People complain there's not enough praise in my NFL Truths column. So to fix that, I'm naming the 10 best and 10 worst NFL coaches of the 2008 season so far.
The 10 Best
1. Redskins' Jim Zorn: Doesn't get near enough credit for turning Jason Campbell into a legitimate starting quarterback. Campbell was headed toward being a draft bust before Zorn arrived. Last year Todd Collins saved Washington's season filling in for Campbell late. This season Campbell is completing 64 percent of his passes and has avoided the big mistakes while leading the Skins to a 6-3 start in the league's best division.
2. Patriots' Bill Belichick: I was in the house when Tom Brady went down in the season opener. I wanted to write that Bernard Pollard's low blow ended the Patriots dynasty. I texted Jeff George's cell number to New England general manager Scott Pioli. The Patriots were done. Obviously I underestimated Belichick. Depending on what happens tonight against the Jets, he has the Patriots atop the AFC East and in position to be considered the AFC's second-best team.
3. Panthers' John Fox: He entered the season on the hot seat and things got considerably warmer when he was forced to suspend his best player (Steve Smith) for the first two games. The Panthers started 2-0, are 7-2 overall and off the radar in terms of Super Bowl threats. No one will pay attention to the Panthers until they face the Giants in late December.
4. Titans' Jeff Fisher: Most people would put Fisher at the top of this list. I don't because the Titans are undefeated mainly because Vince Young got hurt and went momentarily kooky. A healthy VY and the Titans are 7-2 and just another good team in the AFC. Young's meltdown was a blessing for Fisher. He gets out from underneath the mistake the Titans made drafting Young.
5. Falcons' Mike Smith: I honestly don't know anything about Smith. I don't know where he came from. I don't know whether he's a defensive-minded coach or offensive. But there's no doubt he's done a wonderful job developing Matt Ryan. And I'll give Smith credit for signing Michael Turner and making him a feature back. Even if the 6-3 Falcons lose the rest of their games, Smith's rookie season has been a smashing success. He and Ryan have made Atlantans forget Michael Vick.
6. Giants' Tom Coughlin: The Giants dumped Jeremy Shockey, lost Osi Umenyiora, have to deal with Plaxico Burress and play in the NFC East. Coughlin is putting together his best coaching performance. But everyone expected the defending champs to be good.
7. Bears' Lovie Smith: The Bears are pretty damn good when Kyle Orton plays quarterback. They're averaging 26 points. I thought it was crazy to open the season with Orton as the starter. My only complaint with Lovie was the squib kick at the Atlanta game that set the stage for a terrible loss.
8. Cardinals' Ken Whisenhunt: I give him points for resurrecting Kurt Warner as a franchise quarterback. But Whisenhunt loses a few points because he coaches in the NFC West. Three of Arizona's six victories are against the 49ers and Rams. The Cardinals are a nice story. But there's no reason to take them seriously. I don't like their running game. And good teams will take advantage of Arizona's defense.
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9. Ravens' John Harbaugh: He's riding the second-best rookie quarterback (Joe Flacco) to playoff contention. Harbaugh also gets the luxury of coaching the Ravens at a time when Ray Lewis is putting the finishing touches on a Hall of Fame career and making his closing argument for being the best middle linebacker of all time. It's illegal to run on the Ravens this season.
10. Buccaneers' Jon Gruden: He lost his quarterback (Brian Griese) and tailback (Cadillac Williams) and the Bucs are still sitting at 6-3. The Bucs have a mediocre offensive line and 50-year-old Joey Galloway is the team's deep threat. Somehow Gruden gets this offense in the end zone often enough for the Bucs to be competitive.
The 10 Worst
10. Saints' Sean Payton: Someone has to take the blame for New Orleans' 4-5 record. I don't have a real problem with Payton. It's impossible to win in the Big Easy. There are just too many distractions in NO to build a successful football franchise.
9. Bengals' Marvin Lewis: The Bengals avoided 0-16 by beating the Jaguars, although 1-15 is a real possibility. Lewis created the Chad Johnson situation. Lewis didn't learn from the Denny Green mess and allowed Johnson and T.J. Houshmandzadeh to take over the Bengals the way Randy Moss and Cris Carter once did the Vikings. Let that be a lesson to any future NFL coaches. Don't let your wide receivers determine the personality of your football team. It cost Denny Green his job in Minny and it's likely to cost Marvin in Cincy.
8. Broncos' Mike Shanahan: Would someone please talk John Elway out of retirement so he can save Shanahan's reputation? I consider Shanahan one of the game's great coaches. It's getting harder and harder to make a pro-Shanahan argument.
7. 49ers' Mike Singletary: The end of the "Monday Night Football" contest against the Cardinals is all the evidence you need to understand why I wanted Singletary to pass on the San Francisco job. Singletary has a chance to be a great NFL coach. Unfortunately, he took a head-coaching job before he was ready. Singletary can't manage the clock. All the whining about the refs spotting the ball wrong or too quickly just points to Singletary's inexperience and the folly of having Mike Martz as an unsupervised offensive coordinator.
6. Packers' Mike McCarthy: With Brett Favre at the helm, the Packers were one play from the Super Bowl. With Favre run off to New York, the Packers are 4-5 and in jeopardy of missing the playoffs. You have to blame McCarthy and general manager Ted Thompson for Favre's absence. Aaron Rodgers has been pretty damn good. He's not the problem. Apparently he's not the answer either. McCarthy wanted to be the big hero for letting Favre go, well now McCarthy and Thompson look like fools.
5. Cowboys' Wade Phillips: If the Cowboys don't rally and make the playoffs, Phillips will likely be the scapegoat and fired. He deserves it, even though Jerry Jones is the main reason the Cowboys underachieve. Jones hired Phillips to oversee the bunch of talented bad boys Jones showered with enough money to make the players uncooperative. Pacman Jones, Tank Johnson, Terrell Owens and Jessica Simpson are just a handful of high-profile idiots Phillips is expected to handle. Phillips is blowing it. But it's a job that was too much for Bill Parcells, too.
4. Jaguars' Jack Del Rio: He's the captain of the most undisciplined ship in the NFL. Thank God Jacksonville is off-Broadway. No one pays attention to the multiple arrests and countless off-the-field problems Del Rio's players encounter. The Jags are as bad as the Bengals. Somehow Del Rio has avoided being as big a laughingstock as Marvin Lewis. Jacksonville lost to Cincy. Enough said.
3. Chargers' Norv Turner: Philip Rivers is allegedly having the best season of any quarterback in the league. LaDainian Tomlinson, for my money, is still the best running back in the league. OK, the Chargers lost Shawne Merriman to a knee injury. That doesn't excuse San Diego's 4-5 record in a division that includes the Chiefs and the Raiders. Norv is a very mediocre head coach.
2. Browns' Romeo Crennel: The new Art Shell is leading the league's most disappointing team. Crennel can't tame Kellen Winslow's mouth or bad attitude. Crennel can't get Braylon Edwards to hold onto the football. The 3-6 Browns quit against the Broncos. Crennel played a role in the Browns giving Derek Anderson a new contract. Yeah, Romeo is making Charlie Weis seem like a Notre Dame success story.
1. Eagles' Andy Reid: Twice this season Reid has taken the game out of the hands of Donovan McNabb and tried to win at crunch time with his running game. Here's a coach who loves to throw on damn near every down except when the game is on the line. I also blame Reid for the Eagles failing to trade a second-round draft pick for Tony Gonzalez. Other than the one season with Terrell Owens, McNabb has made a living throwing the ball to the James Thrashes of the world. It's ridiculous. I'm convinced the Eagles don't want to win it all.
You can e-mail Jason Whitlock at Ballstate68@aol.com.
This article originally published on FOXSports.com. See photo galleries of Top 10 Best Coaches and Top 10 Worst Coaches.
Read Jason's other columns here.
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about 1 month ago
"But everyone expected the defending champs to be good."
WHAT?! Are you freaking KIDDING ME????? NO ONE thought the Giants would be this good at the beginning of the year! Especially after Strahan retired and Osi went down. All I heard about last offseason was how the Cowboys had the division in their back pocket, and we might as well hand them the Lombardi trophy now thanks to the additions of Pacman Jones (how'd that one work out, anyhow?)
Don't give me this revisionist propaganda that everyone thought the G-men would be good. They were supposed to be on the bubble as a wildcard team, where they'd probly go one and done before this season started. Most disrespected defending champions in history.
about 1 month ago
too much heat on Reid, here. Carl Peterson said it didnt matter what he was offered, he wasnt letting go of Tony G. Plus, Reid gets heat for not running, but when he does, he gets heat anyway.
eh.
about 1 month ago
I'm going to say the only one I disagree wth his Mike Singletary. The 49ers lockerroom needed a change and that's what they got with Singletary. Just look at what happened with the 49ers inserting Shaun Hill as quarterback. He played with a toughness the 49ers haven't seen in a qb since Jeff Garcia.
The highlight of that is when Shaun Hill took off on a scramble got hit lost his helmet still kept going and got the 49ers a first down. That would have never happened under a Mike Nolan team. The lockerroom and the attitude of the 49ers has changed.
about 1 month ago
While it might be easy to blame McCarthy, the Packers offense is #5 in PPG versus #4 in 2007. The big change is the defense which was a #6 defense in 2007 (& 2008 until they lost Cullen Jenkins). They are now a bottom 6 defense (#25) even after the N'awlins debacle.
The offense is still excellent and Rodgers or Favre is a moot point as the defense is the difference year over year.
Overall McCarthy is a decent middle of the pack coach with a 5-6 record at this point in 2008. What will determine whether he is Top 10 or Bottom 10 is how the defense plays and whether he can improve the defense back to a Top 10 defense.
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