Breaking Spagnuolo's Tendencies - In Week One!

Looking at some wrinkles the Chiefs threw at the Lions - and the league - to start 2023

Throughout the years, Steve Spagnuolo has been an innovative defensive coordinator. He's brought exotic blitzes, interesting coverage rotations, and games along the defensive line that have given some of the best offensive minds in the league nightmares. When talking about Spagnuolo's defenses, it's typically a question of when something off-the-wall is coming: not a question of if.

However, Spagnuolo has largely stayed true to his core pillars of defense. He wants to play a base 4-3 defense, he wants to get into a four down lineman nickel/dime defense, and he wants to do it with as little personnel switching as possible in the back seven. Short of a few spy reps by the Chiefs linebacking corps in a 3-2 dime look, Spagnuolo has held true to his core pillars –  with solid results.

2022 brought together a lot of young (and new) players to the defensive scheme, which led to a reduction in some of the innovative blitzes and coverages Spagnuolo felt comfortable running. The ramp into the playoffs saw more diversity out of the group, but nothing like we'd seen in years prior. Even still, the expectation was that year two of the system for most of these players would lead to Spagnuolo returning to his innovative ways.

To start the season, he didn't just innovate. He took a sledgehammer to some of his core pillars.

Today, we'll take a look at some of the wrinkles he added – in Week One of the NFL season! – and what it could mean moving forward for this Chiefs defense.