Coach of the Year

[Guiness]

Mike Smith won Coach of the Year, beating Sparano by one vote.

Any other year, either of these guys would've won. Both took teams everyone else had given up for dead, and brought them to the playoffs.

Aside from the rookie QB, and first time RB starter, Smith's job was made tough by the spotlight left by Vick, and his shadow that must've still been in the dressing room. I'm sure he still had a lot of friends on the team that were having trouble forgetting him. The franchise was a train wreck.

But I still like the job Sparano did better. The Dolphins went 1-15 last year. He gets a rookie LT, pulls a QB off the scrap head (Pennington was outright released), loses Jason Taylor and Zach Thomas...and goes to the playoffs? Coulda made some bucks in Vegas with that prediction, I tell ya.

[BallHawk]

Well, one guy's weekend got a little bit better and the other guy's weekend got a little bit worse.

And I agree that Sparano deserved it more.

[chain_gang]

Anyone else find it kind of odd that all of the major award winners were booted in the first round of the playoffs? Here's the list.

Peyton Manning- MVP
Matt Ryan-Offensive Rookie
Mike Smith- Coach of the Year
Adrian Peterson- Bert Bell Award
Chad Pennington- Comeback Player of the Year


Just goes to show yet again, you can be one of the best in the league, but you need one hell of a supporting cast to make it to the SB.

[KYPack]

Anyone else find it kind of odd that all of the major award winners were booted in the first round of the playoffs? Here's the list.

Peyton Manning- MVP
Matt Ryan-Offensive Rookie
Mike Smith- Coach of the Year
Adrian Peterson- Bert Bell Award
Chad Pennington- Comeback Player of the Year


Just goes to show yet again, you can be one of the best in the league, but you need one hell of a supporting cast to make it to the SB.


Yeah, man.

It's a team game.

Look at Wild Card Weekend.

Passing
P. Manning
IND
310 yards

Rushing
D. Sproles
SD
105 yards

Receiving
R. Wayne
IND
129 yards

Sacks
J. Allen
MIN
2.0 sacks

Three out of the 4 leaders were on losing teams.

All the individual honors lead up to squat.

[DonHutson]

No offense to Mike Smith, but have you ever noticed how many crappy coaches have won that award? Jauron, Haslett, Wannstedt, Fontes, Shell, Infante...

Usually the award just goes to the team that was underestimated by the widest margin at the beginning of the year by the media. Granted, the turnarounds in the NFL were extreme this year, but similar worst to first transitions happen every year now.

I would've voted for Tom Coughlin. Lost the two best players off his D, everyone gunning for his team, and they were still the best in the league for most of the year. But I guess he didn't do anything remarkable because they were "supposed" to win.

Apparently it's easy to win when you're supposed to. Just ask Mike McCarthy. Or Wade Phillips. Or Jack Del Rio...

[Cleft Crusty]

I'd vote for John Fox. That guy could coach up Screech into a wideout

http://images.smarter.com/blogs/screech.jpg

and Steve Urkel into a starting corner

http://www.amoeba.com/dynamic-images/blog/Sarah/urkel.jpg

Great coach.

[BallHawk]

and Steve Urkel into a starting corner

http://llnw.image.cbslocal.com/0/2008/05/15/320x240/CharlesBarkley_78681884.jpg

Did somebody say Steve Urkel?