Romeo, Poor Romeo...
Maybe it's the name Romeo:
Bill Belichick has been named the The Associated Press 2007 NFL Coach of the Year.
The first undefeated season since the 1972 Dolphins propelled Belichick to his second award in five years. Packers coach Mike McCarthy finished second with 15 votes. Wade Phillips and Jack Del Rio each received two votes while Tony Dungy and Jon Gruden each garnered one.
Look, the Browns went 10-6 this year. That's WAY, WAY better than anyone rightly expected. Isn't that half of what counts in the Coach of the Year voting? (Isn't that way, for example, Mike McCarthy got 2nd place in the voting?)
Look, I'm no fan of Crennel, and I thought before the season that he was one of the worst coaches in the NFL. But he obviously did a lot of things right this year, even if the Browns record probably had as much to do with luck than actual talent on the field. (The offense is great, but the stats around turnovers, defense, etc., suggest a much lower winning percentage than worked out.)
It's not a race thing; I'm definitely not suggesting that. But what it might be is a feeling by the writers who vote on this that Crennel still might get fired; it would be embarassing (see Joe Girardi in MLB) to vote for Coach of the Year, only for him to be fired days or weeks later.
That's about the only thing that makes sense here to me.
I think the reason he didn't get one vote is that loss to Cincinnati on Week 16 that got them out of the playoff picture (backing into the playoffs with an Indy win over the Titans on Week 17 is weak), especially when the Niners beat Cinci the week before. While Romeo had a better 2006 to 2007 win differential (6 Romeo) than McCarthy (5) and Del Rio (3), missing the playoffs is a big negative mark to Coach of the Year. Other coaches have overcome that to win, but it's difficult.
ReplyDeleteIf I had a vote it would be for Del Rio, cutting your starting QB a week before the season is a HUGE gamble. In my opinion, getting Moss, Stallworth, and Wes Walker on your team around NFL draft time is more of an Exectutive type of award than Coaching.
Had the Patriots lost a game and went 15-1 I'd agree with you, but for an undefeated team in this day and age they've got to pretty much sweep the awards. How can you not have the best at everything when you never even lost?
ReplyDeleteDel Rio and Crennel had great cases, it was just bad timing...which you alluded to.
Let's be clear...I have ZERO problems with Belichek sweeping the awards; I'd be appalled if he didn't.
ReplyDeleteBut Romeo not getting a SINGLE vote? That's just wrong.
PS......while not completely sold on M Nolan, I'm willing to give him another year to improve the niners.
ReplyDelete1) I like his drafting. His first draft in 2005 (the Alex Smith draft) netting him two linemen that has developed enough to start next year, Adam Snyder LG and David Bass RG. If he can get Ronald Fields to constitently start in 2008, the 2005 draft would be pretty good. With Snyder and Bass playing I think our OL will be good to very good for the next 4-5 years. Alex Smith came out as a junior and if stayed in Utah another year, he would have been the 4th QB drafted in 2006 (Vince Young, Jay Cutler, and Matt Leinart).
The Niners also lost an OC who is good at developing QBs.
I think the 2006 draft was just as good with Manny Lawson, Michael Robinson, Parys Haralson, and Melvin Oliver (6th Rd). Oliver was hurt and if he can overcome that injury he could be the best pick of the draft. Picking a DE in the 6th round is like picking a CB.
The niners lost another OC that is good at developing QBs.
While Nolan has continued to build a 3-4 defense, the Offense has gone through 2 different OC's with 2 different Offensive philosophies, which isn't good for getting the right players for the scheme, nor developing the Offenese coaching staff.
While no one likes his game day management, there's probably only 5-6 Head Coaches that are really good at it, and they have been Head Coaches for years (Fisher, Billicheck, Dungy, Shannan, & Holmgren). Like the QB position, the more games you HC the better you get at it...
By the way.........who would you have voted for Coach of the Year?