“Tom Brady is one step ahead of everything” - Steve Spagnuolo

Steve Spagnuolo is considered one of the best defensive coordinators in the NFL but this season due to injuries and positive coronavirus cases they ran a little behind 2019’s mark of 5.36 yards per play. At the end of the 2020 regular season (12 games) the Kansas City Chiefs defense was ranked 10th and they finished with the 18th-most penalties.

On Sunday they will face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers whose offense ranked in third place at the end of the regular season. The Bucs are led by Tom Brady who wants to win his seventh Super Bowl ring at the age of 43. The big task for Spagnuolo on Super Bowl Sunday is to stop the best quarterback in the history of the NFL.

"He's a step ahead of everything. Every film clip that you put on, he's putting their guys in the right (position). That's always the challenge when you go against what I call a 'cerebral quarterback,' and we all know Tom is like that. He has total control. He gets them out there in time to change things. We're going to have to be really good on the back end not to show him things, or as we say, don't let him read our mail. Because if he can read our mail, he knows exactly what to do,” said Spagnuolo.

Spagnuolo knows how to defeat Brady

The Chiefs defensive coordinator knows what it is like to beat Tom Brady because he was the DC of the 2007 New York Giants who took away Brady’s 18-0 season with the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII. Spagnuolo emphasized that he respects Brady, but his defense is up to the task.

"Every game is different. The game has changed from when we played back in '07. The quarterback we're playing is still the same. He's still as good. There may be a little different (things we can do). We'll try pressure-wise and all that, but I just think that we've got to be on point coverage-wise and see what we can get with our guys out of a four-man rush. We've called upon our D-line to do that in other games, and they've done a nice job,” he added.