Simon

The worst ball he threw all night might have been the TD to Kincaid

The preparation issue forced him into 2-3 over the course of both halves, but there's been so many of them that you're 100% correct that it's becoming a blur. And you can also add in yet another in the 2nd half where he insists on rescuing an opponent from themselves on a crucial down. The man is clearly a true and generous sportsman.

My mouth while the ball was in the air on the sideline one: Hohohoho, that's gotta be a flag My mind while the ball was in the air on the sideline one: <that might have been one of those that was a bargain for just 15 yards>

We've seen a lot of snarling and kvetching about Mahomes tendency to flirt with the sideline and mess with defenders to buy time or space. He messed with it it again today and Epenesa almost murdered him for it. I'm wondering if the only reason he didn't get flagged was because stripes are well aware of the issue and don't care for it either.

He has been off on some reads. But it was a gag.

There's just too much confusion out there at key moments. It's better with McD having the call sheet, but it's still not good enough to get us where we want to go, imo. The sooner they start committing to the younger guys to start and stay out there, the better off they're going to end up down the road.

I agree with this, but I would change "The defense was coached well" to "The defense was called well". Because the problems we've seen with preparation under Babich have in no way whatsoever diminished.

They are a patchwork mess right now and if the DL hadn't been repeatedly working over a weak KC OL I think they may have ended up in big trouble. My point is to address the lack of cohesion by committing to your ultimate starters now instead of continuing to juggle your way through it.

Didn't he also have a throwaway?

I don't have any ideas but DL is now a faaaarrrrr bigger need than another average WR.

Actually I was referring to Oliver as our best defensive player, but Hoecht is definitely one of the only two significant FA acquisitions we made. He was repeatedly impacting the game at multiple positions and that loss is going to seriously hurt.

I agree with this. I expected him to be the scrawny kid out there for at least a year, but he's got way more frame than I thought.

I think his WR's ended up pulling in 13/14 targets. That's nothing to scoff at.

They also converted multiple 2nd/long and 4th downs they had no business taking that easily.

He didn't even have to cut off his route because he was already running it for him. That was sort of eye-popping.

The throw he made immediately after Epenesa tried to kill him when he was flirting with the sideline again made me take my hat off and tip it to him.

I do not freaking understand how somebody in the organization isn't crawling up his ass about his insistence on bailing teams out of their own chaos over and over and over again. I don't hate him but that single issue means that if I ever sit next to him on a plane, he's going to punch me for sure.

Sure we can; we've got no choice. But there is no better or more important player on defense than him.

Not like this they haven't. They're generally ranked NFL middle of the pack on 3rd downs and they weren't as bad as a couple plays made them look tonight, but those handful of plays were a horror show we rarely see and are the kind of game-changers that will cost you wins eventually. Every secondary gets worked sometimes but tonight was beyond the pale at times, imo.

Actually I thought he hurt himself early in the game, on the play where he swam JTaylor (the play right after he'd gotten too wide and taken himself out for a big gain) and dropped Hunt 2 yrds deep on a 1st down. He was favoring his left shoulder for a looong time after that. At a couple points, I thought he wasn't even using it.

I agree that they were too passive on a couple of those 3rd downs. I even wonder if that patchwork secondary had anything to do with their reluctance to expose it with blitzes in key situations. I also wonder if they felt like they were getting to Mahomes enough with 4 today that they were loathe to overdo it. Kermit took a worse beating today than I've seen him take in a long time.

They just lost their best defensive player for the year and one of their only two big FA acquisitions for the year in back to back weeks, at the same position group, which happens to be the 2nd most important group on the field after QB. That's light years beyond the "part of the game" expectation.

Forget deals for a WR; Beane has got to go find at least one and possibly 2 DL before the deadline.

There's a complete lack of cohesion in the secondary right now, and before our WGR-quality whiners chime in, it's not anybody's fault. They are trying to work 4 new guys (two of them rookies) into 2 spots all at the same time as a result of injuries. They are playing most of their snaps every game with a crew of DBs who are in places they're not used to and have had no chance to consistently play with each other at any time this year. Toss in losing Taron and now both their nickel and dime are being manned by yet two more new guys in roles they're not accustomed to and their lack of familiarity with their roles and each other which ratchets up that lack of cohesion by yet another order of magnitude. Their communication is not there, their pass-offs are balky, they're ending up in the wrong part of their zones because of it and it's inevitably going to be a messy, messy mess in the short term, particularly with a DC who has already been struggling for the whole year to have them on the same page. I think they can ameliorate it by just making 3 permanent switches right now and stop trying to pull off the juggling act while you acclimate new guys in. Just tear off the bandaid tomorrow morning and start Hairston and Hancock with Tre as the full time dimeback (and primary backup) and leave those guys in those positions for 100% of the game. Cam Lewis is the primary backup at both nickel/dime with Poyer backing up both safety positions. Do it right now and let these guys get an opportunity to learn and get better together and maybe by December you've got a unit that is starting to gel and getting better every week right at the time you need them to be doing that. I appreciate working Hairston and Hancock in slowly as green rookies, but it's November and the time for that is done with. It's hurting this team right now, and is going to for several weeks, but if you make an immediate commitment to your final configuration with no more dithering they can shorten the pain of that transition and still have a potentially good unit when we're really going to need it.