KC Warpaint 3,251 Posted January 26, 2019 Share Posted January 26, 2019 Adam Teicher ESPN Staff Writer KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Now that Steve Spagnuolo has been hired as the new coordinator, the Kansas City Chiefs' defense needs to improve in 2019. Not by the playoffs or even midseason. The Chiefs need to be better without the ball from Day 1. That's a reasonable expectation for Spagnuolo, making him a smart hire by Chiefs coach Andy Reid. Spagnuolo, 59, is a veteran coach, having been an NFL coordinator for six seasons with two different teams, and a head coach for the Rams for three years. He is also someone Reid can trust, as Spagnuolo was an assistant for him for eight years with the Eagles. Steve Spagnuolo NFL experience Years Team Position *-four games '99-00 Eagles Defensive asst. '01-03 Eagles Defensive backs '04-06 Eagles Linebackers '07-08 Giants Defensive coordinator '09-11 Rams Head coach '12 Saints Defensive coordinator '13 Ravens Sr. defensive asst. '14 Ravens Secondary '15-17 Giants Defensive coordinator '17* Giants Interim head coach Spagnuolo's New York Giants defense famously helped defeat an unbeaten New England Patriots team at Super Bowl XLII. The combination of a veteran defensive coach and someone who is familiar to Reid should allow the Chiefs to get better immediately. "Steve is a bright defensive mind with a lot of coaching experience and success in our league," Reid said in a statement released by the Chiefs. "I know him well from our time together in Philadelphia and I feel that his leadership skills and teaching abilities, combined with his scheme, will be a great fit for our team as we move forward." That's important because the Chiefs don't have a minute to waste. They already threw away one season of the high-scoring Patrick Mahomes era because of a faulty defense and can't afford to ruin any more. Kansas City finished 31st in total defense this season, in contrast to the offense, which finished No. 1 overall in the NFL. The Chiefs scored at least 28 points in each of their five losses this season, including games in which they scored 51 and 40 points. That's why it was a good move for Reid to fire Bob Sutton, the Chiefs' defensive coordinator for the past six seasons. The Chiefs spent a considerable amount of resources last season to fix their defense, including the free-agent signings of linebacker Anthony Hitchens and lineman Xavier Williams and the drafting of defensive players with their first five picks. The Chiefs got worse on defense, dropping from middle of the NFL pack in terms of points allowed to the bottom 10. Things came to a head during an ugly defensive performance against the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game, a game the Chiefs lost 37-31 in overtime. Maybe if the Chiefs had retained Sutton they would have improved on defense next season anyway, depending on the player moves they make. But the defense was trending downward, and the Chiefs couldn't take what would -- at this point -- amount to a leap of faith that he could turn things around. By the same token, the Chiefs need to be right on Spagnuolo. While Mahomes is going to be a force for many years, he will be on a relatively inexpensive contract for only another year or two. The Chiefs appear to have a good thing going with their pass-catchers, too, in Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce and Sammy Watkins, but injury and age have a way of ruining plans, often without warning. So the Chiefs need to approach 2019 as their window to win a Super Bowl. They don't have to sacrifice 2020 and beyond, but they must make a reasonable amount of defensive improvement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetlord 10,210 Posted January 26, 2019 Share Posted January 26, 2019 Do these guys get paid for writing what everyone here knows is obvious? Window is open, Chiefs need to get better on defense, they lost a golden opportunity to play in a Super Bowl because the defense let them down. Brilliant analysis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KC Warpaint 3,251 Posted January 26, 2019 Author Share Posted January 26, 2019 4 minutes ago, jetlord said: Do these guys get paid for writing what everyone here knows is obvious? Window is open, Chiefs need to get better on defense, they lost a golden opportunity to play in a Super Bowl because the defense let them down. Brilliant analysis. to be fair Jet, a lot of posts i saw here all week were highly critical of the hire, and that blew my mind because you knew andy was not going to get a kris richards or someone similar (a young up and coming DC) because that is not his style and also because he knows he does not have time to wait for total revamp of our defense Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomahawkChop 255 Posted January 26, 2019 Share Posted January 26, 2019 29 minutes ago, KC Warpaint said: to be fair Jet, a lot of posts i saw here all week were highly critical of the hire, and that blew my mind because you knew andy was not going to get a kris richards or someone similar (a young up and coming DC) because that is not his style and also because he knows he does not have time to wait for total revamp of our defense I'm happy with the hire, primarily because it means Sutton is gone. I like more attacking defensive schemes/game plans even if it means giving up more explosive plays. That said, I disagree to some extent the notion that hiring an up and comer is not Andy's style. Pederson, Naggy and Bienemy are all young guns that hadn't run offenses before and Reid gave them the chance. Juan Castillo in Philly had never run a defense before (and it showed. Terrible disaster.). I think Reid has shown in spots he's more than willing to infuse new blood to his coaching staff. That said, with the Chiefs "window" I'm sure he wanted a proven commodity, which I can understand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adamixoye 604 Posted January 26, 2019 Share Posted January 26, 2019 3 hours ago, jetlord said: Do these guys get paid for writing what everyone here knows is obvious? Window is open, Chiefs need to get better on defense, they lost a golden opportunity to play in a Super Bowl because the defense let them down. Brilliant analysis. So you're saying Teicher is a bad writer? Now who's the one writing what's obvious to everyone! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troyofoc 361 Posted January 26, 2019 Share Posted January 26, 2019 4 hours ago, TomahawkChop said: I'm happy with the hire, primarily because it means Sutton is gone. I like more attacking defensive schemes/game plans even if it means giving up more explosive plays. That said, I disagree to some extent the notion that hiring an up and comer is not Andy's style. Pederson, Naggy and Bienemy are all young guns that hadn't run offenses before and Reid gave them the chance. Juan Castillo in Philly had never run a defense before (and it showed. Terrible disaster.). I think Reid has shown in spots he's more than willing to infuse new blood to his coaching staff. That said, with the Chiefs "window" I'm sure he wanted a proven commodity, which I can understand. To your point pederson,nagy,and Eric are offensive coaches and we know andy has all the control on that side. They were all under Andy's wing. Andy isn't known for developing defensive coaches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liquidfriend 1,151 Posted January 26, 2019 Share Posted January 26, 2019 Well it's nice they are choosing to want to win vs lose aa lot of games. Thanks for the hard hitting stuff, Teicher. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kkuenn 3,613 Posted January 26, 2019 Share Posted January 26, 2019 Teicher will still pick against us. I think he had us at 9-7 this year and 2nd to the Chargers. Edit: found the link to it. http://www.espn.com/blog/kansas-city-chiefs/post/_/id/24485/2018-kansas-city-chiefs-game-by-game-predictions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mloe68 1,521 Posted January 27, 2019 Share Posted January 27, 2019 Spags is 2-2 in delivering a massively improved defense in year 2. I think next year we just need to hope we improve as season progresses and actually have some real identity by January. Teicher is a nice guy and has been around the Chiefs a VERY long time. But he has zero insight and nearly always states the obvious. Whos gonna be on his staff should be the story a paid beat writer is posting today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomahawkChop 255 Posted January 27, 2019 Share Posted January 27, 2019 4 hours ago, Troyofoc said: To your point pederson,nagy,and Eric are offensive coaches and we know andy has all the control on that side. They were all under Andy's wing. Andy isn't known for developing defensive coaches. Yes, I'm aware of that fact. However, it doesn't change the fact that Reid has a history of putting unknowns into lead positions on his coaching staff. I'll grant, however, that many were offensive positions where Andy maintained control. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mloe68 1,521 Posted January 27, 2019 Share Posted January 27, 2019 4 hours ago, Troyofoc said: To your point pederson,nagy,and Eric are offensive coaches and we know andy has all the control on that side. They were all under Andy's wing. Andy isn't known for developing defensive coaches. Half true. Andy doesn't develop defensive coaches, but his first hire as DC in Philly did. And three guys under him have gone on to build Super Bowl defenses including the guy we just hired. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xen 1,010,220 Posted January 27, 2019 Share Posted January 27, 2019 10 hours ago, Mloe68 said: Half true. Andy doesn't develop defensive coaches, but his first hire as DC in Philly did. And three guys under him have gone on to build Super Bowl defenses including the guy we just hired. Yep. Jim Johnson was the man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qnet 1,158 Posted January 27, 2019 Share Posted January 27, 2019 4 hours ago, xen said: Yep. Jim Johnson was the man. Yeah, he was good. I admired the Eagles back then, because they had a solid aggressive defense and good offense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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