3 Takeaways From Steve Spagnulo’s Lions Press Conference

First, Jones was the subject of social-media ridicule but there’s no guarantee he would’ve stopped the quarterback, and the Chiefs had other opportunities to tackle Lawrence, too.

“Somehow, some way, we needed to get him down,” Spagnuolo said Thursday. “I mean, there's a lot, I'm not going to pick at all the things that happened, but there were other things that went on.”

Secondly, Lawrence scored on first-and-goal from the 1-yard line, after Chamarri Conner’s end-zone pass-interference wiped out Bryan Cook’s interception. The Jaguars might’ve had three more shots.

“That play, it would have given us another chance to defend another play,” Spagnuolo said. “I mean, we're assuming that Chris would have been able to get there. We don't know that.

“What I'm gonna say is I give the quarterback a lot of credit. A lot of guys would have fallen down or stumbled, or whatever. He didn't. He got in the end zone. So, I give him credit for that.”

Primary reason for concern against Lions

New Lions offensive coordinator John Morton might rely primarily on one tape for how to beat Spagnuolo’s Chiefs: Kansas City’s 27-21 loss to the Chargers in Week 1.

Detroit runs a similar offense, especially with regard to play-action. Jared Goff leads the NFL with a 75.2 completion percentage, but he’s even more accurate in play-action. And his passer rating when running play-action is 136.1. It’s 113.5 on other plays.

On Sept. 5 in the Brazil loss to the Chargers, Kansas City allowed Herbert to achieve season-bests in passing yards (318), touchdown passes (three) and passer rating (131.7).

“We really need to create a couple of negative plays,” Spagnuolo said. “First and second down are going to be really important, and then, as always, win third down.

“But they do pose that particular problem. They're really good at play-action. In other words, they sell it. They match things up there. They're really good, I think, and they have been for a long time. I know the coordinator is different, but they're really good at matching the runs with the play-action, matching the motions that you're going to get, and shifts.”

Nick Bolton is a future defensive coordinator

Spagnuolo loves his middle linebackers, the field-generals of his scheme. From 2016-17, that person was Kelvin Sheppard, now the Lions’ first-year defensive coordinator. Together in 2016, they led the Giants’ defense to a No. 2 ranking in points allowed and No. 3 NFL ranking against the run.

When Spagnuolo and the Chiefs drafted Bolton in 2021, the rookie reminded the savvy coach of another pupil.

“I think the world of Kelvin Sheppard,” Spagnuolo said. “When he played for us in New York those two years, he was our Nick Bolton. They're very, very similar. Those guys are kind of cut from the same cloth. I said to Kelvin at time, I don't think he was thinking about coaching, when he got done playing, I said, ‘I think you’d make a heck of a football coach.’

“And over the two or three years, I think he stayed out of it. Kind of coached him and he got he got the bug. I think he went down LSU first. And there were times that we talked about Kelvin and trying to get him here. I think he's doing a terrific job, and I'm really happy for him, really proud.”