Getty Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Derek Carr feels the heat as Kansas City Chiefs lineman Chris Jones breaks through the pocket.
The Kansas City Chiefs rolled to a dominant 41-14 victory in Las Vegas and a palindrome of a scoreline like that definitely earns the ability to talk smack.
Chiefs safety Juan Thornhill was all over it with a hot mic throughout the Week 10 battle and the former second-round pick didn’t hold back. “I’m the last person you want to give the mic to,” he tweeted after the game.
Personally, I thought Thornhill was a tremendous choice after listening.
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Fans ‘Bring the Whole House’ as Thornhill Brings the Noise
“YEAAHHH!!!” Thornhill screamed after the ‘Home of the Chiefs’ national anthem chant took over Allegiant Stadium. “We bring the whole house when we show up baby,” he added.
It was a fitting start to what would quickly become a Chiefs’ invasion. Patrick Mahomes outpassed Derek Carr 406 to 261 in terms of yardage and five to two in terms of touchdowns and Thornhill wasn’t shy in his trash talk of the Raiders QB.
“Aye he’s nervous though,” the safety told teammates about Carr, “that boy’s patting his feet around in that pocket, that boy nervous, we good.”
The Chiefs defense pressured Carr a total of 20 times according to Pro Football Focus. Leading the way was game-wrecker Chris Jones, with five, followed by edge rusher Frank Clark who was credited with four pressures.
Kansas City only got home twice with sacks by Derrick Nnadi and Jarran Reed, but they hurried the Vegas signal-caller 15 times and that certainly impacted the Raiders offense.
Live look at Chief v. Raiders:
Thornhill also gave some lip to wide receiver Zay Jones shortly after proclaiming that the passing routes were “locked up.” The Raiders pass-catcher seemed to voice a complaint on the incomplete pass forced by tight coverage from cornerback Rashad Fenton, to which the safety responded, “man, don’t cry bruh!”
Smack talk aside, Thornhill provided fans with a phenomenal performance in Week 10 with an 84.1 grade from PFF. It didn’t show up in the stat sheet but the defensive back allowed zero catches in coverage with 82.8 tackling marks.
After an outing like this, maybe the Virginia product should be mic’d up more often. “Why are you always smiling,” L’Jarius Sneed asked Thornhill. “I’m in a good mood man,” he answered, “what you want me to walk around mad?”
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‘You Got Mossed by Dan!’
There was one other comical moment late in the game where Thornhill got “Mossed” by Daniel Sorensen on a play where Carr heaved up a prayer downfield.
“You got Mossed by Dan,” a teammate joked to Thornhill on the sidelines. “No let me tell you bro,” he responded, “I saw the receiver, did not see Dan. I was like oh he’s not getting it. I jumped, Dan came out of nowhere! I was like ohhh!”
#Chiefs DC Steve Spagnuolo on Dan Sorensen’s INT
“Happy as heck for him and proud of him…I don’t like to give up on him, especially after what Dan has done for us in the past.”
Ironically, the two DBs generally battle for playing time, although Thornhill has appeared to take the leg up in the snap share since Week 6. It’s all love either way, especially when the Chiefs are blowing out division rivals in their own building.
As Thornhill repeated during pregame warmups, “great day to have a day.” It was also a great day to be a Chief.