Fans have been clamoring to see him on the field for most of the season. This past week against the Las Vegas Raiders, Willie Gay Jr. got his largest sample size yet.
The Chiefs defense was beaten and beaten often on Sunday night against the Las Vegas Raiders. There were very few bright spots from the game, however, Willie Gay Jr. flashed the potential once again that Chiefs fans have been craving to see. Gay finished the game with five total tackles, four of which were solo, and showed off his wide variety of tools, while also managing to play a season-high 31 reps.
It was great to see Gay get more reps in the game, and he made the most out of every rep that he did get.
Gay is clearly getting more comfortable defending the run, and he made a giant play early in the game to take away a potential massive gain from the Las Vegas Raiders. The Chiefs looked like their game plan was to go out and stop the run, and they did, for the most part, holding Josh Jacobs to only 3.2 yards per carry. Gay coming from the backside of this run makes it all the more impressive.
Of course this wouldn’t be a Willie Gay Jr. article if there wasn’t at least one clip displaying his freak athletic ability. He comes out of nowhere to make the stop on Waller, who I don’t think had any idea that Gay was even anywhere close to the area.
The Chiefs defense struggled in general as a whole but they did manage to stop the run, and Gay once again played a role in this. Chris Jones makes most of the play happen here, on really an interesting play. He sees the double pull to the outside, but then he skips over the play, over defensive end Mike Danna, and gets a hand on Jacobs, which allows Gay to come over and help out for the stop.
The last play might not look like much, but it does a good job of showing the progression that Gay has to go through. First, he sees that it is a play-action boot and not a run, drops back into his coverage and makes sure there is nothing coming into his zone, and lastly sees Carr is going to run and turns up the speed to force him out for only a minimal gain.
The Chiefs defense has struggled the past two weeks, but perhaps the only bright spot has been that when Willie Gay Jr. is on the field, he is starting to make plays. This week the defense will have another tough task in playing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers lead by quarterback Tom Brady. The game has the potential to be a shoot out, but it may only take one big play from a young player to change the momentum of the game.
