MINNEAPOLIS (AP) Minnesota Vikings running back Alexander Mattison received more than 60 “disgustingly disrespectful messages” through social media that included racial slurs and encouraged suicide, the fifth-year player said Friday in the aftermath of the team's most recent loss.

Mattison, who is Black, revealed on an Instagram Story post that he was taunted through direct messages and in the comments sections on the social media platform for his performance in Minnesota's 34-28 defeat Thursday at Philadelphia, where Mattison had one of the Vikings' four fumbles. He urged the 60-plus users to “really reflect” on their words and how they could truly affect a person.

“Under my helmet, I am a human, a father, a son,” Mattison wrote. “This is sick.”