KANSAS CITY, Mo. — If the Steve Spagnuolo couldn't coach football – or hockey – for that matter, he thinks he would want to be an architect for one simple reason.
“Because you build, an architect builds and then you see something at the end,” Spagnuolo said. “Hopefully what we see on Sunday will be a good thing.”
Everything that takes place before Sunday's noon kickoff in Week 1 at Jacksonville is what Spagnuolo truly enjoys. Sometimes a team's execution makes it frustrating, but the offseason, training camp and building game plans – that's Spagnuolo's passion.
“I have always loved the preparation going into the game and then just seeing how they perform with that preparation,” he said. “I think that's exciting.”
That's what Spagnuolo missed last year during his season away from the NFL. Spagnulo sat out the 2018 campaign after the New York Giants cleaned house and dismissed himself and the remainder of former head coach Ben McAdoo's staff.
On Sunday, Spagnuolo gets to see how his new defense performs. You learn something during training camp and the preseason, but nothing tests an NFL defense like real games of football.
“It's multiplied a little bit by the fact that the team we're getting ready to play has a new coordinator and has a new quarterback,” Spagnuolo said. “A lot of unknowns. So we do the best we can in prepping them and then we'll see what happens."
He plans to talk with his defense heading into Sunday about the highs and lows of an early start. Things going well quickly can build confidence, but he also warns of guarding aginst letting a disappointing beginning snowballing.
“If it doesn't go great out of the gate here, and I'm not talking about just one game, that the challenge will be to trust what we're doing, trust each other,” Spagnuolo said. “I think it's good to talk about that.”
