Chiefs hire Steve Spagnuolo as new defensive coordinator

[TLO]

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.

— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) January 24, 2019

[Pitt Gorilla]

Originally Posted by Megatron96

Um, and I want to say right off the bat that I was pretty annoyed with the defense today, enough that a couple drives I just walked outside when we were on defense in the second half. But the numbers say the defense played pretty well. I mean, DEN punted 7 times.

Anyway, here's the boxscore, see for yourself:
https://www.espn.com/nfl/boxscore/_/gameId/401437899

I mean, outside of the young d-backs having a few mix-ups, we looked fine. I'm not sure I understand the hate.

[Megatron96]

Originally Posted by Pitt Gorilla

I mean, outside of the young d-backs having a few mix-ups, we looked fine. I'm not sure I understand the hate.

It didn't look good. I wasn't very impressed during the 2nd half. i have to admit that.

But take away one or two of the INTs and the wildly lucky bounces, and probably DEN doesn't score more than 17 points. They were just insanely efficient on four drives. Out of 13. That's outlier stuff.

[Pitt Gorilla]

Originally Posted by Megatron96

It didn't look good. I wasn't very impressed during the 2nd half. i have to admit that.

But take away one or two of the INTs and the wildly lucky bounces, and probably DEN doesn't score more than 17 points. They were just insanely efficient on four drives. Out of 13. That's outlier stuff.

They also called a perfect screen when we decided to bring the house. That's great guessing, but it's not necessarily repeatable.

[ChiefsFanatic]

Originally Posted by RunKC

9/13 possessions were no points
4.6 yards per play
2 INT’s
1 defensive TD
7 passes defended
6 sacks
11 QB hits

If I were to tell you before any game that our defense did this would you say they gave up 28 points or that they would have any chance of losing?

Just wild to me

If you beat a crippled child in a 100 meter dash, but you only beat him by 10 meters, it's not very impressive, because he only got out of his wheel chair a minute before the start of the race.

Letting an historically bad offense score 28 points, when they barely average half that, stopping them from scoring a few times isn't very impressive.

In fact, it is kinda troubling, because if an inept offense can score 28, what would this defense give up to the Eagles or a healthy 49er team?

If anyone deems this defensive performance as good, they are just wrong, and that includes Andy Reid. His assessment that the defense played well is absolutely laughable. He has shut his eyes to how poorly Special Teams and Defense has been this year.

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[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.

[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.

[Megatron96]

Yeah, we've been a little too harsh on the defense this time.

From that last time we scored in the 2nd quarter, the defense played about 35 snaps until we finally began our last scoring drive late in the third. that's half of the total snaps they played for the entire game. They got gassed. Those two INTs back-to-back burned them up fast.

Basically, half their snaps in a little over a quarter.

[PAChiefsGuy]

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.

It certainly is starting to look that way. We will have to see how the rest of the season plays out.

Bolton and Gay have certainly gotten better but the secondary seems to have lost confidence after that Bengals game - not a good sign with playoffs around the corner.

What is good is I'm only basing that secondary statement on one game and there's still a little bit of time to try and get better before playoffs start. What's bad is that one-game i'm basing it on was against one of the worst offenses statistically that NFL has seen in a while, at least it was before the Chiefs game.

Pass rush is still bad. It doesn't seem much better than last years. I do like Dunlap though but no one other Chris Jones at times seems to be a consistent threat to get pressure.

[Pasta Little Brioni]

Originally Posted by RunKC

9/13 possessions were no points
4.6 yards per play
2 INT’s
1 defensive TD
7 passes defended
6 sacks
11 QB hits

If I were to tell you before any game that our defense did this would you say they gave up 28 points or that they would have any chance of losing?

Just wild to me

Well if you told me before the game that they'd give up 4 TDs to Denver's shit QBs I'd be pissed then too. Holding teams out of the endzone and forcing 3 is a HUGE problem this year

[GingaChief]

All well & good moaning about firing him. Who would come in and replace him is the question..

[Chris Meck]

Originally Posted by GingaChief

All well & good moaning about firing him. Who would come in and replace him is the question..

And what do people think you're supposed to do when your front four can't generate consistent pressure?

[Chris Meck]

Guys, when you can't get home with 4, you have to blitz.

When you've got a secondary full of rookies, there are going to be mistakes made.

There are also big plays on our part; 6 sacks, 2 INT's, one a pick 6.

All of this fire Spags stuff...like...what do you think someone else is going to do? We can't pressure with 4. So we blitz. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. We try everything. Zone blitzes, man coverage, zone coverage, mixing zone and man looks, you name it, I've seen Spags do it this season.

Sure would be nice to have a pair of consistent pass rushers at DE to go with Jones, but we just don't have it. That's going to be tough on a young secondary.

[BryanBusby]

Originally Posted by Pitt Gorilla

I mean, outside of the young d-backs having a few mix-ups, we looked fine. I'm not sure I understand the hate.

The personnel decision making he makes. Some of these coverages he's deploying. The lack of fundamentals week in week out.

There's a lot left to be desired in Year 4 of Steve Spagnuolo.

[Chris Meck]

I'd like to see some more of big #66 in there.

[TEX]

Originally Posted by PAChiefsGuy

It certainly is starting to look that way. We will have to see how the rest of the season plays out.

Bolton and Gay have certainly gotten better but the secondary seems to have lost confidence after that Bengals game - not a good sign with playoffs around the corner.

What is good is I'm only basing that secondary statement on one game and there's still a little bit of time to try and get better before playoffs start. What's bad is that one-game i'm basing it on was against one of the worst offenses statistically that NFL has seen in a while, at least it was before the Chiefs game.

Pass rush is still bad. It doesn't seem much better than last years. I do like Dunlap though but no one other Chris Jones at times seems to be a consistent threat to get pressure.

Last paragraph is the major issue. The best thing for marked improvement is a viable pass rush from the down 4. Do that and every level of the defense will improve, especially the young secondary.

I'd like to add that our Safety play is not very good, especially Justin Reed. He misses far too many tackles. Thornhill isn't much better. Just watch him on that play yesterday where Denver scored a TD on that screen pass. Terrible effort by Thornhill. The Safeties are bad. It's a major issue.