FanPost

Steve Spagnuolo as DC?


There was a very nice post a few weeks ago about the Chiefs former head coach Todd Haley being considered as a new OC for ATL. I thought I'd ask the board about the possibility of Steve Spagnuolo being our new DC. There is a strong possibility that Spags won't be back with the Rams after this season and his record to date is around 10 and 36. Based on his three year record he probably won't be offered a HC job in the NFL.


Here is Spag's coaching history. With the exception of the past three years he has been a defensive coach in some capacity. For 2001 - 2003 he was the DB coach for PHI. It's tough to gauge how good a job he did but here are some numbers:

2001 - pass coverage DVOA was 4th

2002 - pass coverage DVOA was 5th

2003 - pass coverage DVOA was 13th; 12th in passing yards allowed per game with 194.6 (ATL was 32nd); 5th in opponents yards per completion

I didn't find stats for 2001 and 2002. Spags was the DC for the NYG for 2007 and 2008.

2007 - NYG defensive DVOA was 14th, 15th agains the pass and 9th against the rush; 7th in total defense, 11th in passing yards allowed, 1st in the NFL with 53 sacks and 8th in rushing defense. The NYG's were 5th in % of opponents third down conversions allowed.

2008 - defensive DVOA was 8th, 11th against the rush and 12th against the pass. They were 5th in total defense, 8th against the pass, 9th against the rush and 6th in sacks with 42. They dropped down to 21st in % third down conversions allowed.

Even though the Rams defense has not been very good over the past three years it has improved under Spags:

2009 - DVOA was 30th, 29th agains the pass and 32nd against the rush

2010 - DVOA was 20th, 21st against the pass and 20th against the rush

2011 - DVOA is 19th, 14th against the pass and 25th against the rush

I don't know how much hands on Spags has with the Rams D but I'd guess he is pretty involved with design and play calling.

Do you guys think Spags with be a good fit in ATL? Would he be an upgrade compared to BVG?

<em>This FanPost was written by one of The Falcoholic's talented readers. It does not necessarily reflect the views of The Falcoholic.</em>