The Kansas City Chiefs are 2-0. That’s all that really matters as the team looks ahead to three straight games against AFC opponents, two of them division rivals.
That said, Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo isn’t ignorant of the team allowing 30 points, 329 total yards, and 24 first downs in the overtime victory. In Week 1, Kansas City allowed just 10 points, 176 total yards and nine first downs.
He talked about his unit’s performance during Thursday’s press conference.
“We’re probably not
as good as we were in the first week,” Spagnuolo said. “And hopefully not as bad as we were in the second. We didn’t reaffirm; we didn’t do a good job there.”
The Chiefs’ defense played on a thin margin Sunday night, coming up with a red-zone stop in overtime that preserved the team’s ability to come back and claim victory. That red-zone stop came immediately after a wild, long completion that ended in a negated turnover.
“I was really proud of the way they responded after the big play; that was huge,” Spags said. “That said a lot about this group and certainly (linebackers) Nick [Bolton] and Drue [Tranquill] on the inside, but it was hard not to think about all the other stuff; the reasons we were in overtime were because we kind of let the team down in certain areas.”
Through two weeks, the Chiefs rank 11th in points allowed and third in total yards allowed. The unit, with inexperience and injuries to play through, already looks promising, but Week 2 represented a humbling experience.
“I don’t think its lost on our guys in the defensive room that we didn’t play well,” Spags told reporters. “I don’t think we’re going to get clouded by the fact that we ended up winning it. It’s hard to win in this league. I said to them in the locker room, it wasn’t pretty as a defense, but enjoy it, because they’re really hard to come by.
“When we got together on Tuesday,” Spags continued. “I think there was a feeling in there that ‘no, that’s not what we’re looking for.‘”
After allowing just two third-down conversions of 12 attempts against Denver in Week 1, the Chiefs’ defense wasn’t as reliable getting off the field on those crucial snaps. The Colts converted five third downs on 12 attempts, but two failed third downs were followed by successful fourth-down conversions.
“Eight out of 12 were third and six or third and five,” Spagnuolo reflected. “I would have liked to have another red-zone stop. The two runs that spit out were things that we worked on. We thought that he would try to get to the edge, and he did.”
“I did a terrible job at the end of the half,” Spagnuolo went off on a tangent. “I told the guys that. I was fully disappointed in myself in what we called at the end of the half, and it led to a score. Otherwise, we might not have even been in that overtime situation.”
The Chiefs have high standards for themselves in the bounceback campaign. The team is off to a good start with two wins, but coaches like Spagnuolo will not be satisfied anytime soon.
