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        the Gridiron >> the Sidelines >>  Coach of the Year
        
(Message started by: bakes781 on Jan 5^th, 2004, 11:42am)

Title: Coach of the Year
Post by bakes781 on Jan 5^th, 2004, 11:42am

Bill Belichick won it fairly easily with Parcells 2nd & Marvin Lewis coming in 3rd. I think everyone would agree with BB winning the award. But over the weekend I was wondering why didn't the Panthers coach John Fox get any consideration? I mean who here predicted the Panthers to win that division? The only conclusion I could come up with is b/c of the market he is in there was never really anyone paying attention to what a great job he did down there.

Title: Re: Coach of the Year
Post by Philly on Jan 5^th, 2004, 1:40pm

John Fox certainly did a nice job, but if you consider the division he coaches in (NFC South) where Atlanta was terrible, Tampa Bay collapsed, and New Orleans was mediocre at best, then his accomplishments certainly take a little bit of a hit. Of course he flies under the radar for the most part as well.

Belichick got the award because of the winning streak, especially coming off the poor start. Boston is one of the major media markets and New England was the #1 seed in the AFC.

Parcells finished second because of name recognition and a decent record (against a VERY weak schedule). Really, who did the Cowboys beat this year? They barely beat the Eagles in week 6 (before the Eagles got their act together) and they barely beat the Panthers.

Marvin Lewis finished third, and I was surprised he finished this low. In his first year of coaching the Bengals, he made a run for the play-offs and just missed. No one expected nearly that much from the team and he got great performances out of Jon Kitna, Chad Johnson, Rudi Johnson, and an average defense.

Andy Reid finished fourth, with only one (probably local) vote. I think he did more than Parcells this year. He managed to lock up the top NFC seed in the play-offs despite a terrible start. He kept the team together despite a holdout by Duce Staley and unrest from UFA Bobby Taylor. The team overcame a plethora of injuries (especially on defense) and kept winning. (At one point, the defensive secondard was without three Pro-Bowlers from last season and started, in their place, two second-year players, and an undrafted free agent who played Juco football and baseball.

Anyway, I have no problem with Belichick getting the honors. I think Andy Reid should have gotten some of the Tuna's votes, but maybe that's just the homer bias in me.