Arrowhead Pride
In sports, momentum is a hard thing to quantify. When you have it, you feel unstoppable. But when it’s gone, you feel like Sisyphus rolling the ball up the hill. Momentum gives energy, but can also take it away. It notoriously saps the strength of one team, only to give it to another.
We know that football is a game of inches. But football is also a game that is sometimes dictated by momentum — and that’s tricky, because it’s a mistress that refuses to suffer a team that comes out flat.
That’s what happened to the Kansas City Chiefs in last Friday’s season-opening 27-21 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. By the time Kansas City had found its footing, the team was already behind the metaphorical boulder, fighting an uphill battle.
“I think there were a couple of plays [where] we got negative plays on defense,” Chiefs MIKE linebacker Nick Bolton told reporters on Wednesday, “and I didn’t think our energy — and our excitement — was where it needed to be.”
When things are like that, there’s only one thing that can break the spell.
“[If] we make good plays — make splash plays — make the crowd [excited and] make adjustments,” noted Bolton, “like, everybody gets involved. [You have to] love on your teammates, man. [Then you have] 11 guys celebrating for you.”
Wide receiver Hollywood Brown said that in Friday’s game, his teammates weren’t “ready to throw the first punch.”
“They were just more excited than us,” he admitted to reporters. “They came to bring it.”
But to the Chiefs’ credit, they never quit — and by the end, had made it a game. Still, there were moments where frustration boiled over. At one point, tight end Travis Kelce was yelling at right tackle Jawaan Taylor after he had drawn multiple penalties. Linebacker Drue Tranquill gave defensive tackle Chris Jones a piece of his mind after Jones opted for an inside pass-rushing move that broke outside containment — and Los Angeles quarterback Justin Herbert took advantage by scrambling for a game-sealing first down.
But that kind of thing doesn’t really trouble Kansas City head coach Andy Reid.
“As [the players] pull for each other, they get after each other,” he asserted to reporters on Wednesday. “I mean, that’s all part of it. When guys do good, they jump around and tell them how good they did. It’s all part of it. [There’s a] time and a place for everything.”
“It’s football,” maintained quarterback Patrick Mahomes during his turn at the podium. “It’s passionate. We love the game. I’d rather have guys that are passionate about it — and want to win — than the other way around. We hold each other accountable.”
Mahomes insisted that Chiefs players can do this without hurting each other’s feelings or sowing division in the locker room.
“There’s no ill will anywhere,” he said. “It’s just a bunch of guys that want to win — and want to do whatever they...
