Jim Brown – USA Today Sports
The Kansas City Chiefs need to play dumb on Sunday against the Tennessee Titans. I don’t mean that literally; I’m talking psychology here.
There were five fines handed down by the NFL today, and three of them were issued to players involved in the New York Jets loss in Nashville to the Titans. All three involve players that probably will not be on the field for their respective teams this Sunday.
Tennessee safety Michael Griffin was fined $21,000 for a concussive hit on Jets wide receiver Stephen Hill. Hill is listed as questionable on the Jets injury report for their Monday Night Football matchup with the Atlanta Falcons.
New York defensive players Muhammad Wilkerson and Quinton Coples were fined a combined $23, 625 for the play that caused Titan quarterback Jake Locker to leave the field on a stretcher. Locker will not play against the Chiefs, and is expected to miss at least three weeks with a strained hip.
There is a psychological term known as Machiavellism. It is a part of the “dark triad”, a group of personality traits that also include narcissism, and psychopathy. Studies have shown that sufferers are extremely intelligent, but lack emotional understanding; they lack Empathy.
The condition was named after Niccolo Machiavelli. He was a renaissance era leader of the Florentine (Italy) militia. In short, he believed in the theory of ruling by fear.
When the Chiefs clash with the Titans this weekend, they need to ignore the kind of battle Tennessee wants to be in. Quarterback Alex Smith can’t be fearful of the blitz taking out his knees, and Kansas City wide receivers can’t worry about their heads being chopped off.
In all honesty every successful player in the league could probably be diagnosed with one of the triad. Most skill-position players are narcissists, most defensive players are psychopaths. The Titans want to be Machiavellian on Sunday. The Chiefs must pretend not to notice…
They must play dumb, if you will.
Troy Alan is a Kansas City Chiefs writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @TRantMedia or “Like” him on Facebook
