How Steve Spagnuolo’s defense could look with Kansas City Chiefs

Less passiveness, more aggression:

I like this. A lot. I know this is an incredibly small sample size and it’s against a pitiful Browns team, but this shows what quarterbacks will have to deal with against Steve Spagnuolo’s defense. It’s nothing that is very new to the Chiefs corners, but very different up front.

The Cleveland Browns are trying to move the sticks and gain six yards on third down. So, what does Spagnuolo dial up? A blitz. He sends five initially and then one comes on a delay. The corners are up on the line challenging receivers in press coverage with a single high safety. When the quarterback takes the snap, he gets nervous about what he sees up front, so he tries to hit his tight end. The pressure and the coverage cause the quarterback’s timing to be off and he misfires leading to fourth down.

While this was not necessarily a great play by the defense, I think it illustrates the philosophy of Steve Spagnuolo: Make the quarterback uncomfortable and rely on good coverage. I think that the Chiefs pass rush is very well equipped for this. With a few pieces added to the backfield, they will be in position to be a good defense going forward.

What this means for the Chiefs:

This is similar, yet completely different than Bob Sutton. On 3rd down, Bob Sutton liked to show man coverage—even press. What is different is what each coach does with the front seven. Sutton lacked creativity, often only running an overload blitz or nothing. In fact, Sutton rarely even ran stunts with his pass rushers. It is safe to assume that Spagnuolo’s defense will look a lot different in that regard.