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

[RaidersOftheCellar]

Originally Posted by Megatron96

He literally built two separate top-5 defenses from scratch, including the one that was dead last the year before the NYG won LVII, against a prime TB, an undefeated Patriots team, and what might've been the greatest offensive unit in NFL history.

He did it again with the Giants a few years later, and then did it again with the Chiefs.

He's the only DC in NFL history to win a Ring with two separate teams.

Comparing him to Sutton is a hilariously bad take, especially when you look at Sutton's inability to even evaluate the players he had and didn't play while he was with the Chiefs. Sutton's defenses were only good when he had All-Pros all over the field. Spags has consistently been able to field good defenses with mostly nobodies.

But like I said, Chief Fans generally aren't terribly discerning.

Ah yes...let's condescend all KC fans because your opinion differs from a few. Who are you even arguing with? Not that many people are calling for Spags' job, and the post about Sutton was just a fact. You can discern fact from opinion, right?

But while we're talking about Sutton, does he get any credit for taking over a defense that was near the bottom in points allowed and immediately producing a top 5 scoring defense? And keeping them top 5ish for four years straight? He was top 10 in scoring defense in 5 of 9 seasons as a DC. Saying that he can't be compared to Spags is your opinion, and not necessarily one with a lot of facts to support it.

Your comparisons are far from objective. You highlight every positive achievement of Spags and ignore the bad. He's had plenty of unimpressive seasons, especially if you factor in his years as head coach.

I was fully in favor of ditching Sutton, but we don't have to pretend like his replacement is above criticism.

[-King-]

Originally Posted by Megatron96

Lol, look at that defense the year before the LVII SB. They were around 25th. The following year they're top-10. And look at the beginning of that season and the stats, W/L, and tell me that anyone thought that was a top-10 defense. Because no one thought that. But they kept working, and by the end of the season they were a top-10 unit. that beat the best offense in NFL history. They allowed just two TDs in that SB.

Look at the STL defense when he got there. 30th, iirc. The following season, top 12.

Then he goes back to NYG, after one season with NOR, and takes that bottom third defense and makes them a top-third defense.

And so on.

I'm not saying he's the greatest ever, because he obviously has some flaws, but to say he isn't a top 10 DC is kind of ignorant. History is pretty clear about that.

Before Spags got to NY: 24th in yards and 7th in points

Year after: 17th in yards and 7th in points

Similar to Sutton's improvement when he joined the chiefs. I will say Spags is A LOT better in the postseason which is what matters.

And, you need to check your numbers on the Rams. They got worse after Spags joined.

[Megatron96]

Originally Posted by -King-

Before Spags got to NY: 24th in yards and 7th in points

Year after: 17th in yards and 7th in points

Similar to Sutton's improvement when he joined the chiefs. I will say Spags is A LOT better in the postseason which is what matters.

And, you need to check your numbers on the Rams. They got worse after Spags joined.

Meh, I'm over it really. But as to the Rams, i believe they got worse, then they got better, It took two seasons. Then it fell off, but he was trying to be HC by then, so probably wasn't really on top of everything on defense at that point.

Also, it's convenient for people to point out how stacked those Giant defenses wre with All-Pros and future HOFers, but how else can you build a top-tier defense? You need players. But he didnt have a ton of them in STL, or when he came to KC, but he still managed to improve their performance, and yet no acknowledgement from the fans. Never saw Sutton do that. His defense only worked when it was stacked from top to bottom with top-tier players at every level. When he didn't have a prime EB, Houston, etc., his defenses were bad. And situationally they were predictable. And bad.

But it's a moot point. For me, anyway. CP is the most negative Chiefs group I've ever been around. Not to say that there aren't positive CPers, but there's a ton of negative Nancys as well. CP is going to CP. I have a more optimistic perspective in life, so whatever. We could use two more quality DLs and the defense would be a top third unit for as long as we could keep t together under Spags. It's just always going to be hard to get those two guys.

[RunKC]

Originally Posted by -King-

Sure but in his career overall as a DC, his defenses rank on average 19th in yards and 15th in points. Even Sutton's defenses were typically better being on average 19th in yards and 11th in points.

He's really been an average DC over the course of his career.

Sutton inherited Justin Houston, Dontari Poe and Eric Berry in their prime as well as older but still elite caliber players like DJ, Flowers and Tamba. Also a pretty solid player in Allen Bailey. He had those players for years.

Spags inherited a permanently broken Eric Berry, Justin Houston, Chris Jones and brokedick Dee Ford.

Spags replaced 9 starters that year and won the SB. Only Chris Jones and Daniel Sorenson were starters from the Sutton era.

There’s your difference

[Megatron96]

Originally Posted by RunKC

Sutton inherited Justin Houston, Dontari Poe and Eric Berry in their prime as well as older but still elite caliber players like DJ, Flowers and Tamba. Also a pretty solid player in Allen Bailey. He had those players for years.

Spags inherited a permanently broken Eric Berry, Justin Houston, Chris Jones and brokedick Dee Ford.

Spags replaced 9 starters that year and won the SB. Only Chris Jones and Daniel Sorenson were starters from the Sutton era.

There’s your difference

Nice. Christmas Rep.

[-King-]

Originally Posted by RunKC

Sutton inherited Justin Houston, Dontari Poe and Eric Berry in their prime as well as older but still elite caliber players like DJ, Flowers and Tamba. Also a pretty solid player in Allen Bailey. He had those players for years.

Spags inherited a permanently broken Eric Berry, Justin Houston, Chris Jones and brokedick Dee Ford.

Spags replaced 9 starters that year and won the SB. Only Chris Jones and Daniel Sorenson were starters from the Sutton era.

There’s your difference

I mean he also got his hand picked 1st round DE trade and all pro Tyrann Matheiu. It's not like he was working with nothing.


I have to ask though, does anyone think we wouldn't have won a Superbowl if we had Mahomes instead of Alex Smith 2013-2017? We lost multiple playoff games where we allowed 18 or less points lol. But yeah again, Spags is a superior post season DC than Sutton.

[RealSNR]

People bitching about Spags deserve a ****ing horrible coach like Donatell as their DC.

Just go be a fan of another team, though. I don't want somebody as bad as Donatell near my team.

This Vikings game is making me super thankful for Spags.

[Megatron96]

Originally Posted by -King-

I mean he also got his hand picked 1st round DE trade and all pro Tyrann Matheiu. It's not like he was working with nothing.


I have to ask though, does anyone think we wouldn't have won a Superbowl if we had Mahomes instead of Alex Smith 2013-2017? We lost multiple playoff games where we allowed 18 or less points lol. But yeah again, Spags is a superior post season DC than Sutton.

Mahomes would've been like 15 in 2013.

[Megatron96]

Originally Posted by -King-

I mean he also got his hand picked 1st round DE trade and all pro Tyrann Matheiu. It's not like he was working with nothing.


I have to ask though, does anyone think we wouldn't have won a Superbowl if we had Mahomes instead of Alex Smith 2013-2017? We lost multiple playoff games where we allowed 18 or less points lol. But yeah again, Spags is a superior post season DC than Sutton.

Heard this while watching a recent SB, forget which one now. But they were saying that on average a SB team will produce at least a handful of HOFers, including an average of two or three on defense. How many HOF defenders do you think we had on the 2019 team? Breeland or Ward? Hitchens? i like Tyrann, but I doubt he's a HOFer.

[RunKC]

Originally Posted by -King-

I mean he also got his hand picked 1st round DE trade and all pro Tyrann Matheiu. It's not like he was working with nothing.


I have to ask though, does anyone think we wouldn't have won a Superbowl if we had Mahomes instead of Alex Smith 2013-2017? We lost multiple playoff games where we allowed 18 or less points lol. But yeah again, Spags is a superior post season DC than Sutton.

I think when they hired Spags they needed him to coach the defense up well enough take advantage of a rookie contract window. Mission accomplished.

Everything has changed now that Patrick got his mega deal. Everything is harder.

But I think there’s things everyone can agree on:

-The LB duo of Gay/Bolton is as good as we’ve seen from the team in a long time
-The secondary minus maybe Thornhill looks significantly better than last year and Spags is good at finding quality cheap corners.
-Karlaftis is flashing but is only 21. Looks like a solid player at worst moving forward.

If we can get the pass rush buffed up from the DL next year I think that changes the entire defense

[Megatron96]

Originally Posted by RunKC

I think when they hired Spags they needed him to coach the defense up well enough take advantage of a rookie contract window. Mission accomplished.

Everything has changed now that Patrick got his mega deal. Everything is harder.

But I think there’s things everyone can agree on:

-The LB duo of Gay/Bolton is as good as we’ve seen from the team in a long time
-The secondary minus maybe Thornhill looks significantly better than last year and Spags is good at finding quality cheap corners.
-Karlaftis is flashing but is only 21. Looks like a solid player at worst moving forward.

If we can get the pass rush buffed up from the DL next year I think that changes the entire defense

This is what some of the professional analysts were saying before the season started. The DL was going to be weak against the run and needed to upgrade from Nnadi and get a real run-stuffing DT. The other thing was to improve the pass rush, probably through FA because KC couldn't draft high enough to get a real top-third EDGE. The result this year was going to be a Dl that was weak vs. the run (somehow we avoided that mostly) and an average pass rush. Those people thought Spags would use his blitz schemes to shore up the pass rush until he could try and get some new players next season.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by -King-

I mean he also got his hand picked 1st round DE trade and all pro Tyrann Matheiu. It's not like he was working with nothing.


I have to ask though, does anyone think we wouldn't have won a Superbowl if we had Mahomes instead of Alex Smith 2013-2017? We lost multiple playoff games where we allowed 18 or less points lol. But yeah again, Spags is a superior post season DC than Sutton.

Remind me what playoff game spags has lost for us?

Because weve lost two playoff games under his watch and it’s very hard to blame either on him. In fact we followed up an embarrassing bengals regular season game with a pretty damn good showing on defense in the playoffs. Apart from struggling against an excellent bills offense our defense has mostly come through for us in the playoffs.

[-King-]

Originally Posted by Megatron96

Mahomes would've been like 15 in 2013.

Wow. You got me there! Great point!

[-King-]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

Remind me what playoff game spags has lost for us?

Because weve lost two playoff games under his watch and it’s very hard to blame either on him. In fact we followed up an embarrassing bengals regular season game with a pretty damn good showing on defense in the playoffs. Apart from struggling against an excellent bills offense our defense has mostly come through for us in the playoffs.

Did you not read the last sentence of that post?

[Megatron96]

Originally Posted by -King-

Wow. You got me there! Great point!

Lolz, just messing with you, dude. Don't be all excitable about it.