NFL's Coaches rankings

[Patsfan1958]

NFL coaches rankings according to NBC sports edge:

NFL's Best Coaches 2021

 

[jmt57]

 

[Sicilian]

Without putting too much thought into it, my first impressions are I would have McDermott ahead of McVay, and both Vrabel and Flores ahead of Zimmer and LaFleur. The top four feel like Lifetime Achievement rankings, but they're all good coaches (Harbaugh can still go to hell though).

 

[ashley]

Looking through the entire list, I come to the conclusion of how many bad coaches there really are in this league. Tomlin being ranked number 7 is just an example of that.

 

[oldrover]

Our coach is way lower... according to other reports...






(jk... a little)

 

[Steve102]

My initial thought was I never would have put McVey at 5. But who would I put ahead of him? Dunno. Tomlin is too high and Vrabel is too low.

 

[Ochmed Jones]

280 career wins is almost a mind numbing number!

 

[Brick27]

Nice write up just sh*tting on Bill, I guess?

 

[BobDigital]

I don't lille ranking coaches and talking about good and bad ones. Frankly coaching a football team isn't that hard to do fairly well. And that's with also being adamant that football coaching is some of the hardest coaching there is.

53 guys with 3 unique phases of the game with various positions, schemes, personalities and situations. It's a lot to know. That being said, it isn't like it's this ridiculous amount either if you start as a fan and active watcher.

Every coach in the NFL knows the same information about the game. Occasionally a new wrinkle will be introduced, or as rules change loop holes will be spotted or exploited, but everyone has the same information.

It is a myth that Belichick knows more about defensive schemes or techniques than other coaches. Not true at all. They all know the same amount. The 3-4 defense isn't complicated enough that you need to read a whole book to understand it. A 15 page write up will tell you everything you need to know. Same goes for 4-3, nickle, dime, quarters coverage, zone, ect... There are no secrets that NFL coaches know that any decent college or high level high school coach don't.

So what makes one coach actually better than another if they have the same information? In my opinion, it comes more down to applying that knowledge effectively without getting bogged down in the scheme. It's also about accurately valuing what wins games.

The skill that even many NFL coaches lack isn't game knowledge but the ability to accurately assess what needs to be done and prepare their players while also being able to not loose track of the big picture. That's it pretty much.

For instance... Bill understands the true importance of coverage and very few other coaches/gms do. They get so hung up on building a complete defense, scheme and getting that edge rusher that they lose track of the obvious. In the current NFL it doesn't matter what else you do on defense if the opponents WR gets open nearly instantly. Yet many otherwise good coaches fail to build their d or play d with this in mind. They lose track of the obvious and then wonder what went wrong

 

[DarrylS]

BB might say he is not concerned about getting more wins than Shula, but you never know..

One thing we do know is that Marino does not like the idea of BB passing St. Don... oh the f...ing horrors if that happened.

 

[A Defiant Goose]

BB might say he is not concerned about getting more wins than Shula, but you never know..

One thing we do know is that Marino does not like the idea of BB passing St. Don... oh the f...ing horrors if that happened.

Marino has loyalty to Shula, can't knock him for it.

In 20 years if someone's close to passing BB in wins, Brady would be like "I hope he passes BB by 100 wins"

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

I don't lille ranking coaches and talking about good and bad ones. Frankly coaching a football team isn't that hard to do fairly well. And that's with also being adamant that football coaching is some of the hardest coaching there is.

53 guys with 3 unique phases of the game with various postions, schemes, personalities and situations. It's a lot to know. That being said, it isn't like it's this ridiculous amount either if you start as a fan and active watcher.

Every coach in the NFL knows the same information about the game. Occasionally a new wrinkle will be ontroduced, or as rules change loop holes will be spotted or exploited, but everyone has the same information.

It is a myth that Belichick knows more about defensive schemes or techniques than other coaches. Not true at all. They all know the same amount. The 3-4 defense isn't complicated enough that you need to read a whole book to understand it. A 15 page write up will tell you everything you need to know. Same goes for 4-3, nickle, dime, quarters coverage, zone, ect... There are no secrets that NFL coaches know that any decent college or high level high school coach don't.

So what makes one coach actual better than another if they have the same information? In my opinion it comes more down to applying that knowledge effectively without getting bogged down in the scheme. It's also about accurately valuing what wins games.

The skill that even many NFL coaches lack isn't game knowledge but the ability to accurately assess what needs to be done and prepare their players while also being able to not loose track of the big picture. That's it pretty much.

For instance... Bill understands the true importance of coverage and very few other coaches/gms do. They get so hung up on building a complete defense, scheme and getting that edge rusher that they lose track of the obvious. In the current NFL it doesn't matter what else you do on defense if the opponents WR gets open nearly instantly. Yet many otherwise good coaches fail to build their d or play d with this in mind. They lose track of the obvious and then wonder what went wrong

One of the best posts I’ve read on this forum.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

Both Belichick and Brady are conscious of and, I would argue as the ends of their careers approach, driven by where they stand vs. the all time greats. It's not unreasonable to say that Brady wants to retire with every major QB record and that he will do so.

I always thought, when Brady was with the team, that BB's (280 Regular Season Wins today) goal was to surpass Lambeau (226) and Landry (250)....which is probably Reid's (221) aspiration now. But I thought that Halas (318) and Shula (328) were out of reach.

Depending on your level of optimism, it would now take the following to surpass Papa Bear and that idiot:

Wins per Regular season: Seasons for BB to surpass Halas, Seasons for BB to surpass Shula:
10 wins per Regular season: 3.8 seasons to surpass Halas, 4.8 seasons to surpass Shula (=Four and Five full seasons)
11: 3.5, 4.4 (Four, Five)
12: 3.2, 4.0 (Four, Five) [Average of 10 thru 14]
13: 2,9, 3.7 (Three, Four)
14: 2,7, 3.4 (Three, Four)

I guess if his health is good, there's no reason BB couldn't coach for another four or five years. But does he really want to be doing this at the age of 73 or 74? I expect he'll see how the next couple of seasons go and decide at that time.

Yes, it's fair to point out that BB has 12 more Playoff wins than Shula and 25 more than Halas, but that gets muddied by the changing lengths of the Regular and Post Seasons over time, especially in Halas' case. In the end, I personally think people will look at the 328 as the number to beat, but reasonable people can disagree with that.

So, if you add in Playoff wins, the numbers are:
Shula: 347 (328 plus 19) NFL Championships as HC: three (two SB's)
Halas: 324 (318 plus 6) NFL Championships as HC: six (including one with the Chicago Staleys of the now defunct APFA in 1921)
Belichick: 311 (280 plus 31) NFL Championships as HC: six (all SB's)

 

[neuronet]

Frankly coaching a football team isn't that hard to do fairly well.

wut

 

[sb1]

Belichick was wrong, as he often is. His gift remains being the least wrong in a business where mistakes are a part of daily life.

Dunno about that, when some coaches are wrong then the world shrugs, for other coaches who are wrong the results can be as spectacular a failure as you'll ever see in sports. Super Bowl 52 for instance....

 

[BobDigital]

wut

No wut needed. Just to be clear, I don't mean anyone can just instantly be a coach in a competitive program with a few months of reading. But if you want to coach a your local D1 high school team and do a good job, it isn't that hard if you are already a football fan. You don't have to learn too much more to become a good coach. If you want to coach at the next level up, then generally it isn't about learning more information past that. It's about the mental make up of the person in question. The things outside of having the knowledge about how football works that matters.

 

[Tony2046]

No wut needed. Just to be clear, I don't mean anyone can just instantly be a coach in a competitive program with a few months of reading. But if you want to coach a your local D1 high school team and do a good job, it isn't that hard if you are already a football fan. You don't have to learn too much more to become a good coach. If you want to coach at the next level up, then generally it isn't about learning more information past that. It's about the mental make up of the person in question. The things outside of having the knowledge about how football works that matters.

I like your thought process. Good stuff. Personally I see it similarly to a chess match. Everyone can play it. Some can play well with some practice. And some, like BB, are Bobby Fishers.

 

[BobDigital]

I like your thought process. Good stuff. Personally I see it similarly to a chess match. Everyone can play it. Some can play well with some practice. And some, like BB, are Bobby Fishers.

That is kind of how i feel, except I don't feel like you need to be some kind of innate genius like Fisher was. It's more about mind set.

 

[Tony2046]

That is kind of how i feel, accept that I don't feel like you need to be some kind of innate genius like Fisher was. It's more about mind set.

I'll use the Butler Pick in SB 49 as an example to explain my Bobby Fisher analogy although I am definitely not disagreeing with you because you might be right.

Prior to the game Ernie Adams researched Seattle's plays at the goal line. He finds a play that they haven't used in over a year, if I recall correctly. Adams and BB come up with a defensive scheme to counter that play and it works out during the game as we all know.

Question: Did the Pats put specific personnel on the field thinking that the Seahawks would possibly call that play call as they had in the past? Brian Flores famously yells, "Malcolm Go!!" while Pete Carroll warns, "They're going Goal Line!".

My theory is that the Pats knew that if they put a certain personnel goal line grouping on the field that Seattle would possibly respond with that play call based on their film study.

BB didn't call a timeout. The entire Patriot fan base was screaming at their TV, "Call a timeout Bill!!!". That supports your mindset point. But if he forced Seattle into that offensive play call by putting a certain goal line package on the field then that's Bobby Fisher's Sicilian Defense and it was a genius move.

 

[Sicilian]

That is kind of how i feel, except I don't feel like you need to be some kind of innate genius like Fisher was. It's more about mind set.

Agreed here. I think where BB excels is consistency and attention to detail. Too many coaches (and people in all fields) focus on results: I want to do X, I want to win Y games, I want to accomplish Z, etc. I've often found its better to focus on the process, specifically consistency in progress. If you do that, the results take care of themselves.

Bill is definitely not perfect in this regard, but I do think its part of his philosophy to keep everything as consistent as possible. Treat all players the same (obviously this is impossible, but as a general approach), learn through repetition, don't assume you know the answer already (always examine the problem), and always focus on the task in front of you ("We're on to Cincinnati"). I think some players respond really well to that kind of structure, and others thrive more in other systems. What's important is that it's genuine to Belichick's personality, and I think most players can sense that. People can sniff when someone is trying to be someone they're not because "This is the right way to do things". It's one of the big reasons why I think McDaniels, Patricia, and Mangini failed as head coaches. They tried to be Belichick in some of the wrong ways, and the players could smell the bulls**t.

EDIT: Whereas coaches like O'Brien (who was a terrible team-builder, but did get his players to play hard), Flores, and Vrabel (not a BB assistant, but very connected to him), have all had some success because they took some lessons from coaching under Bill, but haven't tried to mimic him.