Hello Everyone; This is my First Thread ever here. I fully will admit to you all that Iam a "LIFELONG SUPER CHIEFS FAN" and have been ever since Super Bowl #1. I respectfully need your "INPUT", "ADVICE" and "WISDOM" on your UNBIASED FEELINGS on Mr. Steve Spagnuolo. I went to Wikipedia and a few other sites to look up his BIO and it said that he was the N.Y. GIANTS defensive coordinator from 2015 thru 2017 and also in 2017 Interim Head Coach of the GIANTS. You won't hurt my feelings but I really would love to hear from anyone that can really "LAY IT ON THE LINE" as to his PROS and CONS and if he's going to work out at the Chiefs. When I read up on his BIO in all HONESTY I WAS NOT IMPRESSED AT ALL. But maybe you guys can enlighten me on him. I WANT TO GIVE A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL WHO CAN HELP ME OUT. ChuckP
In a nutshell, if he has the horses he's fine.
If not, then look out.
Granted, the talent hasn't always been good enough, but when it's bad with him it's the worst.
I don't think he stands a chance in KC because the offense is so well run there that the defense will almost always be at fault for their losses.
I think most Giants fans will always have a soft spot in their hearts for his defenses in '07 and '08, which were very good.
And as has been mentioned already, the players seemed to love him and play hard for him, for the most part.
I wonder about what happened to him in 2017. The 2016 defense was outstanding and really carried the team to the playoffs. What happened in 2017 is unclear, but it seems clear there was division and rife within the locker room.
Good chance that he's too much of a "player's coach" to keep down an insurrection, imo.
#TBT: Jim Johnson And The Best Defense In The NFL
Johnson's defense was blitz heavy, he would have all sorts of exotic schemes. The down side was that you needed above average press corners, who are going to be on an island much of the time. Spags is the same way, you're going to have a lot of sacks, but you'll give up some big gainers.
Give Spagnuolo the horses (a fast, pass rush line that can rotate players, active linebackers, and good press corners), and you're going to see a very good defense.
One note of warning...his defenses take time to learn, so they won't be as good early in the season, or if you have a lot of young players. I expect him to do well in KC (he knows Reid from Philly, so no surprise). Also, he's a great person off the field, from what I've heard.
Overall, I put Spagnuolo’s unlikely rise from the Yankee Conference and NFL Europe in the “right place right time” category with guys like Mike Smith, except Smith was less of a disaster as a head coach.
The difference between him and Sutton are drastic. They could both suck but at least Spags will go down swinging and try mixing things up. Sutton was just a punching bag.
+1
When our defense had bad results under Coach Spags, there were a lot of players that were street free agents in the beginning of the year playing key roles and starting games.
Every coach needs some actually talented players to get good results. He's a great leader, he's passionate, he connects well with his players, and he's aggressive and he's creative. I think you're going to love him, he's a damn fine DC.
But also, you'll love the passion this guy has. He wears his heart on his sleeve. You'll WANT to root for Spags because you LIKE him so much. He's also a good interview, and the press will like him.
Since then, he's been pretty mediocre. He struggles to scheme away any weaknesses in the roster. As some have mentioned, when he's bad, his defenses are historically bad. With as good as your offense is, he might be able to have his pass rush pin their ears back and play aggressively - that could be a fantastic fit for him. On the other hand, your defense could be on the field a lot if he can't force 3-and-outs, which could ding your offense - Mahomes can't break records from the sideline if your defense can't get off the field.
Since then, he's been pretty mediocre. He struggles to scheme away any weaknesses in the roster. As some have mentioned, when he's bad, his defenses are historically bad. With as good as your offense is, he might be able to have his pass rush pin their ears back and play aggressively - that could be a fantastic fit for him. On the other hand, your defense could be on the field a lot if he can't force 3-and-outs, which could ding your offense - Mahomes can't break records from the sideline if your defense can't get off the field.
I love how people lambaste him for New Orleans, when Payton was suspended for a year and that team had little talent and really it was a give up year. That team didn't even try to compete.
In St. Louis he had arguably the worst roster in the NFL.
And, every year, in this age of offense and 5,000 yard passers, we are having "best offenses in history" and "worst defenses in history." No DC is going to be good with really bad players. None. There is no "scheme" that is going to turn chicken shit into chicken salad. You can hide a player or two, but you aren't going to turn a defense with only 1 or 2 quality NFL players into a good defense. It's not going to happen, the players still have to execute any defensive scheme at a high level for it to work, and when you don't have players that can do that it sucks. The Rams had the worst QB situation in the NFL during his tenure there as well.
Here's what you need to know:
In 2016, the Giants had one of the worst offenses in the NFL. A shitty, bad, awful offense that was bad from week to week. Most defenses will not and cannot continue to perform and carry a team when the offense can't even get first downs and sustain drives.
The Giants went 11-5 and made the playoffs because Spags' defense was so dominant. I care more about how a DC deploys and schemes talented players, maximizing their potential, than I do about a the failures of a defense that do not have talented players, because nobody is going to make that work. Not even Belichick.
BTW Mahomes pretty much did break plenty of records this and KC's defense couldn't get off the field.
His last two years with the Giants he had no talent. Don't hold that against him.
Good man !!
Lou
I love his aggressive play calling, I’ll take the lumps of the big plays. Way better than watching a Tim Lewis or Perry Fewell style defense any day.
2. By all accounts his scheme is pretty damn complicated, which can lead to paralysis by analysis for his players. I wonder the extent to which he has altered his methodology to better handle the CBA's limits on practice time.
Maybe there is truth to this but two things stick out. With lesser talent he was forced not to play his style of D. His last year here he wasn't blitzing a ton because it left our bad secondary on an island. So, he played more coverage which didn't work either. It was way more a talent issue than scheme issue. He does adjust.
So Spag's did lose Osi and Strahan the following year, and yet the defense gave up less points in 2008 compared to 2007, 294 vs 351.....
Go ahead and find me another defensive coordinator that has led three of the bottom five worst defenses in NFL history. Or even three of the bottom ten.
I understand that it needs to be era adjusted, but even in this high-octane offensive era, somebody needs to be worst, and more often than any other DC of his own era, that somebody has been Spags.
At a certain point, the explanations become excuses and you are what your record says you are. Spags is an inconsistent, mediocre DC, who Giants fans hold in extremely high regard for his work in 2007 and 2008. Unfortunately, those seasons appear as though they might be the outlier, not the other way around.
And for all those pointing to how aggressive Spags is, that's another fallacy. There were plenty of times since his high-water mark in 2007 & 2008 where you could have confused his defenses for Rod Rust's.