Saints officially hire Spagnuolo
The New Orleans Saints this week officially announced the addition of former St. Louis Rams coach Steve Spagnuolo as the team’s new defensive coordinator.
It was widely reported on Jan. 19 that Spagnuolo had accepted an offer from Saints coach Sean Payton to replace Gregg Williams, who took a similar job with the Rams and old friend Jeff Fisher, but no official announcement was made until this week.
Spagnuolo, 52, officially started working for the Saints on Jan. 23 with the start of Senior Bowl workouts in Mobile, Ala.
Spagnuolo, the defensive coordinator for the New York Giants when they pulled off a stunning 17-14 upset of the then-unbeaten New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII, served in that position from 2007-08 before spending the past three seasons as the Rams head coach.
During his two seasons with the Giants, Spagnuolo’s unit allowed 17 points or fewer 19 times in 37 total games. They were 19-0 in those games and ranked seventh and fifth in fewest total yards allowed in 2007 and ’08, respectively.
“He’s a tremendous teacher and possesses an outstanding knowledge of the game,” Payton said in a team news release.
“Steve shares the same vision that we do for our defense moving forward and will be a big asset to our coaching staff.”
Payton also announced that he has hired two coaches who worked on Spagnuolo’s staff with the Rams — secondary coach Ken Flajole and assistant secondary coach Andre Curtis.
Flajole was the defensive coordinator with the Rams, who moved up 10 spots in the league rankings in total defense from 29th in 2009 to 19th the next season and improved from 31st to 12th in scoring defense that same year. They also were seventh against the pass in 2011.
Curtis, who was the Rams’ secondary coach, will assist Flajole in coaching the defensive backs in New Orleans.
Payton still needs to add a wide receivers coach and assistant special teams coach to replace Curtis Johnson, who is now the head coach at Tulane, and John Bonamego, who left to join the Jacksonville Jaguars’ staff.
Graham to be featured
Saints tight end Jimmy Graham, who went from growing up in foster homes to NFL stardom, will be featured in a USA Network show called “NFL Characters Unite” that will air at 6 p.m. Friday.
The show will chronicle Graham’s mentoring of a troubled New Orleans 14-year-old who is about to enter a foster home, with Graham offering his support to the teenager.
The show will also include Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward, Atlanta Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez and former Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy.
Season opener?
Now that the New York Giants have won the Super Bowl, speculation has started about whom they’ll open the 2012 season against in the Thursday night game that traditionally features the reigning champions in their home stadium.
The Saints will likely be considered because they’re one of eight teams the Giants will play this season in MetLife Stadium.
But because the Saints played in three of the past four openers (2008, ’10 and ’11), the NFL may go in a different direction for the Sept. 6 game. Other Giants’ home games that could garner interest for the opener are against Green Bay, Pittsburgh, Dallas and Philadelphia.