Posts Tagged ‘Bill Walsh’

The Kryptonite to the Belichick G.O.A.T. Claim

Thursday, September 20th, 2018

by Gus Griffin

gus

 

 

 

 

BB

As Bill Belichick’s Patriots prepare to meet his former assistant, Matt Patricia’s Lions, it is hard to overlook the nagging blemish on Belichick’s claim as the greatest NFL coach of all time; the abysmal record of his professional coaching disciples.

BBCT

The collective NFL coaching records of Romeo Crennel (28-55), Eric Mangini (33-47), Josh Daniels (11-17), Bill O’Brien (31-34), Nick Saban (15-17), and now Patricia (0-2) is 118-172 for a winning percentage of .406.

One can be written off as an aberration. Two a concern. Three is a pattern.

So, what do we make of six, and not a one of them have a winning record?

BBCT2Some might ask how I can blame Belichick for the failures of his disciples. Valid question, to which I say, the same way we give him credit for winning five Super Bowls when he never made a tackle or caught a pass? Much of the discussion about coaching effectiveness is subjective, associative, and situational. The other factor is that several of Belichick’s competitors for the G.O.A.T. have compelling cases precisely because of their coaching tree.

Take the late great Bill Walsh. Not only was his offensive innovation the most impactful of the last 40 years, but his coaching tree has won seven Super Bowls, none of which were by the winningest coach in his tree, which is Andy Reid…whom I believe should go into the Hall of Fame some day.

Don’t we all consider that a part of Walsh’s legacy? Then it is fair game for Belichick.

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, left, celebrates with head coach Bill Belichick after defeating the Miami Dolphins 41-13 in an NFL football game Sunday, Dec. 14, 2014, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, left, celebrates with head coach Bill Belichick (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

In fairness to Belichick assistants, none of them had Tom Brady as their quarterback. The fact is that Belichick is sub .500 without Brady as his starting QB. The common response to this is, “but he won 11 games with Matt Cassel in 2008”.

That is absolutely true…and highly misleading.

The 2007 Patriots went 18-1. They clearly had a great deal of additional talent to Brady on the 2008 team, including a “pretty good” wide receiver named Randy Moss. He had a track record for making average QBs look better than they really were.

Furthermore, other candidates for the NFL coaching G.O.A.T. have managed to fare much better than Belichick without elite QB play. His mentor, Bill Parcells, won his second Super Bowl despite losing a former Super Bowl MVP quarterback in Phil Simms to an injury. Don Shula managed to get to a Super Bowl with a two-headed QB combination of David Woodley (he was out of LSU…need I say more about him as an NFL QB) and Don Strock. Joe Gibbs won three Super Bowls with three different starting QBs, none of whom were Hall of Famers.

I am not suggesting that Bill Belichick is not a great coach. He absolutely is…perhaps the best ever. He has a case with the five SB wins, and coaching in arguably the toughest era to date. I also do not take it for granted that having a great QB makes winning automatic. In fact, there have been five Hall of Fame Coach/QB combos that never won a super bowl. It is nowhere near as easy as Belichick has made it look.

I am only saying that those of you who want to crown his ass, pump the breaks just a little bit. It is hardly an open and shut case.

 

Gus Griffin, for War Room Sports

Why Sports fans get politics more than voters

Sunday, May 31st, 2015

by Gus Griffin

gus

 

 

 

(Image via the500section.com)

(Image via the500section.com)

Before you “serious” minded folks get on your soap box about the opium of sports, consider this: we know the art of that which you consider of most importance better than you do and here is why.

For the sake of simple numbers, let’s use football as the example.  Consider the fortunes of our team to be the same as voter aspirations.

We fans understand clearly if our team is mired in consistent 7-9, 8-8, or 9-7 seasons, it will NEVER fulfill our hopes of becoming a Super Bowl champion.  So as painfully as it will be, we accept the need to blow the whole damn thing up and to start over.  Painful in that doing so will surely produce a season or more of bad football.  No way around the short term pain, if we truly want a chance at long term success.

Football history validates this time and time again.  When [Vince] Lombardi got the Green Bay Packers in 1959, he inherited a 1-win team from the previous year.  They won 5 titles in the 60’s.  [Chuck] Noll’s Steelers were 1-13 in 1969, [Bill] Walsh’s Niners 2-14 in 79, [Jimmy] Johnson’s Cowboys 1-15 in 89, [Bill] Belichick 5-11 in his first year in New England.  All went on to be the dominant teams in the league over the next 10 years. Why?  They all understood that doing the same would get them the same and 8-8 just didn’t cut it.

But you voters don’t get this.  The last president that was not from the Republican, Democratic, or Democratic Republican party was Millard Fillmore in 1850.

You have been playing this same Democrat-Republican game for generations and yet constantly express frustration over redundant minimal success.  This is the definition of insanity.

You don’t have to be certain that the new plan will work.   And it’s ok to be lucky.  The Steelers’ first choice was Joe Paterno still at Penn State.  As brilliant as Walsh was he had no clue a 3rd round QB out of Notre Dame named [Joe] Montana would become what he did, nor did Belichick know what a 6th round pick named [Tom] Brady would become.  The Cowboys don’t become what they did without the Vikings over-paying for Herschel Walker. Strokes of luck to be sure for all.

The only absolute you must do when you’re in a hole is to stop digging.

So voters I urge you to take a lesson from we less sophisticated sports fans, cue up a Smokey Robinson and Miracles CD and Try Something New.

Gus Griffin, for War Room Sports