The #Chiefs are hiring Steve Spagnuolo as their new defensive coordinator, sources say. The former #Giants DC and interim HC/#Rams HC began his NFL coaching career as an #Eagles assistant under Andy Reid. Now rejoins Big Red in KC.
Originally Posted by RaidersOftheCellar:
It seems like the entire fanbase considers this defense better than last season's, at least until recently. But is it?
Last year's D was terrible to start the year, but made a dramatic turnaround. We all know the personnel and strategy changes that led to it. From week 8 forward, they allowed 16 ppg. I think it may have been the best scoring defense in the NFL during that time, or close.
On this day last year, KC's D notched its third straight game of allowing exactly 9 points. Vs Dallas, Denver and the Raiders. The Cowboys were #1 in total offense and the Raiders were high on the list too. Talking heads were calling KC's defense a dominant unit, and the narrative became that it was carrying the offense.
Obviously they struggled in the 4th quarter in the divisional vs the Bills, but the Bills were coming off a no punt game against a pretty good NE defense and were rolling.
On paper, KC got faster and more athletic this year. Ditched the liabilities like Sorenson, Niemann, Hughes and Hitchens. But it's really hard for me to say they've been better collectively. At least not yet.
I think last year's defense was underappreciated, and this year's is overappreciated.
Our defense has turned itself around most years. First season in particular where we were one of the worst before turning in a great plahoff run. I know it's frustrating to watch but we have to trust the process. We played Cincy WAY better in the playoffs than we did the regilar season. we have a cooshy schedule the rest of the way for reid and spags to try a lot of things out. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Superturtle:
Yeah, almost blowing a 27 point lead to the worst offense in the 21st century still pisses me off just as badly as it did last night.
Our biggest problem was that the D (while Russ was in the game) didn’t stiffen their backs after Pat threw his first 2 INT’s. That was extremely disappointing to me. [Reply]
I don’t think the scheme works in todays NFL. Frankly, I’d love to see Reid walk into the sunset this off season and overhaul the coaching staff. If Reid stays he should replace Spags. [Reply]
Originally Posted by emaw1979:
I don’t think the scheme works in todays NFL. Frankly, I’d love to see Reid walk into the sunset this off season and overhaul the coaching staff. If Reid stays he should replace Spags.
I'm far from a Spags fan but if he's just coaching, I don't see what much he can do. We can't get pressure unless we blitz. When we blitz, we leave a young secondary vulnerable. Double edged sword.
Now if he's the one telling Veach, "these are the players I'd like to run my preferred scheme" and Veach is just shopping for him according to his wishes, yeah he has to go. We desperately need speed on the D-line. [Reply]
Originally Posted by -King-:
I'm far from a Spags fan but if he's just coaching, I don't see what much he can do. We can't get pressure unless we blitz. When we blitz, we leave a young secondary vulnerable. Double edged sword.
Now if he's the one telling Veach, "these are the players I'd like to run my preferred scheme" and Veach is just shopping for him according to his wishes, yeah he has to go. We desperately need speed on the D-line.
why would Veach be shopping for players he may not want [Reply]
Originally Posted by emaw1979:
I don’t think the scheme works in todays NFL. Frankly, I’d love to see Reid walk into the sunset this off season and overhaul the coaching staff. If Reid stays he should replace Spags.
The Chiefs are 10-3, have beaten the Broncos 14 straight, are on the.verge of a 7th straight West division title, and have hosted the AFCCG 4 straight.
Please sterilize yourself with a rusty butter knife. [Reply]
Originally Posted by BryanBusby:
why would Veach be shopping for players he may not want
Money/resource/resource allocation issues?
But I do think Spags does have a hand in getting the players he prefers on the DL. And yeah the days of those types of players being big impact are kind of over. You need some finesse and speed to consistently win in today's game. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Cave Johnson:
The Chiefs are 10-3, have beaten the Broncos 14 straight, are on the.verge of a 7th straight West division title, and have hosted the AFCCG 4 straight.
Please sterilize yourself with a rusty butter knife.
Unacceptable. The Chiefs should win every game 69-0 on their way to 10 undefeated seasons.
That said, there needs to be some improvement with our pass rush... it's pretty awful against decent QB's. [Reply]
Word this morning was there was a lot of anger and yellig on the defensive sideline.....a coach v. player type thing.....anyone catch any of that on tv? I didn't see it [Reply]
Originally Posted by -King-:
I'm far from a Spags fan but if he's just coaching, I don't see what much he can do. We can't get pressure unless we blitz. When we blitz, we leave a young secondary vulnerable. Double edged sword.
Now if he's the one telling Veach, "these are the players I'd like to run my preferred scheme" and Veach is just shopping for him according to his wishes, yeah he has to go. We desperately need speed on the D-line.
There is a pattern to Spags and Reid for that matter. We have a tendancy to blow large leads under Reid...some that come to mind are:
Indy
Titans
Bucs regular season game a couple years ago
Cinci 3 twice
Spags on the other hand has a tendency to not be able to close teams out. We gave up a 2nd and 34 yesterday to the worst offense in football. We constantly are giving up 3rd and longs. And that has been a hallmark of this defense for quite some time.
Outside of a DPI or Hold or something, you should never, ever straight give up a 2nd and 34. EVER! [Reply]
Depends if we continue to regress. Chiefs won the Superbowl in 2020, got beat badly in 2021, then got beat in the AFC Championship game by blowing a big lead where we should've won. This year is still a question mark, but it shows we haven't learned from our mistakes the last two weeks, once against a team that seemingly has our number, and the other that inexplicably we allowed to almost come back from 27 down and got outscored 28-7 in pretty much the second half of the game, which is something we usually do to the opponent, not vise versa.
Unfortunately with the success we've had the expectations are going to remain high, but if you lose in the divisional round, or worse the wildcard, and don't make it to the AFC Championship game this year, that's a small but important regression. I hope they make the AFC Championship game this year if not the Superbowl, but if they don't, you have to remove Spags to try and improve the defense next year. Since nobody wants to take Bieniemy you'll have to remove him too and promote Nagy in the offseason, which will get flak from some for the politics of it all, but you can't continue to allow that to be the reason if it's not working. Replacing Spags and Bieniemy won't happen given Reid's penchant for loyalty, but it should happen. If your coordinators are only good enough to get you to the same level every year, but not good enough to get promoted off your staff, then eventually you'll need to make that change. [Reply]