Inside the Two Key Principles Behind the KC Chiefs’ Excellent Defensive Start

Steve Spagnuolo describes the "two C's" as reasons why his defense is thriving early in the 2023 season.

The Kansas City Chiefs' 3-1 start to the 2023 season has featured plenty of shining moments from Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid's offense. With that said, there's been more proficient and consistent play coming from the opposite side of the ball.

Four weeks into the year, Steve Spagnuolo's defense is one of the better units in the NFL. Not only does it rank eighth in yards per game and third-down conversion rate, but it's also sixth in scoring on a per-game basis and fourth in scoring on a per-play basis. The 'Chiefense' ranks fourth in opponent first downs per game and is forcing the second-most punts per play. Even with the garbage time filter left untouched on Ben Baldwin's rbsdm.com, the Chiefs have the fifth-best defense in the league when measured by EPA per play. You get the gist: Kansas City is suffocating the opposition.

It's not like the Chiefs have played a cupcake schedule to start the year, either. While their two most recent outings came against young quarterbacks who were previously struggling immensely, the team's first two contests of 2023 featured matchups with high-flying offenses from the 2022 campaign. This feels like a mostly legitimate defense, and one that could be the best of the Mahomes era thus far. What's the secret? According to Spagnuolo when he spoke to the media on Thursday, it's the two C's: chemistry and confidence.

"I get the blinders on, so one game is over and I’m on to the next one," Spagnuolo said. "But you know, our guys are human. I said this to them Saturday night – or no excuse me we do a little walkthrough on Sunday when we play at night – I said, ‘Just keep the two C’s.’ – I said this to them. The two C’s to me are let’s just make sure we keep our chemistry and our confidence. I felt like that is part of what we had, had for three games, and don’t let anything take that away – not a bad call, not a bad play, not the fact that we get down or if we get too far up. I think we play better defensively when we play like that, so I hope that’s building.”

A year ago, especially to start the season, there wasn't a ton of either 'C' Spagnuolo is now hammering home. Because general manager Brett Veach had a multitude of rookies garnering legitimate snaps on defense, the first-year players were doing all they could to simply get an ounce of confidence in themselves or a smidgeon of chemistry with their veteran teammates. Heck, even safety Justin Reid was new to the organization and is on record stating that it took well over half the season before he was comfortable in the defense. It didn't happen overnight.

Following some late-season improvements, a world championship and an offseason to mature, Kansas City's young pieces on defense are looking and feeling more settled in as second-year pros. The chemistry is there, and the confidence is following suit due to an excellent start to the year. This effect is managing to trickle down to veteran newcomers Drue Tranquill and Mike Edwards, both of whom are proving to be worthwhile investments by Veach. When asked about the state of the defense, sophomore safety Bryan Cook once again defaulted to the all-important two C's. 

“Just chemistry and confidence," Cook said. "I know you kind of said that but confidence more. I’m confident in the player next to me, confidence in the game plan, confidence in the overall scheme, confidence in our teammates as a group as a unit. Then confidence in people on a different part of the ball, like our offense and special teams. We had to have confidence all the way around to be a solidified defense and solidified team overall. That goes into it and then communication is definitely one, but that goes into chemistry, so chemistry is more we’ve been around here especially for us rookies last year we all got chemistry from last year. The play is a little bit smoother. 

"We’ve got guys coming in from other places. You’ve got Mike Edwards coming in from another good defense, Justin Reid’s got another year in the defense, Chris Jones came back, our D-line is obviously moving well. The offense is still going to be the offense regardless of who is back there because of 15 (Patrick Mahomes). You’ve got Andy Reid coordinating everything. Just trying to put the pieces together, see how we can keep this train rolling."

Things aren't slated to get easier for the Chiefs' defense, and it doesn't take a look too far ahead to imagine some trying times popping up. This Sunday, a showdown on the road against the Minnesota Vikings sees Spagnuolo's group face the likes of Justin Jefferson, T.J. Hockenson, Jordan Addison and company.

After that, they'll be tasked with slowing down a somewhat resurgent Denver Broncos offense twice in a three-week span. Sandwiched between that game? Justin Herbert and the Los Angeles Chargers. After the last Broncos matchup and right before the bye? The Miami Dolphins. This will be the real test for the Chiefs' defense but if chemistry and confidence remain high, it may not matter very much.

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