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When game-planning for the Houston Texans’ offense, DeAndre Hopkins checked off the box for opposing defensive coordinators as to who was the go-to receiver. One didn’t even really need to know who was starting at quarterback that week; the offense ran through Hopkins.
With Hopkins now with the Arizona Cardinals, Kansas City Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo now has to solve the mystery as to who is the Texans’ No. 1 wideout to start 2020.
“The biggest challenge is we don’t really know who the go-to guy is,” Spagnuolo told Kansas City media Sept. 7. “We kind of knew that last year — whether that was good or bad, I don’t know — because [Hopkins] was pretty good.”
The two-time Super Bowl-winning defensive coordinator hasn’t had game tape to review of the Texans’ offense thanks to preseason games being scratched. However, Spagnuolo has been keeping up with his Week 1 opponent through the media and has a decent feel for what Houston’s new philosophy is in the passing game.
“It sounds and feels like they’re going to spread the ball around, which means we’re going to have to deal with a bunch of them,” said Spagnuolo. “They’ve got some speed over there.”
The Chiefs got to see receiver Will Fuller in the AFC divisional playoff, and Brandin Cooks faced the Chiefs when he was with the Los Angeles Rams in 2018 in a high-scoring Monday night affair.
The problem is Spagnuolo has not seen what the collection of this talent with Deshaun Watson throwing them the ball looks like.
Said Spagnuolo: “Without any film to go off of, not really showing where they’re headed in terms of what they’re going to put out there, but we’re going to have to figure it out quick. That’s part of the chess game in the first game of the season. Even when you have the preseason games, there are still a lot of things you have to figure out.”
The Texans are hoping Spagnuolo figures it out in film session reviewing a Chiefs loss.
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