Tag: Spagnuolo

Super Bowl 59: Three Ravens-Chiefs connections

If Baltimore Ravens fans want to find a rooting interest in Super Bowl LIX, they will obviously need to reach a little bit.

If Baltimore Ravens fans want to find a rooting interest in Super Bowl LIX, they will need to reach out a little bit, but they do have some connections to the team favored to three-peat, the Kansas City Chiefs.

Lamar Jackson seems to support the Chiefs because of his close friendship with a former teammate, Marquise “Hollywood” Brown. Let’s look at this connection and a couple of others.

Marquise “Hollywood” Brown

Jackson posted an Instagram story in support of Brown, expressing his hope that the former Ravens wideout will win his first Super Bowl ring this Sunday. Brown played with Jackson for three seasons, including 2021, which was a monster year for him.

Before leaving Charm City for Arizona, Brown put up a 91-1,008-6 in ’21.

Steve Spagnuolo

He’s the classic example of a man ideally suited to being a defensive coordinator but ill-equipped to be the head coach. He could win his fifth Super Bowl ring as a DC tomorrow, and he’ll always be remembered as the football genius who somehow stifled the offensive juggernaut that was the 16-0 regular-season 2007 New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII when no one else could.

However, his one head coaching stint ended with a record of just 10-38. With the Ravens, he served as a defensive assistant in 2013 and a secondary coach in 2014.

Greg Lewis 

This is the very rare “connections to both teams in the Super Bowl” situation. The 44-year-old Chicago native became the Ravens wide receivers coach in March of 2023, following a very successful stint with the Kansas City Chiefs.

He led the Chiefs’ running backs in 2021 and 2022 after serving as WRs coach the three previous seasons. During his time in Kansas City, Lewis went to five conference championship games and three Super Bowls, winning two of them.

Chiefs DC Steve Spagnuolo evaluates performance of Willie Gay, Darius Harris in Week 16

Both players are due for more snaps with the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 17.

The Kansas City Chiefs started off the Week 16 game against the Atlanta Falcons with the two linebackers at the top of their depth chart ruled out of the game. Anthony Hitchens remained on the reserve/COVID-19 list and Damien Wilson dealt with a knee contusion.

The plan was for third-year linebacker Ben Niemann to wear the green dot for the defense, but he would be injured early on in the game. Just like that the Chiefs were down to three linebackers who’d seen very few snaps at the NFL level. They were thrust into what would typically be a compromising situation, but two of those linebackers were up to the challenge.

“I give Darius Harris a lot of credit,” Chiefs DC Steve Spagnuolo told reporters on Thursday. “He practiced all week long at the SAM linebacker because we anticipated Ben being the MIKE and then all of a sudden he had to switch, but he’s put a lot of time into things. Last year when he was on IR, he spent a lot of time learning. I thought he performed pretty well. From a check standpoint, he did a pretty good job with that, and that’s what the Mike linebacker needs to do. So, was it a little hectic early? Yeah, but we kind of settled in and I thought he did a nice job.”

Harris was hyped up by Chiefs GM Brett Veach when he was signed as an undrafted free agent in 2019. Veach considered Harris to be a future starter at the position and it seems that he proved himself to the coaching staff in Week 16. To play your first snaps in the NFL and act as the quarterback of the defense is a pretty impressive feat. He did so without making many mistakes and added a fumble recovery off of a fumble forced by rookie LB Willie Gay.

Harris should see more playing time in Week 17, alongside Gay, who saw the most snaps of his career against the Falcons. Just as Harris did, Gay proved himself in a big way to the coaching staff with his performance against Atlanta.

 “Same thing,” Spagnulo continued. “What Willie does is he plays fast — He plays fast and he’s physical and that’s what you want in your linebackers. There’s still a learning curve here, I think that’s true of anybody that plays that particular position in Year 1. And again, I go back to not having the offseason and whatnot, but we’re getting him caught up. He’s certainly going to see a lot of football now, and that’s a good thing for him.”

These snaps are helping to build a foundation for the future at the linebacker position for Kansas City. Players like Damien Wilson and Ben Niemann set to become free agents in 2021. If these young players continue to capitalize on their opportunities, the possibilities are endless for the type of impact they could provide.

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