LAS VEGAS — The T-shirt is the brainchild of safety Justin Reid, who is the inspiration for the shirt and says he doesn’t own a single one of it.
“I’m too humble,” Steve Spagnuolo said Monday night at Allegiant Stadium during “Opening Night” before Super Bowl III.
Yes, Spagnuolo is certainly a humble person. Anyone who has spent time around him will admit that he gets a little itchy when the conversation centers on him and his accomplishments (of which there are many).
But there’s no escaping how the Chiefs feel about their defensive coordinator. That’s why Reid wore a black shirt that read “In Spags We Trust” after a 17-10 upset win over the Ravens in the AFC Championship game in Baltimore. It didn’t take long for the shirts to be distributed, and several defensive players were soon wearing them.
“I was going to burn it all down,” Spagnuolo said, half-jokingly. “I’m just… really surprised, it’s a great compliment. I love them for that. But I’d rather keep it hidden somewhere.”
It’s too late for that.
Finding someone to say a negative word about Spanulo is doomed to failure.
Those who played for him with the Giants in 2007, his first season as NFL defensive coordinator, still speak highly of him.
For the Chiefs, the 64-year-old Spagnuolo can do no wrong.
With Sunday’s win over the 49ers, Spagnuolo will earn his third Super Bowl ring with the Chiefs.
Add in his stunning victory over the previously undefeated Patriots in Super Bowl 42 and a defensive masterpiece with the Giants, and Spagnuolo has the No. 4 Super Bowl win and the NFL’s new offensive or defensive coordinator. It will set the standard.
When asked what that accomplishment meant to him, Spagnuolo replied, “Yeah, nothing right now.” “All we’re trying to do is win this game. We’re not thinking about that, we’re thinking about the players we have now. The players who didn’t have a chance to win before are going to win. I would love to see that happen and that’s what I’m most excited about.”
Most recently, the Chiefs couldn’t get away with just 17 points in the AFC Championship game.
Coach Spagnuolo’s team contained Lamar Jackson in the first half and shut out the Ravens in the second half.
The Chiefs, who defeated the Dolphins, Bills and Ravens this postseason, allowed 13.6 points per game and gave up a total of seven points in the second half of the three games.
That’s not going to happen when the opposing quarterback is Tua Tagovailoa, especially Josh Allen and Jackson.
In 2023, the Chiefs needed Spanulo more than ever. A lack of appetizing wide receiver options limited Patrick Mahomes’ talent, and the offense averaged 21.8 points per game.
Spagnuolo’s defense allowed just 17.3 points per game during the regular season, but only the Ravens allowed fewer points.
Defensively, the Chiefs were second in the league in yards allowed per game (289.8) and first in sacks per pass attempt (10.25 percent).
It’s not an exaggeration to suggest that none of this might have happened to Spagnuolo if he hadn’t already been able to earn the trust of the Giants.
He wasn’t necessarily a huge hit during his early days with the Giants. In the first two games, his defense allowed 45 points against the Cowboys and 35 points against the Packers, and in Week 3’s 0-2 loss to the Giants in Washington, his defense scored 80 points.
“If you think about it, the first year, the first 2¹/₂ games, I literally thought he was probably the stupidest guy on the planet,” Justin Tuck told the Post a while ago. “It wasn’t that we thought so, it was just how we played and how the result dictated our feelings towards him. We didn’t have that confidence. I don’t remember if we blamed him for that. I’m sure we didn’t blame him for that. The first two and a half games I didn’t have a lot of confidence in Spags either, and I didn’t have a lot of confidence in all of us. I wasn’t very confident either.”
The Giants didn’t make T-shirts for Spagnuolo.
This group of Chiefs did.
“The respect and love is mutual, I will tell you that,” Spagnuolo said. “Because of what they did. When we went into the first game of the playoffs, I told the players, ‘You know, I’m a devout Christian, a prayerful guy. And I… In the morning, I prayed, “Please give me just one more week so I can work with these people again.” And I felt like I hadn’t prayed hard enough because I wanted another week, and another week. ”
The Chiefs won all week.
At Spag they trust.
