Who Becomes a HC First: Eric Bieniemy or Steve Spagnuolo? – PART II – In Part I of this article, we delved into Eric Bieniemy. I believe he will be selected as a candidate for a Head Coaching position after the 2020 season. Part II of this work addresses what I think about Stephen “Steve or Spags” Spagnuolo. He is the second potential candidate from the Chiefs coaching staff for which this pair of articles was begun — due to questions and suggestions from the outside. The question for me was a no-brainer: Eric Bieniemy is to be a Head Coach in the NFL and it will occur in it’s time and place. Bieniemy himself talked about this in a presser. Everything in it’s time and place.
Here, we’ll look more specifically at what was going on with the Chiefs defense Prior to 2019, as is necessary. What Steve Spagnuolo accomplished in 2019 was great stuff. The coaching staff he brought aboard is great stuff. I am totally pleased, despite the difficulties with the defense in 2020, with Steve Spagnuolo. So let’s dig deeper.
After the 2019 Season
Watching the defense in the last 6 weeks of the 2019 regular season and in the playoffs, I came away believing that “Spags” had done a top job rounding up a defense which was coming off of 3 sequential seasons where they had been below average and/or abysmal. It was not just DC Bob Sutton, but the mix of players and personalities was bad. When Spagnuolo took over the Chiefs after the 2019 loss to the Patriots, in a game they should have won, Bob Sutton was then fired. OC Matt Nagy moved and Special Teams Coordinator, Dave Toub, had his name bandied about the net as a potential new Head Coach, but the Chiefs had to do something about the defense in order to get where they wanted to be.
Changing Things Out and In
Spagnuolo’s arrival spelled change. Some of the changing was going on as the 2019 season. Players on defense were swapped out and new players were brought aboard along with Spagnuolo as the Chiefs new Defensive Coordinator. Those changes were massive. Gone were Marcus Peters (CB), Eric Berry (S), Tamba Hali and Derrick Johnson (both departed after 2017), Dee Ford and Justin Houston (34 DE’s), and many more lesser known players who had figured into the picture as important role players on a defense that could have, or should have, been a better force for the Chiefs. In 2018, Houston and Allen Bailey (DT) were still around. The Chiefs traded for Kendall Fuller and he was in his second year with K.C. when Spags arrived. Stephen Nelson and Eric Murray were in the secondary in 2018. Everyone was feeling positive about the defensive roster that year but Houston didn’t perform as he had in years past, Dee Ford contributed, but he had never attained the stature of his 1st round draft status then in January of 2019, his offsides error resulted in a huge loss to the Patriots at Arrowhead. That faux pas was one huge reason he was traded away.
By 2019, the starters on the roster were quite different of course. It was a group of players awaiting the call, but as noted, people were changed out, draft picks became starters and the coaching staff had significant changes as well.
Enter Spagnuolo, Changing Things Up
The defense changed from a 34 base to the 43 and so many players who were new to the Chiefs needed schooling on Spagnuolo’s defensive playbook and philosophy. The starting players would appear significantly different. Tanoh Kpassagnon’s importance advanced, with Dee Ford departing. Veach signed Free Agent Tyrann Mathieu (SS). K.C. traded for DE Frank Clark to bookend with Kpass (or Alex Okafor, who was signed as well). CB Bashaud Breeland came aboard, and one draft choice became household names in the secondary: Juan Thornhill (FS). Brett Veach had drafted acquired Reggie Ragland and Anthony Hitchens so the promise of the defense as far as player personnel was concerned, was very promising, but all of them had to get on the same page with Spags and it took 10 games to get that accomplished. In Week 11, of the 2019 run for glory, the defense became a Force.
What happened?
Week Ten’s loss to the Tennessee Titans was as turning point. On the field, the defense came together and played cohesively as a unit and the comradery began to grow. It was noticeable on the field and in the press conferences. The Unit had an identity and had become a team strength. They moved up from a very low PFF (Pro Football Focus) rating to a top 10 contender. According to DVOA, the Chiefs Defense had arrived. The only glitch was the first 18 minutes or so of the playoff game with the Houston Texans in the 2019 playoffs.
As we all know: The team went on to win out and brought the Lombardi back to K.C.!
The 2020 off-season was a monumental success as well, thanks to GM Brett Veach and the work he put in with his staff of scouts. Head Coach Andy Reid and the Coordinators (Bieniemy and Spagnuolo) were also a big part of that work. The 2020 season is a step beyond the halfway mark and the defense is again a problem, as we have witnessed in the first 10 games. There are things that have improved. For example, the linebacker play over the last 3 games has been significantly better. Anthony Hitchens has ratings that are significantly improved. Willie Gay, drafted in 2020 is now having an impact during games — his speed is a significant improvement over both Hitch and Wilson or for that matter, Ben Niemann for whom I have high regard —as a role player. Notice that I have not even mentioned LB draft pick Dorian O’Daniel.
Even so, the LB improvement was a factor that shows up in the Chiefs shutting down the run game in the 2nd contest against the Raiders. However, the best at dropping into coverage among all the LBs are Willie Gay and Dorian O’Daniel. On the field though, most of the time on passing downs, we see Hitch and Wilson most of the time, who are the two least capable pass defenders among the LBs.
Sure. My focus above is on linebackers. That is not the real difficult as of the time this article is published. Despite problems on defense, the Chiefs are 9-1. Two games with the Raiders has shown where significant problems exist — The pass rush pressure has fallen off tremendously and this affects the coverage in the secondary. The latter was something that I did not expect to see as a defect at this point and that is work that fans, pundits and others are bandying about. Spags and his staff need to come up with a solution.
Why talk about the Chiefs 2020 defense so much in an article meant to focus on Steve Spagnuolo? Because that’s his most current resume. So, let’s turn the page and consider next, Steve Spagnuolo’s NFL experience, history and capability.
Steve Spagnuolo’s Year Off
I think this deserves specific mention. Spags, after departing the Giants took a year off. In my mind, this is important. He took the time to review his career, accomplishments, failures and poor showings and then was hired by the GM Brett Veach. I think both actions were appropriate. Spagnuolo benefited from his personal review and when he was sought by Brett Veach, (or was it, Clark Hunt or Andy Reid), he took on the challenge.
Spags as a Head Coach
Spagnuolo as a HC does not have an exemplary record: 11-41. That said? He was HC of the Rams during an abysmal time with a lackluster roster and that is where most of his Head Coaching effort took place. He was the DC for the Rams in the preceding two seasons and his next stint in coaching came with the Giants where he was again hired on as the DC and then became interim HC in 2017, right before taking a season off. Spags was hired as a DC by Chiefs for the 2019, quickly, after Bob Sutton was fired.
The record is part of the indication of his ability to win games as a HC, but as I observed, his time with the Rams was at a time when the team was at the bottom of things, player personnel-wise. Now? Spags is 60 years old. I am not sure that he wishes to become a team Head Coach again. I am sure he would consider it.
Spags DC Tenure at the Kingdom began in a period of flux with the outgoing DC Bob Sutton having garnered animosity all the way around. The accomplishment of his defensive players in 2019 was a significant reason that the Chiefs won the Super Bowl. The players gelled… which we had not seen in the preceding three seasons. They were “self-proclaiming” and playing for each other, touting each other. They stated that they themselves wanted an identity as a Dynamic Collective… the same as the offense had earned.
I see no reason to believe that the Defense staff and players won’t come together again, as the remainder of the season plays out. Injuries and the Covid-19 virus, has had its effect on the team. So, too have injuries hurt the team effort. I see some high positives from Spag’s staff and players as they most recently, won on the road, in Vegas.
I am confident of Steve Spagnuolo and his defense and the players. Only time will tell, his level of success, in his second season as the Chiefs Defensive Coordinator.
Should He Be a HC Candidate?
This question… remains a question. Is he capable? Sure. Does he want it? No one can say. When answering the bell and being contacted for interviews, Eric Bieniemy gets the nod, hands down. I mentioned the public persona of Eric Bieniemy with the press, and Spags is no slouch in front of the camera either. Both are great spokesmen for Team Chiefs. He is articulate, direct and on target.
My bottom line on Spagnuolo is that I do think he would do another HC tour. However, he has a home in KC and he likes it. I am all in on Eric Bieniemy. He will be a HC in 2021. Spags? I am not so sure he wants it and he has, at age 60, found a great place to coach with Andy Reid… and that says a bunch. Don’t think that is a small thing. I don’t think he would turn away the opportunity, but he’d likely prefer it come in 2022 or later, if he was going to go that direction at all.
Bieniemy is tops. It’s possible that both could depart, or even a third possibility exists with Dave Toub. However, being in the Chiefs Inner Circle is a tough thing to leave as Bieniemy has verbalized. He also said that to get to play for Andy Reid as a player drew him to Philadelphia.
You know what? If all three departed as a Head Coach, it would be due to Andy Reid. Yes, I knew that Reid is very good and he has proven me wrong in regard to being able to win big games. That perhaps shows my own lack of due diligence as an outsider. I have great respect for Andy Reid and his staff, including both Bieniemy and Spagnuolo. If we lose? We Gain?
David Bell – ArrowheadOne
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