Tyrann Mathieu could play with an extra chip on his shoulder this week.

Players usually find their own source of additional motivation. Mathieu may look back on a social media moment with CJ Gardner-Johnson this offseason as motivation for the game between the New Orleans Saints and Philadelphia Eagles.

Gardner-Johnson took issue with Mathieu performing better than him overall in Madden. In response, Gardner-Johnson criticized Mathieu and his former team, pointing out that the events of 2022 and 2023 are proof that Mathieu is not a better player than he is.

The logic is flawed in many ways, but most importantly, Mathieu Gardner did not replace Johnson. He may be a safety now, but with the Saints he was a nickel corner.

Mathieu didn’t care how flawed the logic was, he fired back in tweets that have since been deleted. It’s unclear if this was the last straw, but Mathieu reacted as if his name had been played with.

In addition to responding to his initial reaction, Mathieu began posting lists in which he was ranked highly. These moments always felt like subliminal attacks against Gardner-Johnson. The posts had the same tone as Mathieu’s direct response.

The tone was that Mathieu is a veteran who has played at a high level and continues to do so. That clearly fueled Mathieu in August, and it would be no surprise to see that fire reignited with Gardner-Johnson on the opposite side.