The Taylor Swift Problem

Travis Kelce Taylor Swift as players is that a distraction does that ever get in the way I mean it didn't for the Chiefs right it's big outside the doors media lots of attention like but as players like is does that affect does that trickle down at all I don't think I mean for me like I I never felt like yeah you played you played with Brady for examp Brady and there's something being wrote about him every single day right and you can you can talk about it you can see it but like I think at the end of the day there's like this old cliche saying of like between the lines right or like once you step foot in that building like drop everything at the door like do your job do your job there's all these cliche things and it you can call them cliche all you want but I think people do that yeah I think when you walk in that building I could be in a drag it out you know argument about what's going on how we're raising our kids with my wife at home and it's completely gone for those eight hours that I'm in that building right like I think I think we're very good I think that's what makes people at Elite professional athlete level or even Elite professional level in any business right is being able to separate and compartmentalize you know whatever's going on off of the field or outside of your work from what's going on inside your building and the only thing that matters inside that building is the 53 guys coming together for one common goal and that's getting a win week after week right I think I think that's that's the that's the reality like I you can think it's cliche or whatever but I think that's the reality in most most teams I think the Chiefs had a little bit of they had a little bit of foundation to work from they had won Super Bowls before they had been through like the the circus of going through all those different things so they were the best team equipped to handle that kind of scenario I was in New York in 2016 we made the wild card and there was like an Infamous boat trip that took place oh yeah and some of the receivers Odell Beckham probably the biggest star of any sport at that time in the world yeah they go on this boat trip Bieber's there Trey songs is there they take a boat trip and we're getting ready to play Green Bay in the wild card and it went from New York there a lot of media in the locker room already you you've been there you saw how crazy it can get it went from a 100 that week to 250 where it was standing room only in in the locker room and to say it wasn't a distraction we still talk about it to this day and answer was it a distraction was it not when you get on between the lines yes you're playing football and I got to go block Julius Peppers but during the week when you have to answer questions about a boat trip like it starts to it starts to trickle in a little bit especially a young team that hadn't been to the playoffs since winning a Super Bowl it definitely there was an impact for sure yeah the ones who can disregard outside noise put it to aside and then focus on football solely are usually the ones that have a longlasting career yeah the ones that can't they don't make it very far they're always teing checking their phone hey what happened what am I looking at on who's pinging me on Instagram what are they saying about me I'm the best corner you know why is he getting paid more than me uh there's so many distractions that you can make as a player if you want to right I can name a lot of different issues the training room the food uh I'm not getting paid as much as this guy and I'm performing better than him uh why are we practicing this hard on Wednesday why are we in full paths why are we in short why we're not practicing hard enough so many issues uh my girlfriend's got you know she's pregnant whatever it might be a lot of different issues but once you get in the room and you studying football that's what you have to focus on and the guys that can separate all the other BS and just focus on football are usually the ones you want to have on your team and the ones that perform pretty well yeah unfortunately that's not the case for everybody yeah and uh people do get affected by outside noise and you just got to try as a coach to make sure that when you're in the building it's all about your team and that day and your assignment period and then go out and try to get better that day and uh and if they can't if they make it too much about other things and you know you got to get rid of them we all got fired the next year so that makes sense everyone got fired GM all the way down so yeah yeah I'm same way you know outside noise is going to be there with social Med the way it is I mean you have one disgruntled player he talks to the media and then they write a huge article you know then everybody has to deal with it I had that you had a couple guys that the media would always go to because they knew it'd stir up contr y yeah they wouldn't talk to the the leaders of the team they went and talked to the guys who would stir up the stuff reporters are slick now they don't want a they don't want a good story they want controversy that's right and they want distraction and you know that's why being a football player being a basketball player this day and age you have to be mentally tough and if you're not mentally tough you better get in a different line of work yeah any sport right now with all the publicity all the social media mental toughness is one of the most important tra obviously talent that you got to have yeah this may this is a different take but I felt like in my career I feel like I became a better football player once I started having kids it's it sounds weird it's kind of crazy but like you know my first five years in the NFL you know no kids right you're at the building all day you're you're doing all these things you're work and work sometimes I felt like I just I got I did too much and then I started having kids and responsibility and it's like I learned how to manage my time so much better and when I got to work it was like everything's off it's it's work and it's got my complete attention focus and then I go home and then you develop this routine where I felt like separating those two and being able to handle that resp actually helped me you know make my career a lot longer I don't did you so I'll piggy I'll piggy back off that I mean I didn't have kids till I was in my 10th year so like I didn't experience that but I did I did get to spend a couple years having kids while I was playing that wasn't it for me but what it was for me and it it's very much in line just a different thing was when I got to the pros I put so much emphasis on succeeding right on being a starter immediately on being great in this league like it meant so much to me that I put so much pressure on myself that I I almost didn't play loose if that makes sense right so like my first two years I I didn't have a ton of a succcess and then going into my third year I was like that wasn't working like let's just let's just go let rip and see what happens you know what I mean not give a [ __ ] as much about getting yelled at and just like going in if I make a mistake I make a mistake and just deal with it right and from that standpoint that's when it started to click for me is like when I didn't put so much pressure on myself and just went out and I don't want to use the word like went out and just had fun CU it's obviously much more important yeah right I had a lot moreing it the way that I started to go my do you think because of the organizations you were playing for because I know being in New York it was the pressure and everyone was so much tighter and then coming to Arizona it was a tenth of the media and they weren't looking to do hit pieces in in Arizona in the Northeast in that area commanders Giants Philly Pittsburgh drafted to Pittsburgh the year after they won the Super Bowl and I walk in the locker room and there's Troy paalo rothberger Casey Hampton James Harrison Lamar Woodley Bret Keel Troy palalo Hines warts Antonio Holmes I'm like just named 10 Hall of Fame type players whether they get there or not who knows but God I got to live up to this yeah you know that's kind of like that was like the ceiling and I was like here we go yeah