Spags back on top after brutal 2015
This is what you do not want in a defensive coordinator:
“You don’t want a coach who willw flip on you during the bad timesti and be good with you in theth good times,’’ cornerback TrevinTr Wade told The Post after Thursday’sTh practice.
Steve Spagnuolo could have flippedfli on everyone paid to play defensede for the Giants in 2015, as he was in charge of a historicallycal bad unit that finished 32nd inin NFL, where there are 32 teams.
“He’s handled things great,’’ linebackerline Devon Kennard said. “That’s one of the main reasons I respectresp him so much as a coach.coa He wasn’t any different,fere he was the exact samesam guy. “I really respect him as a coordinator, what he does for this defense and more importantly as a man, he’s somebody I want to play for. I think a lot of guys in the locker room feel that way.’’
Spagnuolo has been to the heights, dropped into the depths and is currently on a major upswing, as his defense has carried the Giants into Sunday’s NFC Wild Card game against the Packers at Lambeau Field. Spagnuolo is tasked with finding a way to slow down the great Aaron Rodgers, just as he was asked nine years ago to contain Tony Romo, Brett Favre and Tom Brady in a whirlwind defensive postseason clinic that culminated in another Lombardi Trophy for the Giants’ showcase.
No one can say Spagnuolo’s coaching career has followed a parallel line. He rode his great success with the 2007 Giants defense to a head coaching job with the Rams, which did not go well. He landed in New Orleans and presided over a terrible Saints defense. He was rehired by Tom Coughlin to fix the Giants’ defense and in 2015 there was nothing but blown leads and misery for Spagnuolo’s unit. Ben McAdoo decided to keep Spagnuolo and general manager Jerry Reese proved money can buy happiness when he handed his defensive coordinator free agents Olivier Vernon, Janoris Jenkins and Damon Harrison and selected Eli Apple in the first round of the NFL draft.
Last season, the Giants allowed 27.6 points a game, 30th in the NFL. This season, the Giants are second in scoring defense at 17.8 points a game and have given up a league-low 25 touchdowns. Spagnuolo’s defense gives the Giants a chance to upset the Packers and has helped polish the reputation of a 57-year-old who has again turned his career arc upward.
“Guys may look at him and say he’s a complete genius but I think he’s a hell of a coach, regardless,’’ defensive end Owa Odighizuwa said. “He’s the same smart coach last year as he is this year.’’
That Spagnuolo did not bail on his players last season has made all the difference this season, as they have his back because he did not turn his back on them.
“Last year it wasn’t us versus him,’’ Kennard said. “It was us, like we got to get our ball right. He never pointed any fingers, he made us feel like we were all in it together.’’
The dive in 2015 had to be tough on Spagnuolo, as he returned to the Giants to rekindle the magic of 2007 but instead endured a terrible return to the place of his past glory. He was dealt a losing hand and doubt about his ability to again create defensive mayhem could have filtered in.
“You are assuming that there was a time when I didn’t think I could,’’ Spagnuolo said. “But I can tell you that I never felt that way. I have been in it long enough to know that it is not one person that makes it happen, you have to have good players.’’
In 2007, Spagnuolo had the luxury of leaning on a fearsome defensive front that contained Michael Strahan, Justin Tuck and Osi Umenyiora. This year, Spagnuolo has been forced to be even more creative. The front four, learning to work with each other, was not able to generate consistent pressure in the first half of the season and in Week 13 Jason Pierre-Paul was lost to a sports hernia. In the regular-season finale against the Redskins, the Giants got four sacks of Kirk Cousins and three of them came from defensive backs.
Linebacker Keenan Robinson, one of the additions this season, arrived and spotted something that told him what he needed to know about his new coordinator.
“The first thing I looked at when I came here was the banner in the indoor facility, his name was on it in 2007, I guess he was the DC so obviously he knows how to win, because he’s won a ’ship before,’’ Robinson said.
Spagnuolo is looking to win one again and add his name to another banner.