As expected Bill Belichick won the Coach
of the Year Award. When
you’re the coach of a team that went 16-0, it would be hard not to get
this award. This was the major topic of discussion on Sirius NFL
radio. Most of the callers did not agree with the voters.
Some
claimed that anyone who knowingly cheated should not win the
award.
I’ve written several articles on this subject earlier this season, so
my views on this are pretty clear. Though I do think his
videotaping
gave him a competitive advantage in prior seasons, I don’t think he did
it this year. At least not in a way he could get caught. In
my
opinion, he could easily have planted a guy in the stands with a video
camera and gotten the same information, but since there is not proof of
this, it can’t be used against him.
Most of the callers today felt he should not have won the award because
he had the best talent in the league. To this, I wholeheartedly
agree. How can you not win with the best quarterback throwing to
the
best wide receiver. I can’t even give him credit for acquiring
Randy
Moss, because Moss basically fell into their laps for a song. Jim
Miller of Sirius defended the award stating that it was Belichick
and/or Pioli who acquired a relative unknown, Wes Welker who led the
league in receiving. This may be true, but it was Brady to Moss
that
made this team undefeated, not Brady to Welker. Welker was
basically a
younger Troy Brown, a solid possession receiver, who benefited greatly
from the presence of Randy Moss.
| You can argue that Belichick built a
defense that was perhaps not as
good as his offense, but was still ranked among the best in the
league. They were fourth in the league in both points and yards
allowed. No doubt this is a solid defense, which always seems to
come
through when needed, but it greatly benefited from its prolific
offense. This defense almost never had to play the run because
opponents were always passing to catch up. When they played
strong
running teams such as Philadelphia, Baltimore, NYG, Indianapolis, and
Pittsburgh, this defense had problems. In addition, their offense
probably had the fewest 3 and outs of any team, so this defense was
always well rested. Belichick is often praised for his defensive
innovations, but could he try those innovations if he did not have the
knowledge that his offense could make up for any defensive
mistakes?
His defenses could take more risks knowing that Brady could always even
the score. |
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I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Bill Belichick owes his
entire coaching record and reputation to Tom Brady. Brady is the
best
quarterback to have ever played the game and Belichick lucked into him
with a 6th round pick. He is the NFL’s version of Pat Riley or
Phil
Jackson. Riley won with Kareem and Magic Johnson, the best
players of
their day. Phil Jackson won first with Jordan and Pippin, then
later
with Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant, also the best players of their
respective eras. Riley won another championship later when he
acquired
Shaquille O’ Neal. Without these Hall of Fame players, these
coaches
would not have won any championships.
Besides the fact that Brady wins games outright, he has directly or
indirectly helped his team in other ways.
2002.
After winning their first Super Bowl, the Patriots were in the
enviable position of having two top quarterbacks. Bledsoe was
clearly
on the downside of his career, but still enjoyed a reputation as one of
the top quarterbacks in the game. Perhaps thinking that his team
was
only a quarterback away from a championship, Tom Donohoe, GM of the
Bills at the time, traded their first round pick in the 2003 draft to
the Patriots for Bledsoe. They traded this pick to the Ravens for
their first round pick in the 2004 draft which eventually brought them
Vince Wilfork. So basically they traded Drew Bledsoe for Vince
Wilfork. Bledsoe led the Bills to the playoff in his first
season, but
did nothing after that and was cut in 2005. Wilfork plugged a
whole in
the center of their defensive line which had been the Patriots primary
weakness. In previous seasons, they used Ted Washington and Keith
Traylor at the nose, but both were aging and eventually signed for more
money elsewhere. Wilfork has been a solid nose tackle who stuffs
the
run and can sack the quarterback. This year, he made his first
Pro
Bowl.
2006.
Deion Branch arrived in the
second round of the 2002 draft.
He quickly became Tom Brady’s favorite target and earned MVP of the
2005 Super Bowl. Feeling he was one of the elite receivers in the
NFL,
Branch held out during the 2006 training camp and was eventually able
to force a trade to the Seahawks who gave up their 2007 first round
pick for Branch. The Patriots used that pick to draft Brandon
Merriweather, but since they had two first rounders, traded their own
pick, #30, to the 49ers for their first round pick this year, which
will be the 7th pick in the 2008 draft. Branch had a good, but
not a
great 2006 season for the Seahawks and was hurt most of this season, so
did not contribute much. Brady has made stars of his receivers
who
eventually moved on to become average receivers for other teams.
David
Givens and David Patton both had great careers in New England which
they used to earn big free agent contracts, but neither has lived up to
those contracts. Branch’s reputation and numbers were also
inflated by
Brady’s arm and New England was able to parlay that into the 7th pick
in this year’s draft which will probably net them the highest rated
linebacker, either Laurinaitis from Ohio State or Rivers from USC.
2007.
Brady turned a good slot receiver from Miami, Wes Welker, into a
household name, and revived the career of Randy Moss.
In 2005, Brady signed a contract which was far below market value for
his skills. This gave New England the cap room to resign their
top
players such as Richard Seymour, Ty Warren, and Dan Koppen, and bring
in high priced free agent Adalius Thomas.
Over the years, Brady has kept his sack numbers low by getting rid of
the ball quickly. As a result, the reputations of his offensive
linemen have benefited. This year, the Patriots will send three
members of that line to the Pro Bowl. Previous offensive linemen
who
took their skills elsewhere were Adrian Klemm, Joe Andruzzi, Damien
Woody, and Brandon Gorin. The Patriots were either able to
trade
these players for draft picks or allow them to sign elsewhere as free
agents and received compensatory picks in return. Damien Woody is
a
solid guard in Detroit, but Klemm and Andruzzi are out of
football.
Gorin is a backup in Arizona.
In my opinion, the Coach of the Year Award should have gone to Tony
Dungy. Sure, like Belichick, he has a great quarterback in Peyton
Manning, but that quarterback had to play with a rookie left tackle
after his usual left tackle, Tarik Glenn, unexpectedly retired during
the preseason. Manning also had to play without Marvin Harrison
for
most of the season. Even more impressive is the performance of
the
Colt’s defense which ended the season tops in points allowed and third
in total defense. This defense had to endure the loss of its run
stuffer, Booger McFarland, in the preseason, and its Pro Bowl pass
rusher, Dwight Freeney, half way through the season. Besides Bob
Sanders, and Robert Mathis, would anyone outside of Indianapolis be
able to name any other Colts defender? Dungy was not often in the
discussion for coach of the year, probably because his team basically
lived up to expectations, but those expectations should have been
significantly lowered due to their injuries. Credit Tony Dungy
for the
Colts’ success this season. |
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