The NFL has experienced many changes over the last couple decades when it comes to the Internet and the rapid spread of information on social media. One wrong sound bite can be used against a player or used by a team as motivation for an upcoming matchup. It’s called bulletin board material. Coaches and players will take any perceived disrespect or smack talk and use it as motivation throughout the week to get the competitive juices flowing in the locker room.
Former Steelers OL Ramon Foster recently spoke about some bulletin board material they used in the 2010 playoffs ahead of their matchup with the New York Jets in the AFC Championship Game.
“The next week we ended up playing [the] New York Jets, that’s the Bart Scott ‘can’t wait’ drop,” Foster said via The Two Percent Podcast posted on YouTube. “He was talking about coming to Pittsburgh, playing us. And you know what’s so sick about that is he wasn’t even talking about us. We used him saying ‘can’t wait’ to come to Pittsburgh as fuel to the fire. You need a little something…and that’s all we needed. We said that all week long.”
When you reach the NFL, most players already have some form of intrinsic motivation baked into their psyche. But if a whole team can rally around the same message and use it as motivation, that can give a competitive edge, even if it is just giving that extra one percent of effort.
Foster is of course referring to the infamous post-game speech given by Scott after the Jets upset the New England Patriots in the divisional round of the 2010 playoffs.
Out of his entire impassioned speech, he only somewhat mentioned the Steelers in his last two words and it was prompted by Sal Paolantonio, who was interviewing him.
The Steelers went on to win that game on their way to a Super Bowl loss against the Green Bay Packers, but they defeated the Jets, 24-19, with “can’t wait” serving as their rallying cry throughout the week.
Even things that may seem relatively benign can be spun into motivation for an NFL team. That is why it is difficult when you hear things like Patrick Peterson claiming the San Francisco 49ers have tells on offense and basically guaranteeing he will have an interception against them. You can bet they used that as motivation all week. Players like Alex Highsmith, T.J. Watt, and Pat Freiermuth might not be the most entertaining interviews most of the time during the season, but their political and empty answers will never be used as motivation against the Steelers.
You always wonder how much players look at what is being said about them. In this day and age, it is nearly impossible to avoid. Even if a player stays away from social media, reporters will stir the pot and ask if they have heard about the latest smack talk. This is an interesting look into how locker rooms operate and how one errant sound bite can be weaponized.
