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Archive December 2006

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Coach of the Year: Andy Reid

A lot of good candidates this season:

  • Sean Payton - team exceeded expectations the most
  • Jeff Fisher - team turned around its season with rookie QB
  • Andy Reid - team overcame the loss of its star QB
  • Lovie Smith - team won 13 games despite losing Tommie Harris and having Rex Grossman at QB
  • Eric Mangini - team exceeded expectations
  • Marty Schottenheimer - best team in the NFL, despite first-year starting QB, four-game suspension of best defensive player
  • Brian Billick - vastly exceeded expectations, took over the playcalling
  • Mike Shanahan - did the unthinkable - benched his starting QB on a playoff-bound team late in the season for a rookie. Broncos have more upside now and in the future.

My vote goes to Andy Reid, probably - Payton, Fisher and Mangini had great years, but every season, you see teams come out of nowhere and win. Rarely do you see a team that loses its star QB go from 5-6 to 9-6. It's Reid's system that allows Jeff Garcia to maximize his talents.

Incidentally, if Philly comes out of the NFC, the play that turned around the eitire season was the Lito Shepperd pick of Jake Delhomme in the end zone with seven seconds left on Monday Night, when Carolina was virtually assured of the tie, but looking for the win. Shepperd was beat on the same play earlier, read the call, and beat Keyshawn Johnson to the spot. That was a season-changing play.

Nick Saban Made a Gutless Call

The Dolphins had 4th and less than a yard on the Jets' five-yard line last night, trailing 10-7 with two minutes left, and Saban elects to kick the game-tying field-goal.

Did he not realize that Ronnie Brown was averaging six yards per carry? Why go for the tie when there's one possession left for the opposing team, and they only need a FG to win it? It's inconceivable that you would have so little confidence in your team to get less than a yard, but still expect them win in overtime.

The Dolphins had an excellent chance of making that 4th down conversion, and if they made it, they'd have been able to run the ball three times, run the clock out, and get either the win or the tie.

To top it off, the Dolphins are mathematically eliminiated from the playoffs, so why not play aggressively and go for the win?

Interesting career for Joe Smith

No. 1 overall pick in 1995. Possibly costs the T-Wolves a title by making an illegal agreement with Kevin McHale which cost the team valuable draft picks while Kevin Garnett was in his prime. Is the expiring contract that brings Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony together.

Play-Calling Tip

While I know very little of real NFL Xs and Os, I do know one thing for sure - that having 2nd and 1 is better than having 1st and 10. In other words, if a team could make a deal with the NFL that instead of starting new sets of downs 1st and 10, they could start on 2nd down, but have just one yard to go to move the chains, every team in the NFL would do it. Because it's much easier to make one yard in two tries (and in some cases three) than 10 yards in three.

Okay, so that's obvious, but why then do coaches so often when faced with 2nd and 1, call a run up the middle to try and pick up the first down? Marvin Lewis did it Monday night, Tom Coughlin did it Sunday. Sure, if you get the first down, you advance a yard or two up the field, but I'd take 2nd and 1 at the 33 over 1st and 10 at the 35 any day. Essentially, the desired outcome of your play call makes your situation worse. How can billion dollar organizations not know this?

So for any coaches out there who read this blog (all zero of you), you MUST be aggressive on 2nd and 1. If you don't complete the pass, then it's 3rd and 1. Which one could argue is itself better than 1st and 10. (Though that one's a closer call).

Scott Linehan Needs to Go Back to Being a Coordinator

Forget for a moment how sloppy the Rams are on defense and special teams, but just consider that down 15 with 7:30 left in the game, Linehan whose team is 5-7, elects to kick it deep, rather than "risk" the onside kick. That Devin Hester returned it for a second touchdown is almost beside the point - what does Linehan possibly have to lose by trying the onside kick? They're down 15, the Bears have been moving up and down the field all day. Why not try to get the ball back with enough time to score twice?

In fact, if I were a coach, as soon as my team was mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, I'd cut the punter and kicker, go for two every time, do an onside kick every time with whoever showed the most aptitude for it among my defensive ends, and I might try an occasional 65-yard FG with whoever else had the best leg to try and get him the record.

The Steve Nash of the NFL

Drew Brees is Nash, Sean Payton is Mike D'Antoni, and anyone who plays with Brees puts up numbers just like anyone who plays with Nash. And like the Suns who are good, but probably not considered good enough to win it all, the Saints are good, but likely in the same boat.

Devery Henderson, Terrence Copper, Mike Karney, it doesn't matter. Reggie Bush, Marques Colston and Deuce McAllister are like the Shawn Marion and Amare Stoudemires, but you get the feeling Brees, like Nash, will make a star out of whoever you pair him with.

I know LaDainian Tomlinson just broke the record for touchdowns, but Brees deserves consideration for MVP as well. I was actually about to argue that Brees would get my vote because he's turning around a bad team, and he plays quarterback which is a more important position, but I just looked up Tomlinson's other stats (5.0 YPC, 1427 yards, 52 catches, 29 TDs in 13 games). Tough to argue with that. He makes Shaun Alexander's 2005 seem quaint.

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NFL Notes
A look around the league regarding Week 10:
Week 10 Observations
  • We've beaten to death Bill Belichick's decision to go for it on 4th and 2 in Sunday night's game (the best take on it I've seen is here), but the real takeaway is how much Cris Collinsworth, Al Michaels, Tony Dungy and Rodney Harrison felt it was their duty to spout the conventional wisdom without even attempting to analyze Belichick's basis for the decision. Throw in Bob Costas, and it's appalling that five guys collectively making more than $10 million a year to interpret the sport for us didn't even consider the issue from a probability standpoint. Sadly, the NBC crew is probably the best one on TV. (Update: Jon Gruden just defended Belichick's call on MNF - good for him).
    • Dominant Offense but Shaky Defense...Barkley and Dirk
    This topic is a spin-off from the Michael Jordan thread of last week.  In the excellent discussion on that thread a mini-debate broke out as to how Charles Barkley compares to Kevin Garnett.  The gist of the brief debate was to question whether Barkley was enough better than Garnett offensively to make them comparable in value as overall players despite Garnett’s huge defensive advantages.  The thing is, though, to me there is a much better comp for Barkley in this generation than Garnett:  Dirk Nowitzki.
    What is Iverson's Legacy?
    What are we talking 'bout? We're talking 'bout *IVERSON*.
    Jennings vs Rose
    Last year Derrick Rose was the NBA Rookie of the Year.  One year later, would you take him over current rookie point guard phenom Brandon Jennings?

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