Special Reason Why Spagnuolo’s Chiefs Defense Wants Another Shutout

“Listen, overall, I will say this,” defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo said Thursday, “we're fighting for some things in this last game that we want to hang our hat on. I mean, I'm not a big stat guy, and I don't go into them. But I hear the guys talking about it, so there's a lot of pride there in this last game.”

Three first downs and 95 yards

That last game just happens to be against the opponent that the Chiefs dominated more than any other this year, the Raiders. In a 31-0 shutout on Oct. 19, Kansas City held Las Vegas to only three first downs, fewest ever by a Chiefs defense in a single game (previous record was five, Dec. 7, 1997, at home in a 30-0 win over the Raiders).

The Raiders totaled only 95 net yards of offense, just the fourth instance in Chiefs history they held an opponent under 100, the first since that Dec. 7, 1997, win over the Raiders (93 yards). The Chiefs held the Seattle Seahawks to 89 yards on Dec. 24, 1995, and limited the Boston Patriots to 82 yards on Sept. 21, 1969.

But walking-on-air days like that were few and far between this season for the Chiefs, despite a stellar effort in the points column. Kansas City enters the final week ranked sixth in the NFL, allowing just 19.6 points per game.

“I don't think it went the way any of us wanted it to,” Spagnuolo said Thursday, “although I will say there were some really good stretches of defense.”

One of those was in the team’s last win – way back on Nov. 23 – when the Chiefs rose up to shut down the high-octane Colts with three-and-outs on each of the final four possessions in a 23-20 overtime victory.

“There was games in there we played winning football and helped our team get in a position to win.”

Unfortunately, there were also games – namely the season’s first two weeks, a Week 5 loss at Jacksonville and last week’s setback against Denver – in which the Chiefs couldn’t close victories. Those were especially compounded by a lack of offensive firepower at points this year.

“What was disappointing,” Spagnuolo said, “I haven't gone back and reflected on all of it, but there was some end-of-the-game defense that I would have liked to have had back, that if we could have found a way to make one play toward the end of the game, it either would’ve given our offense the ball back, or we would have found a way to win the game.

“So that, more than anything, kind of sticks out. If we can get better at that, I'd be happy to see it.”

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