KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Steve Spagnuolo has famously served as a foil to Tom Brady, so it’s worth considering when the Kansas City Chiefs’ defensive coordinator compares Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow to the most-successful QB in NFL history.
“He’s elite,” Spagnuolo said Thursday as the Chiefs continued preparations to host Burrow and company Sunday in the AFC Championship Game. “... It’s hard to compare a quarterback to the best there ever was, but he (Burrow) certainly looks like he’s on his way to that. We’ve got so much respect for this quarterback and what he does. But we’re going to try to find a way to slow him down if we can.”
That has proven challenging during the last two seasons for Kansas City, which is winless in three games against Cincinnati during that span.
Burrow has outperformed Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes during that span, averaging more than 327 yards with eight touchdowns and only one interception in the three wins, including an overtime comeback victory in last season’s AFC title game.
The Bengals have averaged 6.5 yards per play with at least 21 first downs in each game and boast a 54.3% third-down conversion rate in the last three meetings.
“We need to do a lot better,” Spagnuolo said.
He said “the one thing that stuck out” was the length of the drives the Bengals mounted against the Chiefs’ defense.
“That means that our quarterback doesn’t have the football, so somehow and some way we’ve got to make sure the drives are shorter and we can get the ball back,” Spagnuolo said. “So, I’m talking about time of possession.”
Cincinnati has dominated the game clock in the last two meetings, so he wants to see a better performance against the run.
But the NFL is a quarterback league and Burrow’s among the best right now.
“This guy’s elite at everything that he does,” Spagnuolo said. “It’s not just throwing the football. It’s throwing it to the right spots, it’s making the right decisions, it’s getting out of trouble when he’s rushed by some good pass-rushers. You’ve got to find a way to be a little bit under control, because he’s nifty.’
He cautioned that rushing with too much control means the pass rush never gets home at all, which is not ideal either against the new “Joe Cool.”
“He never panics in the pocket,” Spagnuolo said. “It feels like he’s got six eyeballs around his head, right? Seriously, we watched him last night — (defensive line coach) Joe (Cullen) and I were watching him — and there’s a rusher coming in and looks like he’s going to get him. Joe didn’t do very much, but he made a move, never lost balance, took a couple of steps and threw the ball downfield.”
Kansas City’s secondary and pass rush, in particular, will have to step up to earn a third Super Bowl berth in the last four seasons and prevent Burrow from a return trip.
The Chiefs’ initial coverage will have to be tight enough to give the pass rush time to get home and, once there, AFC Defensive Player of the Year finalist Chris Jones and company need to finish Burrow off.
“On top of the arm talent that he has, he can make all the throws — deep balls, short balls,” Kansas City safety Justin Reid said. “He’s also very patient. He makes really good decisions with the football, hardly ever turns it over. It’s really hard to get the gimmes that sometimes you see quarterbacks give the ball away. But with him, you really have to take it away; he’s not going to give anything to you.”
It’ll be up to the Chiefs to take if they want to keep walking the Road to Arizona.
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