Willie Gay is another inexperienced player. And while he's an athletic freak he's never been a full time starter, not even in college. I'd expect to see the same kind of mental mistakes from Gay as we've seen from the rest of the defense.

Willie Gay is no more immune to over running a misdirect or RPO as the next guy. He needs time to grow into that spot.

This defense has always started out pretty trashy under Spags. If the pattern repeats itself we should see things gel by midseason.

By then guys like Willie Gay, Nick Bolton and the secondary should all know what they should be doing and where they should be doing it.

Spag's defense must be like a foreign language with similar sounding words/letters. He's over there calling out the play and the players are on the field trying to decide if he just said Ö or Ü.

You know, it does make sense when it’s the young guys doing it. Atleast with Bolton he’s young.

Some of the others are just weird that they’re so bad

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Tyrann has played 94 snaps at FS, 53 in the slot, and 59 in the box so far this season. That’s 43.5% of his snaps at FS. For comparison’s sake he played 16.1% of his snaps at FS in 2019 and 24.2% in 2020. In case you’re wondering why this D can’t cover anything under 5 yards. <a href="https://t.co/ThvD913itT">pic.twitter.com/ThvD913itT</a></p>&mdash; Arrowhead Live (@ArrowheadLive) <a href="https://twitter.com/ArrowheadLive/status/1445028694049890309?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 4, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Lol yeah we forget that our pass rush had the most sacks in the league that year..smh at how bad the back end was.

Imagine how pissed Spags is that they drafted Willie Gay, he shows promise athletically as a rookie and now knows the playbook…and he’s hurt so Neimann’s dumbass has to play

Well unless hebpissed in Spags Cheerios or whatever Thornhill did to Spags.

Spags should worry more about why his defense is lethargic and unprepared.

The whole unit looks like they could give a shit about being out there.

Yeah I definitely see a real lack of effort on D at times. Like 'Mahomes will score so let's not give 110% of every play.'

Real lack of leadership on that D to not allow that to happen.

Well, one supposed leader is hurt or in legal trouble or something and isn't playing and the other seems to be content to quabble on social media about his non contract status.

It's not a shock.

Then there is whatever is happening with Thornhill.

Honestly, and it's early so maybe they get out of the funk, but it looks like a "blow it up, bring in new coaching and a new message" type of effort.

I also think we need to understand defense in the NFL is dead. Sure, you can play the shithouse teams like the Bills have had and stymie them. Great.

But look at the Panthers. Best defense in the league. Until they played a good offense. Then it wasn't anymore and they gave up 36 points.

Defense just doesn't win in the league anymore against elite offenses. It's too hard.

So, get yourself an elite offense and get a D that will get 2 punts, a turnover and not be an absolute sieve.

I feel like this is pretty important information and maybe offers a clue to "what's happening with Thornhill".

This is a drastic change is usage for Mathieu. I have to wonder why. Could it be that they're attempting to preserve him by moving him further away from the LoS? Late in the 2nd half on Sunday i joked to my son that Tyrann's jersey is still white, it's barely gotten dirty.

Well, no wonder it's barely gotten dirty. He's playing FS most of the time these days. And then im taken back to TC when there was chatter and quotes from Tyrann talking about taking care of his body, he's getting older, choosing to avoid the big hits instead of laying them etc....

So im left to wonder that:

1. The decrease in snaps around the LoS is to reduce his opportunity for injury, keeping him fresh towards the end of the season. Similar to the way the Padres moved Tatis Jr. from Short Stop to Outfield.

2. Are we seeing less Thornhill because he's more suited for FS and not SS? Sorenson is simply built better than Thornhill when it comes to working by the LoS and playing a S/LB hybrid role.

TL;DR, maybe we're seeing less Thornhill because he'd ideally play FS for us. Instead, Tyrann is playing most of his snaps at FS rather than all over the place and down in the box as he usually is. THAT role has gone to Sorenson. Maybe we don't see much Thornhill until he either becomes a better tackler or they move Tyrann back around the LoS.

Maybe. But I can't imagine they'd be worried enough about Mathieu physically to do that if they didn't intend to keep him? I dunno.

In any matter, Sorenson sucks at it. He's great as a 3rd safety, but being that Lb/hybrid just isn't good for him.

They did it a little bit late in the Philly game, but let DOD play that spot. He's atleast an athlete and can tackle. I dunno, but they've gotta do something cause it's awful.