Kansas City Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo spoke with reporters on Thursday. He said the defense needs a killer instinct to win future games this season.
"Yeah, it's funny you use those two words because that was on my objective going into this game: that if we are fortunate enough, again, to get in that situation, because it doesn't always happen that way. I mean, we might be playing from behind in this game, and then it's a whole different deal."
The Chiefs' defense ranks 4th through 7 games in points allowed, at 18.7 per game. Last Sunday's loss was costly because the unit couldn't stop the Broncos' late fourth-quarter drive.
"We talked as a group on Tuesday about—I asked everybody to look in the mirror and ask themselves this
question. Did you let up after three straight," said Spagnuolo, "I think it was a four-play, and a three-play, and a three-play, and did we let up? Did we lose our edge? Did we lack the killer instinct? And everybody had; I didn't—nobody was talking, but I think we all got to look at that. Did I call it differently? Does it need to be called differently? And so, we had that conversation, and hopefully, we will be presented with that situation again. Hopefully, we can rise up and make those plays."
A positive from the Week 8 loss was defensive lineman George Karlaftis, who had two tackles, three passes defensed, one tackle for loss, one quarterback hit, one forced fumble, and one sack. His three passes defensed moved his total to a league-high seven for the year among all defensive linemen.
This article originally appeared on Chiefs Wire: Steve Spagnuolo on the defense needing a killer instinct with the lead
