Spagnuolo Identifies 4 Most Important Defensive Series Every Game

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Kansas City Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo spoke from the podium at team headquarters before Thursday’s practice. The Chiefs are hosting the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday (3:25 p.m. CT, FOX/WDAF Channel 4, 96.5 The Fan).

To view his comments, watch below.

Opening statement:

“I just want to open up, today is Sept. 11, and a pretty monumental day in this country. So, we haven't forgotten about that, and I’ll get a chance to mention it to the players this afternoon, because none of them were born, were around then. I remember. I was in Philadelphia. It was a pretty traumatic day. … I'm only gonna go back real quick in saying that none of us, defensively, were real happy with the way we played last week, and certainly hope to be much better this week. And the whole focus of this week is to chase improvement, which is what we do win, lose or draw, but especially this week, when you don't perform real well the previous week.”

On whether trouble generating pressure against the Chargers was the result of expecting more run than pass early on:

“You might have hit something. You might have hit on something right there. Because, quite frankly, going into the game, I really, we all felt like they would try to establish the run first. To their credit, they kind of shifted gears right from the beginning. Maybe it threw us off a little bit. But, I mean, that's football. I mean, you just gotta, we did talk a lot about, in the first game of the season, or in the first quarter of the season, it's going to be about adjusting in game, and maybe we could adjust a little bit quicker.

“I thought we did a nice job coming out of the locker room the second half, where we needed a three and out, and we got that. Actually, the second drive, we kind of got a second three and out, but there wasn't enough good plays. I mean, when we talked after the game in the locker room, and I think our guys are great, we all felt like everybody took a turn making a mistake, myself included. There's about four or five calls I would like to have had back. And I think every player, to a man, said the same thing. So, if we can eliminate those, we'll be better off.”

On his assessment of the sideline conflict between Chris Jones and Drue Tranquill after Justin Herbert’s game-icing run:

“Yeah, I think guys get caught up in that. Listen, we like we like fiery guys, so it's a good thing. Speaking of the quarterback (Herbert), I mean, I thought he played terrific. I think he's terrific anyway, but he was on fire. He beat us with his arm and with his feet. And because of that, I think, they came out as a winner.”

On rookie defensive end Ashton Gillotte earning more snaps this week:

Yeah, absolutely. You guys wouldn't have been out for one-on-ones yesterday, right? We did them a little later in practice, but I thought he did a really nice job of one-on-one. … You know, he got that elbow (injury). Otherwise, I think he would have had more plays in the game, but we'll keep trying to gear him up.”

On what more he needs to see from cornerback Kristian Fulton, who missed much of training camp:

“You know, Kristian lost a lot of time. A couple things there that he's behind a lot, and some of the things that we do, in the way we do it. We had him involved in a play yesterday. He did it a certain way. And, you know, I had to talk to him about, that's not, that's not, so there's still a little bit of that. And you know, Jaylen (Watson) had a pretty solid game. He made a really nice play in the red zone to knock a ball away. But we're going to need, listen, we need three, four or five corners to get you through the season.”

On playing Trent McDuffie in the slot:

“Yeah, if I'm not mistaken, we put them in there a few times in the game. Yeah, listen, you all know, you've been around long enough, Trent’s pretty effective in there. But we pick our spots.”

On how he reconciles Chargers receivers getting open at the second and third levels by multiple steps:

“Yeah, early on there were a couple of plays that they ran that I thought were better plays than defenses we had called. A couple things were eyes, and so we can clean up some of those things. I mean, there's an element of this in today's football where it doesn't matter what you call, they have a better play called. And they had a few of those, and they had them early in the game, chunk yardage, which we don't want. We got to find ways to eliminate those and make sure we don't create any.”

On communication, and players colliding:

“There was nothing, after watching the tape, or in the course of the game, where I felt like our communication was off. I mean, I can think of one guy in man coverage. You know, they run these rub routes and guys bump into each other. It's not communication. So, I didn't like we didn't detect that as the reason why. I just think we could have played better, you know? And when they, when they drop back to throw the football, it's a combination rush and coverage, right? Because you can't cover forever. We just need a little make the quarterback throw it a little bit quicker, cover a little tighter, and hopefully the result will be a little bit better.”

On players and coaches taking accountability for last week:

“Well, yeah. I mean, listen, none of us are perfect. I mean, I just didn't feel like I had one of my better games. And usually when I'm making a mistake, it's a fairly critical one, because I feel like I should have called something else. But it begins with me and like, if you make, if I sit there and critique and look in the mirror and I've got three or four plays and I go, ‘No, I shouldn't have done that,’ that could be the difference in the game. So, I want to make sure, I myself, want to make sure that doesn't happen.”

On lack of emotion last week early in the game:

“I don't know. Sometimes I get so deep into the thing, I'm not even looking for that. I always talk to the guys about the four most important series of the game, the first drive of the game, last of the first half. … The opening one in the second half and the last one of the game. And I didn't like the first drive, but then we kind of bounced back. I did like the second drive -- I mean first drive of the second half.

“I don't know, our guys seem to be the same. I didn't think we were in sync, might be a better word, from our standpoint, all the dots more connected, like we normally are. Listen, I've always felt like, I mean forever as a coach, right? I'm always in pregame saying, ‘Are they ready?’ I've never been able to figure it out, because there's been games like, we look we're gonna get our butts kicked and it goes the other way. But I think the players have a better feel for that.”

Jalen Hurts, Nick Bolto — Feb 9, 2025; New Orleans, LA, USA; Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) runs the ball against the Kansas City Chiefs in the first quarter in Super Bowl LIX at Ceasars Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-Imagn Images | Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

On the challenges of the Eagles’ offense, and shutting down Saquon Barkley in the Super Bowl:

“Yeah, I wish the other part of it was a little bit better. I always look at the point total, and certainly didn't like the point total (in the Super Bowl). You know, we did play them pretty good for three-and-a-half quarters here in Arrowhead the last time we played; different people, different offensive coordinator.

“I got a great deal of respect for this team, the organization, the quarterback, all the skill they have, the running back. There's a lot of pieces there to defend. And you know, we didn't have a good game last week, so it's time for us to put our stuff all together, too.”

On playing disciplined to defend the rushing ability of Jalen Hurts:

“Yeah, it seems like we play one of these quarterbacks every week. I mean, the guy we just got done playing (Justin Herbert), he's a really good athlete. I give him a lot of credit for what he did with his legs. The guy we're getting ready to play this week is elite at that. We'll talk, you know, we'll talk until we’re blue in the face about pass-rush lanes and contain. We'll have some things that we hope take that away.

“In football with the spy, whatever you want to call it, I mean, you got to get them in those situations. But when you're in first and second down, you can't be spying people because they gonna run the ball right at you. So, we got to try to dictate it somehow, by having some negative plays on first and second down, and get things kind of steered in that direction.”

Aug 22, 2025; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Chicago Bears wide receiver Olamide Zaccheaus (14) runs with the ball against Kansas City Chiefs safety Bryan Cook (6) during the first half at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images | Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

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