New Orleans Saints bring in ex-St. Louis Rams Steve Spagnuolo as Defensive Coach - NFL Update
The New Orleans Saints on Thursday have agreed to hire former St. Louis Rams coach, Steve Spagnuolo, according to sources close to the talks as their new defensive coordinator after their previous coordinator, Gregg Williams, moved to the Rams a few days
back.
The Saints lost Williams after their 36-32 defeat at the hands of the San Francisco 49ers in the divisional rounds of the playoffs and coach, Sean Payton, had previously stated that Williams was likely to leave.
The ex-defensive coordinator took on the same role at the Rams who have hired Jeff Fisher as their new head coach. St. Louis had a poor 2011 regular season ending up with a 2-14 record and just missed out on the first draft pick as the Indianapolis Colts
were even worse in their season run.
Steve Spagnuolo, who was the head coach of the Rams for three years after being fired from the job following the 2011 regular season, will now take over the defensive coordinator duties at the Saints.
The ex-Rams’ coach has a better record as a defensive coordinator than a head coach.
Spagnuolo was a defensive coordinator with the New York Giants before joining the Rams and helped the Giants upset the New England Patriots in the 2007 Super Bowl which was the Patriots only loss in that season.
The Saints had a poor defensive record this year however, their offence led by Drew Brees was phenomenal, ending the regular season with a 13-3 record.
New Orleans’ defence ranked 30th overall in passing out of the 32 teams that make up the National Football League (NFL) and Spagnuolo’s experience in that area will be important for the Saints as they look forward to the 2012 regular season.
The Saints were one of the favourites to progress to the National Football Conference (NFC) championship game but lost out to the 49ers in a closely fought game as their defensive frailties came back to haunt them.
The 49ers won, 36-32, in the final play of the game when quarterback, Alex Smith’s 14-yard pass found tight-end, Vernon Davis, in the end-zone to win the game.
The Saints are likely to confirm the news of the hiring by Friday, January 20, 2012.
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