Oklahoma Drill Topic: Who is the NFL Coach of the Year?

[GatorsRock]

Debate the Topic: Who is the NFL Coach of the Year?

[Chris Raiden]

I'm in, and I'll take the side of...Raheem Morris.

Morris took a team that was easily among the league's worst last year, picked third overall in the draft, and was largely considered to be one of the worst in the league this year, and he turned them into a contender and a team that looks like they're now one of the better young teams in the league.

Josh Freeman played in 10 games as a rookie, and his quarterback rating was under 60. This year, with Morris sticking with him, he's now in the mid 90s and looking like potentially the best of the three rookie quarterbacks taken in the 2009 first round, and he was by far the rawest entering the draft. This is despite losing his first offensive coordinator just after his first training camp in 2009, a move that we largely criticized Morris for here last year, but paid big dividends this year.

Finally, the defense. One of the absolute worst in football in 2009, it ranked 9th in scoring defense this year. This was without an expected major impact from the third overall pick, Gerald McCoy, who had three sacks in 13 games.

Raheem Morris is one of the best young coaches in football, and I look forward to answering the challenge from anyone else on why I'm wrong.

[Hawkeye]

I'll take you up on it. Wrong? Not necessarily, but there is a better choice. The KC Chiefs were similarly terrible last year and Todd Haley has taken them from also-rans to division winners. The improvement in scoring offense and defense is so close to Tampa's turnaround as to make it a push. The offensive and defensive yards per game are close also with a slight edge to KC. Both QBs improved, but Haley finally got through to Dwayne Bowe who responded with career years in yards, YPC and TDs. Tamba Hali had a career year in sacks. KC looks to have a bright future under Todd Haley.

[Chris Raiden]

I'll take you up on it. Wrong? Not necessarily, but there is a better choice. The KC Chiefs were similarly terrible last year and Todd Haley has taken them from also-rans to division winners. The improvement in scoring offense and defense is so close to Tampa's turnaround as to make it a push. The offensive and defensive yards per game are close also with a slight edge to KC. Both QBs improved, but Haley finally got through to Dwayne Bowe who responded with career years in yards, YPC and TDs. Tamba Hali had a career year in sacks. KC looks to have a bright future under Todd Haley.
I obviously disagree. There's a lot to like about what Todd Haley did for the Chiefs, but was it really Todd Haley? Or was it the addition of two Super Bowl winning coordinators in Weis and Crennel?

In Tampa Bay, there's no debate about who is responsible for the turnaround, it's all on Raheem Morris. Kansas City, I give them credit for winning their division, but their two biggest competitors are San Diego and Oakland, and they ain't no Atlanta or defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans either.

[GatorsRock]

Anymore debates Hawkeye? You get 2 more rebuttals and Raiden gets 1 more rebuttal.

[Hawkeye]

I obviously disagree. There's a lot to like about what Todd Haley did for the Chiefs, but was it really Todd Haley? Or was it the addition of two Super Bowl winning coordinators in Weis and Crennel?

In Tampa Bay, there's no debate about who is responsible for the turnaround, it's all on Raheem Morris. Kansas City, I give them credit for winning their division, but their two biggest competitors are San Diego and Oakland, and they ain't no Atlanta or defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans either.

Yeah, sorry, I don't get on much on the weekends.

The Patriots have been humming along just fine without them. Let's keep in mind that Bill Belichick was the HC of those same Patriots. Was Weis the one who got through to Dwayne Bowe? If you want to look at that, then shouldn't you give credit to Greg Olson for the improvement in offense?

Granted SD and Oakland didn't have the impressive records that Atlanta and NO had, but Oakland was a much improved team and five of SD's losses were by eight points or less. Atlanta is who we thought they were, but the defending SB champion Saints just got beaten by 7-9 Seattle. They are not as good as their record suggests. KC and TB were 5-0 vs common opponents, but KC had a slightly larger margin of victory (15 vs 10). Yeah, I think you have to give credit to Haley for the turnaround.

[Chris Raiden]

Yeah, sorry, I don't get on much on the weekends.

The Patriots have been humming along just fine without them. Let's keep in mind that Bill Belichick was the HC of those same Patriots. Was Weis the one who got through to Dwayne Bowe? If you want to look at that, then shouldn't you give credit to Greg Olson for the improvement in offense?

Granted SD and Oakland didn't have the impressive records that Atlanta and NO had, but Oakland was a much improved team and five of SD's losses were by eight points or less. Atlanta is who we thought they were, but the defending SB champion Saints just got beaten by 7-9 Seattle. They are not as good as their record suggests. KC and TB were 5-0 vs common opponents, but KC had a slightly larger margin of victory (15 vs 10). Yeah, I think you have to give credit to Haley for the turnaround.
Credit? Sure, but let's look at the two games since Weis announced he was leaving.

Both losses.

Both games in which the offense fell apart.

Finally, in the second one, there's evidence that Haley took over the playcalling in the second half because he no longer trusted Weis to get it done.

There's no such falling apart in Tampa Bay this year, and that's a credit to Raheem Morris' coaching.

In closing, Morris took the third worst team in the league a year ago and turned them into one of the top 12-15 teams with a bunch of rookies and second year players. He did it in a division where there's only one pushover, and the other two teams were Super Bowl contenders going into this weekend. It's impressive, and it's Coach of the Year worthy.

[Hawkeye]

Credit? Sure, but let's look at the two games since Weis announced he was leaving.

Both losses.

Both games in which the offense fell apart.

Finally, in the second one, there's evidence that Haley took over the playcalling in the second half because he no longer trusted Weis to get it done.

There's no such falling apart in Tampa Bay this year, and that's a credit to Raheem Morris' coaching.

In closing, Morris took the third worst team in the league a year ago and turned them into one of the top 12-15 teams with a bunch of rookies and second year players. He did it in a division where there's only one pushover, and the other two teams were Super Bowl contenders going into this weekend. It's impressive, and it's Coach of the Year worthy.

Now if you had said the last two games since Weis LEFT, you would have something, but Weis hadn't left. The thing is that people aren't supposed to pack it in just because they know they are leaving. Either Weis was trying his best and it was falling apart or he was just mailing it in. In either case, Haley had good reason to take over PC duties. The playcalling wasn't horrible in the second half vs Baltimore. Cassel just didn't play very smart football. Nevermind that KC's defense was less than stellar in that game. What you're asking from us is to believe that Weis and Crennel are more responsible for the turnaround and yet deserve none of the blame for the collapse? Thanks for the laugh, but I'm not buying it.

If by SB contenders you mean that NO had made the playoffs, sure, but seriously making it was a long shot for them. This was a team that barely beat Minnesota, Carolina, SF, Dallas and Cincy and lost by double digits to Arizona and Cleveland. Six of those teams are picking in the top 10 of this year's draft and the other is picking 12th.

KC didn't fall apart. They went 4-2 down the stretch with losses against two teams in their own division that still had a shot at the playoffs.

Meanwhile TB went 3-3 with a win over a team (Wash) that had no shot at the playoffs and a loss to one that had no shot (Detroit). Their final two games (both wins) were against a team that should never have made the playoffs (Seattle) and one that rested several players because they were already in (NO).

[GatorsRock]

Great debate fellas. Time to get your votes in for who wins in this debate.