I’m speaking from the spirit of a competitor. Motivation largely comes from within, a will to power as Nietzsche might say, for some a conquering of the inferior, to others a dance of the metaphysical. But there comes a time in every competitor’s world that a particular defeat stains your psyche, its demons taunting you. It consumes you. I must’ve ran 8 miles the day after we lost the AAU Championship.
The zeitgeist of an NFL professional is certainly much different from a 13 year-olds, but still - going into an off-season with nightmares of wouldas, shouldas, and couldas, or engulfing embarrassment, has a way of inspiring a desire to change future outcomes.