Final Prediction for the Chiefs-Broncos Showdown

Below is a partial transcript from Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo from Nov 13, ahead of the clash with the Broncos.

OPENING STATEMENT:

“Alright, so it’s been a while, it’s been two weeks. It’s good to be back at it. Our
guys – we had yesterday, and then the walkthrough this morning. It’s nice when they came back in the
building on Tuesday because it’s not the same being a football coach without any players. With that, I’ll just open it up.”

Q: On Broncos Head Coach Sean Payton and the Broncos offense with changing a lot of personnel.

SPAGNUOLO: “Well, I think they (Broncos) do a really good job of changing personnel. They end up in that a lot when you do the numbers and the percentages and that’s certainly the highest. Especially earlier in games, they are rolling a lot of people. If you watch the TV – we watch the TV games and they’re rolling bodies in and out, you got to stay on top of that, that’s one thing."

"I mean, one thing that we feel a little bit good about is (that) we see 11 personnel from April – I mean, our guys are in it all the time, so it’s not something that we’re uncomfortable with. I think they (the Broncos) do a really good job in what they have quarterback-wise and what he (Bo Nix) does really well, and I think that’s why they’ve had some success.”

Q: What have you seen from Bo Nix this year compared to last year?

SPAGNUOLO: “Listen, so he (Broncos QB Bo Nix) has a year under his belt, he looks like he has full
command of what to do at the line of scrimmage. You could see that last year as the year went on, he got better and better at that. I think the coaches, obviously, have confidence in him now with changing plays and he’s another athletic quarterback. Those guys are always a little bit of a headache because even when you’re right in what you’re doing, he can make you look bad by making you miss.”

Q: You guys usually peak defensively towards the end of the season. Why is that?

SPAGNUOLO: “We have been able to do that. I hope that that continues because we do need to get better. I give all the credit to the assistant coaches and players. You have to have coaches that feed it and keep working at it, which our guys do. Then, you have to have cerebral players that embrace it (and) want to get better. We have a lot of guys that – we always talk about chasing improvement and that’s what our guys do. Not every team has that I don’t think, but we’re blessed that we have guys that think that way.”