Steve Spagnuolo explains Teddy Bridgewater is more than a ‘game manager’

The Kansas City Chiefs on their bye makes for a long week — but Sunday Night Football will be here in just a few days.

With the way the Chiefs defense had been playing — it’s unclear whether the bye coming was necessarily a good thing — but it’s good for players to get their bodies right as they head into the home stretch.

Over the last four games, the Chiefs defense has only allowed 11.8 points per game —- which is best in the league over that span.

Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo is pleased with the progress of his unit.

“I’m glad that it’s been better the last four weeks... the most important thing is points allowed,” Spagnuolo stressed. “That’s what we’re always gearing towards. We knew we had some weaknesses in certain areas earlier in the season. Some of it has gotten fixed and we still have a long way to go.”

The next opponent up is the Denver Broncos — led by Teddy Bridgewater and company. Bridgewater’s stats wouldn’t blow anyone away, but Spagnuolo doesn’t buy into the notion of him just being a game manager.

“I would not just call him a manager of the game,” Spagnuolo said. “He’s more than that. I mean, he gets them out of bad plays and into good plays. He’s smart with the football. He’s not going to put it somewhere where it’s in danger of turning it over. All those things add up — and when you got two running backs — and obviously all of the skill that he has, that’s what made them a pretty good offense, in my opinion.”

On paper, the last game against the Dallas Cowboys should’ve been the most formidable challenge for this secondary all season long. Unfortunately, wide receiver Amari Cooper was out due to COVID-19, and CeeDee Lamb missed the second half.

Now, it’s looking like the trio of Courtland Sutton, Jerry Jeudy and Tim Patrick could present the most significant threat all season.

“I think they have three quality wideouts,” noted Spagnuolo. “You guys know who I’m talking about. We sat in there at the beginning of the week saying who do we take away, who do we try to double, and you go it’s a pick ‘em. You can’t double everyone. “

Bridgewater faced the Chiefs in Arrowhead Stadium last year as a member of the Carolina Panthers. He threw for over 300 yards to go along with two touchdowns and no interceptions. The Chiefs held on to win 33-31 as Joey Slye missed a 67-yard field goal.

The next three opponents are all AFC West foes of the Chiefs — so this is an excellent opportunity for this team to separate itself in the division.