Steve Spagnuolo was in his bag against Miami
Looking at a few of the plays Spags did things that made the Dolphins' heads spin.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again… Spags gonna Spags.
Steve Spagnuolo is one of the most successful defensive coordinators in the league, with Super Bowl rings in two organizations and a reputation for being a guy who throws everything but the kitchen sink (and sometimes that too) at opposing quarterbacks. In particular, his ability to come up with independent gameplans that adapt to opponents in the playoffs has been a huge reason for Kansas City’s success over the last five seasons (remember the time they held JAX and CIN to 20 points each last year to help get a gimpy Mahomes to the Super Bowl? Mahomes sure does).
I’ve talked about how physical the Chiefs were on Saturday to help blow out the Dolphins, but the truth is just as much of that win was on the back of Steve Spagnuolo, who completely outclassed Mike McDaniel and the high-flying Dolphins offense.
The expression “Spags gonna Spags” is normally reserved for talking about his aggressive blitz packages that leave QB’s running for their lives. However, on Saturday it was just as much about his willingness to disguise coverages and shift at the snap to prevent Tua from being able to draw a bead on what the Chiefs were going to present to him for a first read. This resulted in a lot of Tua hesitating and looking for his 2nd/3rd read, rushing throws, and getting affected by pressure. And in the meantime, Spags had a gameplan drawn up that largely shut down Miami’s run game.
And all THAT resulted, in the end, in a high-powered Dolphins offense literally never making a trip to the Red Zone. Not one. Their sole touchdown came on a wildly underthrown ball that Tyreek Hill made a great play on. That was it. They were as thoroughly dominated as any team could be, and as much credit as Sneed, McDuffie, Bolton, Jones, Omenihu, and so many more guys deserve, it started with Spags.
So with that in mind, let’s look at some examples of Spags going full Spags and how it messed with the Dolphins’ plans.