism and use it as motivation, that turns it into a bit of a positive.
“I will say, I hate you guys,” Hill joked with reporters. “I hate the media so much— not you guys on this Zoom call right now. But social media can be fun, it can be good it just depends on how you use it. I don’t just get on social media and look things up like that. I think it’s good that Chris (Jones) uses something for motivation like that, that’s bulletin board material. For me, I just go out there and play. I just love the game of football and I just love competing.”
At the heart of it all, competition is what this is all about. When someone says you’re not good at something, the natural competitor comes out. You want to prove them wrong.
Take Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes for instance. He’s someone that has been doubted from the moment he entered the league and he’s sought to prove doubters wrong every step of the way. He’s even had some moments in games where his celebrations looked to reference some of those doubters. When his peers voted him No. 4 on the latest NFL top-100 players ranking, he was spotted counting to four following a touchdown against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 3. Ravens QB Lamar Jackson was voted the No. 1 player over Mahomes in that ranking.
“It’s kind of in the moment type thing,” Mahomes said. “It’s not like it’s premediated, I guess that would the word for it— watching my Law and Order. It’s just something that kind of comes out when you’re in the game and you’re trying to do what you can to win and you let that excitement out, but it’s not that I feel disrespected. I mean we get a lot of respect, but at the same time, it’s like this team wasn’t winning by enough, I guess that’s a stat. So, we wanted to make sure everybody knew that we could still play good football when we wanted to.”
So, yeah, Chiefs players are paying attention to the things said about them and their team on social media. They’re listening and channeling all the bulletin board material provided by their doubters. They used it as motivation in the AFC Championship Game against the Buffalo Bills. They’ll continue to channel it and use it as motivation against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as they seek to prove themselves worthy of hoisting another Lombardi Trophy in Super Bowl LV.
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