Tyrann Mathieu dedicates KC Chiefs win to L’Jarius Sneed

It’s easy to tell the Kansas City Chiefs are a close fraternity of brothers. That means when one teammate is hurting, either physically or emotionally, the others feel it, which is what makes it so heartening to see the defensive colleagues of cornerback L’Jarius Sneed coming together after the team’s dominant win over the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 14 to dedicate their performance to him.

If you missed the news, the Chiefs were missing Sneed’s productive presence in the secondary against the Raiders this week because of the tragedy involving his brother, TQ Harrison, who was stabbed and eventually died earlier in the weekend. Sneed took a jet provided by Patrick Mahomes to be with his family in Louisiana on Saturday and he was originally designated as questionable. On Sunday, the Chiefs changed that to out as it was clear Sneed was going to remain with family.

In a normal circumstance, the Chiefs would undoubtedly miss Sneed’s presence because of his ability to impact the game on several levels—from rushing the passer to playing tight coverage. On Sunday, however, Sneed was where he needed to be and the Chiefs defense more than picked up the slack.

Some of the Kansas City Chiefs defensive backs dedicated the team’s win over the Raiders to L’Jarius Sneed.

The Chiefs limited Derek Carr and the Raiders to only 290 total yards offensively and much of that came in garbage time in a 48-9 win—the single greatest margin of victory in the storied history of this rivalry. They forced the Raiders to make five turnovers while the Chiefs didn’t commit a single one and the defense was in Derek Carr’s face all game long.

After the game, fellow defensive back Tyrann Mathieu paid tribute to Sneed on Twitter by dedicating his performance to Sneed and his family.

He wasn’t the only one as other fellow defensive backs also weighed in, including safety Juan Thornhilll and cornerback Chris Lammons.

https://twitter.com/Juan_Thornhill/status/1470149874226237445

It’s unknown how long Sneed will remain out but the Chiefs will certainly give him all the time he needs to be with family, attend to details, and grieve the tremendous loss. Until then, his teammates are also with him and doing everything they can to play their hearts out in his honor.