The
NFL will celebrate its third annual “NFL Honors” event on the stage of Radio
City Music Hall in New York tonight at 8 P.M. on FOX. The Associated Press will present many of
the accolades for the 2013 NFL season on the eve of Super Bowl XLVII. Of all the awards that will be
handed out tonight, the Coach of the Year Honors offers the most intrigue.
There are a bevy of coaches that
merit praise for their work in the 2013 season. Chip Kelly adapted to the
professional game commendably in his inaugural season, leading the Eagles to a
10-6 record and the NFC East title. Kelly inherited a 4-12 club that finished in
last-place in the division a season ago. He successfully changed the culture of
the team, overseeing a potent offense (2nd in total yards per game)
and a defensive revival as the Eagles won seven of their final eight contests
to secure a playoff berth for the first time in three seasons.
Speaking of head coaches that thrived
in their first year at the helm, the work of San Diego’s Mike McCoy cannot go
unnoticed. McCoy steered the Chargers to their first playoff appearance since
2009. San Diego finished with a 9-7 mark, earning the second wild-card spot in
the AFC playoffs. The Chargers were the hottest team in the NFL down the tail-end
of the season, winning four straight to reach the postseason, including a
crucial victory over the Broncos at Mile High Stadium on a “Thursday Night
Football” contest. The Chargers won their first playoff game in five years,
stomping the Bengals in Cincinnati in the AFC Wild Card round. Of the eight new
head coaches hired in 2013, McCoy was the only one to lead his team to the Divisional
round of the playoffs.
Two NFC West head coaches must be applauded for their 2013 season. Let’s start with Pete Carroll, who led the
Seahawks to a 13-3 record and home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs.
Not only has Carroll has established the NFL’s top defensive unit, he also has crafted the “Seahawk Way”, which his players endorsed on Super Bowl Media Day. With a
victory tomorrow night, Carroll will become just the third coach to win a NCAAF National Championship and a Super Bowl.
Pete Carroll has the Seahawks on the verge of their first Super Bowl victory in franchise history.
Bruce Arians, another rookie head
coach that flourished in his first opportunity at the helm, guided the Arizona Cardinals
to a 10-6 record in 2013. The Cardinals featured a five-game improvement from
2012 to 2013 and stayed in the hunt for a playoff spot, despite playing in the ultra-competitive NFC West. The Cardinals recorded impressive blowout victories over the
Panthers and Colts and defeated the Seahawks in Seattle, handing Russell Wilson
his only career loss at CenturyLink Field. Arians was unable to get his team
to the postseason, but he was able to form an elite defense that will likely be a
force to be reckoned with for years to come.
Kelly, McCoy, Carroll and Arians
have all earned consideration for the nod as the NFL’s best coach of 2013.
However, in my opinion it is a three-man race for this year’s NFL Coach of the
Year Award.
3. Andy Reid, Kansas City Chiefs
Andy Reid transformed the Chiefs into a winner in his first season in Kansas City, leading the team to 11 wins and a postseason
appearance, a year after the team finished with the worst record in the NFL. Reid took
over a Chiefs club that desperately needed a fresh start after winning just two
games in 2012. Under the wing of Reid, the Chiefs stormed out of the gates to a
9-0 start. Kansas City came down to earth in the following weeks, losing three
in a row en route to a 2-5 finish to the season. Even so, Reid directed a 9-win
improvement from last year, helping the Chiefs make their first postseason
since 2010.
Reid revitalized a Chiefs’ offense that had
not taken advantage of its immense talent. Jamaal Charles, who is up for the
Offensive Player of the Year Award, had a career year in Reid’s offensive
system. Charles rushed for a NFL-best 12 touchdowns in 2013, racking up 1,286
rushing yards in the process. Alex Smith also had his finest season as a QB,
tossing 27 touchdowns passes versus just 13 interceptions.
The
knock on Reid will be that the Chiefs posted a 10-0 record against non-playoff
teams this season, but a 1-5 mark against teams that qualified for the
postseason. Nonetheless, Reid engineered a major turnaround for the Chiefs in
2013 and now the future looks suddenly very bright for the franchise.
2. Bill Belichick, New England Patriots
Bill
Belichick had the burden of dealing with the Aaron Hernandez debacle this
offseason. Distractions were at all-time high in New England after Hernandez
was charged with murder. Belichick, however, refused to let the team get buried
by off-the-field diversions. Belichick mandated that his players not discuss
the Hernandez investigation with reporters, instead demanding they focus on
just football and the task at hand.
No
team in the NFL lost more impact players to season-ending injuries than New
England. Vince Wilfork, Jerod Mayo and Tommy Kelly were all placed on injured
reserve, testing the depth of the maligned Patriots’ defense. The Patriots also
lost Sebastian Vollmer and Rob Gronkowski to season-ending injuries on the offensive side of the ball. Yet, the Patriots
were able win 12 games and capture another AFC East title in 2013, seizing a
first-round bye for the fourth straight season.
Patriots
owner Robert Kraft believes this might be Belichick’s best coaching job in New
England. Think about the magnitude of that statement. Belichick led the
Patriots to a Super Bowl victory in 2001 with then-backup quarterback Tom
Brady. He guided the Patriots to a perfect 16-0 season in 2007. A season later,
he led the Patriots to 11 wins, even with Brady sidelined for the entire
season after tearing his ACL in Week 1. Kraft gave Belichick the ultimate
praise by stating that this may be his best season yet, given the track record
of his Hall-of-Fame head coach.
1. Ron Rivera, Carolina Panthers
No coach is more meritorious of the Coach of the Year Honors than Ron Rivera
Ron
Rivera deserves the nod for Coach of the Year for turning around a Panthers’ squad that had
experienced immense losing in the past half-decade. After the Panthers started the
season off with two ugly losses, many were calling for the dismissal of Rivera. A report surfaced that the Panthers had begun looking for potential replacements to supersede Rivera. The league-wide perception was that Rivera would be fired if his club were to lose to the lowly Giants in
Week 3. The Panthers, though, played an inspired game against the Giants that day,
pummeling the visitors 38-0 as they handed Tom Coughlin his most lopsided loss since taking over the head coaching duties in New York.
The
Panthers were unable to sustain their success after their bye-week and got
crushed on the road in Arizona. Rivera’s job again appeared on the line as the
club fell to 1-3 on the year. That is when Rivera acknowledged he needed to
take more risks, including keeping the offense on the field in fourth-and-short
scenarios. He stayed true to his word in the first game following these
remarks, going for it twice on the same drive on fourth-and-1
situations, rather than kick a field goal. The Panthers converted both plays,
with the second resulting in a touchdown in the team’s 35-10 victory over the
Vikings. This was the first victory for the Panthers in a stretch of 11 wins in
their final 12 contests. Rivera consequently received the nickname "Riverboat Ron"
after showing a recurrent willingness for gambles. Rivera’s risks paid off for
the Panthers, who reached the postseason for the first time since 2008 as they
won the NFC South and seized a first-round bye in the playoffs.
