Kansas City Chiefs CB L’Jarius Sneed didn’t play in the Week 14 game against the Las Vegas Raiders, but he played a big part in their triumphant victory.
Sneed was ruled out of the game as he went home to Minden, Louisiana to bury his oldest brother, T’Qarontarion “TQ” Harrison, who was slain in a stabbing incident over the weekend. Speaking to the media after the game, Chiefs HC Andy Reid led off speaking about the tragic situation and how the team supported the Sneed family in this difficult time.
“L’Jarius Sneed, I just want to address that up front here,” Reid began. “Our hearts go out to him. Great kid, great player. Just his family, they were all visiting (Kansas City) at this time. You know it’s a tough deal, but our organization stepped up and got everybody back where they needed to be to go through the grieving process and that locker room is grieving with them.”
In postgame comments, each of Sneed’s teammates explained the part he played in their victory on Sunday. Patrick Mahomes led off, speaking about the brotherhood in the locker room.
“It’s such a tragic situation for him,” Mahomes said. “As a brotherhood, as an organization and as a team, we’re going to go support our brothers. I thought guys played hard for him today. We got the win and I’m just praying for him and his family. It’s a tough deal and we want him to be in a good spot as a person before anything on the football field.”
Mike Hughes, who had one of the most productive games of his career in Week 14, explained that the pregame message in the locker room was to go out and play for Sneed. He felt they accomplished that mission with the win.
“He was on everybody’s mind,” Hughes said. “Before the game, we said that we were going to play for him. You know, we always just, we’ve got our brother’s back no matter what’s going on. I think he’s dealing with a tough situation right now, I won’t get into it, that’s his business. But we wanted to play for him today and we went out there and did that. That felt good to get that W for him.”
Defensive leader Tyrann Mathieu has spoken with Sneed a few times since he’s been away from the team. He felt that the team embodied Sneed and his energy today, which was a big reason for their dominant 48-9 win against the Raiders.
“He’s on our mind a lot,” Mathieu said. “You know, obviously, when somebody loses somebody that close to them, I feel like most of can relate to that— losing people. I just wanted to play for him today, his family. I feel like we did that. I feel like we started the game with some ‘L’Jarius energy’ and so we kind of kept it going throughout the game.”
Mathieu and fellow S Juan Thornhill took to Twitter shortly after the game to emphasize that this win for Sneed and his family.
Sneed that was for you and the family!!!!
— Tyrann Mathieu (@Mathieu_Era) December 12, 2021
That was for our brotha Sneed ✊🏽❤️
— The_Juan_And_Only (@Juan_Thornhill) December 12, 2021
The offense and defense certainly kept the “L’Jarius energy” going through the final whistle, and they’ll continue to keep it going and lift up their teammate for as long as necessary while he deals with the loss of his brother.
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