The Legend of 'Spags'

His X's and O's are both funky and ruthless. And yet, that's not what makes him the NFL's best defensive coordinator. Here's how Steve Spagnuolo created a defense that lives for nut-cutting time.

Illustration by Brave Buffalo

NEW ORLEANS — First comes the evil smile. All commentary 1,232 miles north in Orchard Park, NY might as well be sweet jazz playing in the ears of Kansas City Chiefs players and coaches. Yes, it’s true. Steve Spagnuolo set up the Buffalo Bills in the AFC Championship Game — exactly as O’Cyrus Torrence revealed.

All game, they threatened to blitz the right side of the Bills’ line… and backed off.

Until fourth and 5 with two minutes left.

Nobody on the Bills’ line expected this blitzkrieg. They slid protection left. Josh Allen was greeted by a cavalcade of bodies. A desperation heave fell incomplete. The team’s defensive backs coach Dave Merritt begins our chat by assuring “Spags” has answers for every protection imaginable. Want to go max protect with seven blockers? No sweat. Sliding left or right? Be his guest. But the reason these Chiefs summon the perfect blitz at the perfect time runs deeper than simply possessing an endless menu of blitzes.

All game, the Chiefs designate one person on staff to study the offensive line’s protection. It’s all this person does all three hours.

“One set of eyes,” Merritt says, “that’s looking strictly at ‘How are they blocking us on every down and distance.’”

Intel is relayed to Spagnuolo and the Chiefs defensive coaches in real time.

“We have enough weapons that we can get to our bag and say, ‘OK, well you know what? We’ve got three of these pressures right here.’ We talk about it on the headsets and then…”

Merritt smacks his palms together.

“… we go execute it.”

There’s forever a layer of mystery to this Chiefs defense. He won’t reveal the identity of this person.

“I can’t. I’d get fired.”

Central to it everything is “Spags,” the 65-year-old mad scientist of a defensive coordinator who has a chance to win his fifth Super Bowl this Sunday. His scheme is complex. These Chiefs simulate the pulsating make-or-break moment in practice. Execution demands raw talent on the field, too. In defensive tackle Chris Jones, the Chiefs possess a future Hall of Famer who tilts the field. But what fuels Kansas City’s defense most is the longtime coach’s testicular fortitude. It doesn’t matter what’s at stake. It doesn’t matter who’s playing quarterback on the other side of the line of scrimmage. Spags lives on the wild side. Spags is the most fearless playcaller in the sport.

He’ll bring the heat in Super Bowl LIX.

He’ll do everything in his power to stump Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts.

Yeah, yeah. This DC is a football nerd’s messiah. Film junkies worship Spagnuolo nationwide. But dissecting plays from a cushy chair on social media doesn’t tell the full story. This coach’s true greatness is not rooted in zig ‘n zagging 11 dots on a screen funky directions. Above all, pulling the trigger in high-pressure moments has massive psychological benefits. Spagnuolo believes defensive football should be aggressive. Not passive. Even if that aggressiveness occasionally backfires.

One lesson back to 1999 stuck. He was a 40-year-old assistant at the time. His boss? Legendary Eagles DC Jim Johnson.

“Jim was a big believer in pressure and we did as much as we could,” Spagnuolo says. “The one thing I always respected in Jim is that — even if it didn’t work the first time — he was always willing to come back with it because he believed whatever he put in that week had a chance to be successful. And so maybe I’ve taken that on a little bit. Most defensive players like to be involved in pressure, not sitting in a base defense. The players enjoy it, too.”

Football was invented as the ultimate seek-and-destroy profession. When Spagnuolo is willing to go for broke on fourth down, his players’ competitive spirit reaches a new extreme. Against Buffalo, those seconds dripped off the play clock on fourth and 5 and linebacker Drue Tranquill admits he couldn’t stop smiling ear to ear. “This is what we trained for,’” he says. “We love these moments and you can feel that energy amongst us when we’re out there. It’s time to make a big play.”

The brains matter a lot.

The balls matter most.

“Spags,” Meritt says, “has big ones.”

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The playbook

Fingerprints of Eagles coaches past are all over this Chiefs team. Andy Reid won 140 games in Philly, of course. Johnson inspired Spagnuolo. And even a few Buddy Ryan’isms have infiltrated KC’s meetings. Merritt played for the cantankerous Ryan with the Arizona Cardinals in ’94 and ’95 and the former Eagles HC asked his defensive players to handle a ton mentally. Merritt says Ryan’s goal was to throw as much as he possibly could against the wall. He knew plays would slide off that wall, and that was fine. He’d continue to bombard your mind with different blitzes.

Today, Merritt tells his young DBs repeatedly that the NFL stands for “Not For Long.” Whoever retains the most knowledge gets snaps on Sundays. He coaches the cornerbacks and safeties together as one unit.

“A lot of teams have a secondary coach that puts the safeties over here and puts the corners over here, maybe nickels over here. No, no, no, no. There’s one daddy,” Merritt says.

Because in Spags’ scheme, everyone must be on the same page.

As Merritt goes Full Buddy Ryan — cycling through all pressures, all adjustments — he speaks to the corners as if they’re safeties and safeties as if they’re corners. You’re quizzed on the spot. And if you’re wrong? There’s a “tax.” Everyone else in the room must drop down to do 25 pushups. That’s because the stakes are high. Spagnuolo’s scheme demands a high football IQ, especially on the back end. Send pressure from literally any player, any play and the DBs in coverage must hustle into the correct vacated areas. That’s why today’s modern quarterbacks crave pressure. The best identify and exploit your vulnerabilities.

One push-up at a time, these Chiefs are determined to be exactly where they need to be.

The fourth-and-5 call was a gamble. It’s not like the Chiefs knew for certain that the Bills would dismiss their pre-snap warning and shift help toward Jones.

“At the end of the day, people are going to revert to who they are,” Merritt says. “Whoever you are is going to eventually come out. The gamble that we took with that pressure is the fact that, ‘You know what? This is how they’ve been protecting. This is what they’re going to end up doing. So you know what? Maybe this will work.’ And if they had picked it up? Then we wouldn’t be sitting here talking.”

Reality is, the Chiefs were not perfect on that play. One of Merritt’s defensive backs failed to rotate over with the pressure. He insists Allen’s pop fly should’ve been intercepted. While he won’t divulge the guilty party in our chat, All-22 footage shows safety Bryan Cook biting too much inside… leaving Dalton Kincaid wide open. The ball fluttered off the tight end’s fingers.

Thankfully for Cook, the blitz got to Allen instantly.

Thankfully for the Chiefs, those eyes in the sky telling Spags how the Bills were protecting were correct.

Adds Merritt: “You have to trust your people. If you don’t trust them, then what are we doing it for?”

The same thinking applied to the Bills’ tendency to sneak Allen left of center. Whereas other teams may devote a half-hour to discussing an opponent’s fourth-and-1 tendencies, the Chiefs spent 2+ hours preparing for the one play.

“We coaches don’t worry about going home,” Merritt says. “If they paid us about the hour, I wouldn’t be standing here after my 28 years. I would’ve been retired a long time ago. You do this for the love of the game.”

Each day, the Chiefs starters and backups — on separate ends of the field — work on that week’s pressures. They build… and build… and build for the winning-time moment. The lifeblood of each gameplan is this ability to sell coverages as blitzes and blitzes as coverages. The ultimate “cat and mouse game,” says defensive line coach Joe Cullen, who’s known Spagnuolo 35 years. Outside linebackers coach Rod Wilson says Spagnuolo makes sure the entire defense prepares for all situations. There’s always wrinkles, but the Chiefs insist nothing takes them by surprise. From OTAs to the Super Bowl, the Chiefs’ pressure package builds and builds. The No. 1 goal, always, is to dictate the terms of this fight. Not to be reactive. Spagnuolo is always liable to dial up a play KC hasn’t discussed in months.

“It’s all about situational football,” Wilson says. “What are you going to do when you’re in that moment?”

Nor does Spagnuolo rely on a dusty, trusty spiral notebook covered in coffee stains. He’s no bull-headed relic sticking to the same plays and concepts. His X’s and O’s are constantly evolving. Veteran defensive tackle Mike Pennel spent ’19 and 20’ in KC, then returned to a completely different defense in ’23. Each week, the gameplan drastically changes.

“It’s a very fun defense to be in,” Pennel says. “You don’t get bored.”

Other coordinators see their schemes go extinct, get fired, fail elsewhere, eventually retire. And here’s “Spags,” still leaning into that play sheet. Far back as Feb. 8, 2008, he was the mastermind behind the New York Giants gameplan that stunned the undefeated New England Patriots. An offense that averaged 36.8 points per game managed all of 14 in the Super Bowl. After averaging 411.3 yards per game during the season, Tom Brady, Randy Moss and the pyrotechnic Pats mustered 274. Those Giants were 12.5-point underdogs.

Seventeen years later — in a much different NFL — Spagnuolo is still authoring gameplans in Super Bowls.

Adds Cullen: “He’s innovative. He’s able to change and adapt. Not do the same old thing because it worked before. He puts players in different positions to win. Different looks. He’s always thinking. He’s always a guy that's a step ahead, not a step behind.”

All of us may be slack-jawed by Cover 0 blitzes with one minute left, but the Chiefs practice for those exact situations. They know that call’s coming. They know Spags saves his best stuff for game-clinching moments. Spagnuolo might’ve been preaching the importance of taking everything one game at a time, yada, yada. But after losing to Buffalo earlier in the season — game to game to game — Pennel knows Spagnuolo saved something special for the MVP candidate Allen in the inevitable rematch. Then, he spent the entire AFC title game carefully laying a trap.

And as the Chiefs celebrated inside the locker room, Spagnuolo was mentally back in the lab moving onto the Super Bowl. He told Pennel that Kansas City allowed far too many points in this game.

“He has a passion,” Pennel says. “He has a work ethic and it bleeds into the players.”

The balls

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This point of the NFL season brings cornerback Jaylen Watson back to the most grisly days of training camp. It’s 90 degrees. Andy Reid practices hard. All players are drained. You’ve got no choice, he says, but to “keep pushing” if you want to be a part of this dynasty. By February, that’s how the entire team feels. There’s no such thing as a healthy football player this time of year.

“Everyone’s tired,” Watson says. “How are we going to find a way to get over the hump?”

And when it’s time to win the damn game late in the fourth quarter, Spagnuolo calls the sort of plays these 23- and 24-year-olds would on Madden. There’s no sitting back in passive zones. No hoping and praying that the quarterback will make a mistake. Spags tells his guys to actively win the game. They’re tired. They’re hurting. Now, the temps are in single-digits and they’re on Play No. 65.

When the daredevil play call comes in, players are overcome with adrenaline.

The feeling is intoxicating.

“It gives everyone an extra boost and confidence,” Watson says, “and I think that’s the biggest thing you can have in sports: confidence. Believing in yourself. And it makes you feel a lot better when your coaches and your peers believe in you as well.”

Spagnuolo realizes that feeling of empowerment is the greatest gift he can give players. Because when it comes to belief, actions speak louder than any words espoused into a microphone. He sends Trent McDuffie screaming off the edge on third and 5 with 2 minutes left in last year’s Super Bowl vs. San Francisco to force a field goal attempt — but only after holding back the league’s best blitzing corner all game.

Season on the line, he asked McDuffie to play hero. That’s powerful.

“The thing I love about Spags,” Cullen says, “is he’s not afraid to dial up anytime, anywhere. A lot of coaches are. And when you get beat? Let it go. Next snap. That’s what’s great about Spags. He learned that from Jim Johnson in Philadelphia.”

The presence of one, Patrick Mahomes, certainly helps. When you’re armed with the greatest quarterback in the sport, you’ve got the luxury of tempting fate. KC isn’t going to outright shut down an offense. They’ve given up yards in big games. But Spags units are defined by this unique ability to go in for the kill. Chiefs games are something like the epic “Mountain vs. the Viper” duel in Season 4 of Game of Thrones. He’ll let you dance around the arena for a while in Oberyn Martell delight. Opposing offenses score touchdowns, start getting a pinch too cocky, too comfortable.

And then Spags flips you on your backside and crushes your skull with one play.

“These guys live for that moment,” says Wilson. “If the game comes down to us winning it — if it’s on our shoulders to win the game — we live for that. We’re prepared for moments.

“We simulate those moments as much as we can in walkthroughs and practice. Coach Spags does an outstanding job of situational football. So, we try to simulate those moments as much as we can so guys can feel like ‘OK, if we’re in plus territory and it’s third and short, third and long, fourth and short, whatever it may be. We try to simulate those moments to help the guys best we can.”

Ten-year vet Steven Nelson isn’t playing in the Super Bowl. But nobody has a better perspective than the cornerback who played 140 games as a mainstay in KC (2015- ’18), Pittsburgh (2019- ’20), Philadelphia (2021) and Houston (2022- ‘23) before landing on the Chiefs’ practice squad this 2024 season. Nelson has played in all possible schemes. His first week with the Chiefs this year, he was blown away by Spagnuolo’s ability to tailor specific plays to the strengths of players. And up close, he sees how Spagnuolo’s fearlessness fuels all 11 players on defense.

“There’s a lot of places I’ve been and it’s a ‘bend but don't break’ mentality,” Nelson says. “Nine times out of 10, that’s not the best way to go. These offensive coordinators are too smart. These players are too good to go out there and just say, ‘Oh, we’re going to go out there and play crash-out football. You know what I'm saying? So I think his ability to put guys in favorable matchups and scheme up offenses makes this team go.”

The best coaches in any sport buck trends. Right now, here’s the NFL trend: Most defenses invite the 12- to 15-play drive. It’s strategic. They sit back in soft zones — content with you gaining six yards at a time — because over the course of that 15-play drive, there’s a very good chance you’ll screw up. You’ll suffer a holding penalty or a sack or a turnover that nukes the possession. Coordinators choose to dart and duck around the boxing ring to win on the cards.

Not bad logic. Especially against C- and B-level quarterbacks.

But the best of the best QBs — to Nelson’s point — are too accurate, too athletic, too talented. They’re bound to make plays through the course of a 60-minute game. Perhaps such a strategy hoists division title banners, but it will not win Super Bowls. Spagnuolo goes for the knockout, thus creating a violent sixth sense through the entire defense. Nelson is a day-to-day witness to everything and Nelson has played for some of the sport’s best defensive coaches in Mike Tomlin, DeMeco Ryans and Jonathan Gannon.

He believes “bend, don’t break” style zaps the fun out of the sport. Too often, he says, coaches stick to their scheme for months even when it’s not working.

“You got those coaches that are just like, ‘Ah, it’s my way,’” Nelson says. “And as a player, you do what your coach is telling you to do. But you’re not really as enthusiastic as you were earlier in the year. Shit’s not working. So you got a guy like Spags allowing you to make plays and be successful. We want to play hard.

“I know the guys are amped up and ready to run through the wall for Spags.”

Precisely the emotion every red-blooded football coach should seek.

Players tend to speak up more in this environment. Tranquill reveals that teammate Nick Bolton also pointed out to Spags that the Bills were sliding the line left on third downs. Communication is constant.

Wilson, a pro linebacker himself six seasons, knows the Chiefs must trust the players.

“Those players do a great job day-in and day-out of locking in,” Wilson says, “and just being present in the moment and making sure they understand all the situations and they did a great job. That’s the thing about it: There’s good chemistry within that group and everybody understands where everybody’s supposed to be. The coach has a lot of faith and trust in those guys. We all do.”

The Players

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The cherry on top is the brand of player the Chiefs seek. Andy Reid and Brett Veach know a very specific temperament is required to turn this all-balls approach into pressures. And sacks. And hardware. We sat down with the area scout who pushed for the fearless McDuffie. Through his relationship-building, Greg Castillo learned McDuffie was driven by the tragic death of his brother. This 5-foot-11, 193-pound corner at Washington sacrificed his body on the field with true resolve. Now, he’s the ace up Spags’ sleeve. Including the postseason, he’s got 30 pass breakups, six forced fumbles, 3.5 sacks, 159 tackles and 15 quarterback hits his last two All Pro seasons.

The Chiefs can only go buck wild with pressure up front because their cornerbacks are able to hold up on 1-on-1 islands. That 2022 draft set the foundation for this defense. The same spring Veach took McDuffie 21st overall, end George Karlaftis 30th, Cook 62nd, linebacker Leo Chenal 103rd and hit the bull’s eye at No. 243 overall in the cornerback Watson. Because it’s not only that Spagnuolo is unafraid to gamble with his play calls — he’ll play rookies. That 2022 Super Bowl season, he let a bunch of raw players endure growing pains. By January, they were ready for Trevor Lawrence, Joe Burrow and Jalen Hurts in the postseason.

Life as a cornerback isn’t enjoyable in today’s game. Officials treat the secondary like 20 MPH school zones. Watson loves the fact that he has no choice but to blanket a wide receiver with zero help when Spagnuolo sends the heat.

“That’s what I live for,” Watson says, “and I feel like every corner should have that mentality. I love being on the island. I love being in press. I love going against the best players in the world. It’s truly a blessing to be here and I'm a very competitive person and I just love to compete.

“I definitely think there’s a certain type Spags likes.”

Adds Tranquill: “Our executives making decisions on personnel, we’ve got players to execute the calls. There’s a swagger out there.”

Kansas City finds the players who smirk at each other ahead of a fourth-down play that could define their careers for better or worse. Some, like Pennel, broke into the NFL as undrafted free agents out of Division-II Colorado State-Pueblo. Against the odds, Pennel made the Packers’ 53-man roster in 2014 and has been the quintessential NFL survivor ever since plugging the middle of defenses for 11 seasons. Some, like Jones, are future Hall of Famers.

Pennel has now played for six different teams: the Packers, Jets, Patriots, Bears, Falcons and KC.

To him, this is what makes the Chiefs different: Players who don’t crack.

“The feet are going crazy under the water,” Pennel says, “but they’re steady on top like a duck going across water. Everybody’s been in those moments. Everybody has played there. And even our young guys — now that they’ve had the playoff experience — they’ve been in those moments, they’ve been in close games. So it’s advantageous for us to have that experience. We’re excited for those moments.”

One of his best friends on the team is the man who has shattered the hopes and dreams of more teams than any defensive tackle in the league: Jones.

After the Chiefs won the first Super Bowl in 2019, Jones declared this was the birth of a dynasty and that he couldn’t wait to throw back alcohol at a party or two. All he did next was back up those promises. His third-and-8 sack of Burrow got Mahomes the ball back with 44 seconds in the 2022 AFC Championship. His bench press of left tackle Dion Dawkins dinged Allen just enough to affect what could’ve been a game-winning TD strike to Khalil Shakir in the 2023 divisional round.

The looming threat of Jones uprooting any linemen of any talent level along the entire line allows Spags to get creative elsewhere. So through Jones’ frustration this season with a low sack total, Pennel reminds him of moments like that one in Orchard Park, NY that don’t register in the box score. He effectively won KC the game.

“He’s a Hall of Fame player and his work ethic rubs off on everybody,” Pennel says. “He just does it every day, whether it’s film study, whether it’s hand work or pass rush. He literally is working his craft every day. When people don’t see him, he’s working. It’s either on his body, in the gym, he’s always pulling me to get an extra workout. He’s always doing extra stuff after the young guys. And like I said, a superstar like that? It’s easy to fall behind him.”

Former Giant Eli Manning may be up for the Hall of Fame this week, but an argument can be made that Spagnuolo mattered more to the Giants’ timeless upset over New England. One day, he could become the first coordinator enshrined.

There’s nothing flashy about the brains of this Chiefs D off the field. Players describe him as a tireless worker who embraces the sport’s inherent grind. Assistant coaches describe him as a God-fearing man and a true mentor who pushes them all.

“Spags is going to leave a legacy,” Cullen says. “He’s as good a defensive coordinator as there ever was in the league. The record speaks for itself.”

Each playoff challenge is different. These Eagles are bringing a 2,000-yard back to the party in the electric Saquon Barkley. No doubt, Spagnuolo must pick and choose his blitzes carefully inside the Superdome. If there’s a weakness to this Eagles offense, it’s Hurts against pressure. All game, that mystery man high above will be studying Philly’s exceptional offensive line — a group coached by another wizard: Jeff Stoutland.

Play to play, the Chiefs will try to detect a blocking tendency.

The information will be sent to Spagnuolo. He will stay patient. Super Bowl LIX will most certainly stay close late into the fourth quarter.

And the Eagles must slide their protection toward Chris Jones at their own risk.

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