By: Jeremy Trottier

This NFL season has most definitely been a memorable one, to say the least, with some of the best teams completely underperforming, and some of those we thought would be the worst at the top of their game.  The primary reason some of these teams with lower-tier rosters have been able to get to the top of their division or near to it has been their head coaches.  Head coaching is a huge deal at this level of play, hence why the NFL hands out a Coach of the Year award every season.  In this article, I will be detailing the top 5 candidates for this award so far this season and briefly describe why they deserve this award. 

#1 ”“ Nick Sirianni ”“ Philadelphia Eagles

As of right now, it should be a no-brainer who the leading candidate is for Coach of the Year, as winning is a huge factor in this award, and Nick Sirianni of the Philadelphia Eagles is currently 8-0 as of the writing of this article.  After building this roster with young talents through the draft and flashy trades, Sirianni and GM Howie Roseman have brought the Eagles back to a winning culture, which is due to coaching just as much as the players.  Jalen Hurts has been developed into a very quality starting QB in this league under Sirianni,  which has propelled the Eagles from a middle-ranking team to the top of their conference and the only remaining undefeated team for now. 

#2 ”“ Robert Saleh ”“ New York Jets

Second place is tough, as there are a lot of underwhelming rosters outperforming their skill due to great coaching, but the New York Jets have been able to do it against premier teams in the NFL, which is what I took into consideration here.  Just last week the Jets took on the Buffalo Bills, who are one of the if not the most well-rounded roster in the NFL, and beat them 20-17 on the back of a phenomenal defensive performance.  Know who was responsible?  Head coach Robert Saleh has found his footing in his second season as the Jets head coach and led them to a 6-3 record as of the writing of this article. 

#3 ”“ Kevin O’Connell ”“ Minnesota Vikings

Next up we have a rookie head coach and one of the youngest head coaches in the league, Kevin O’Connell of the Minnesota Vikings.  While they may have some of the top premier talents in the league, such as Justin Jefferson and Dalvin Cook, they have also been coached up to a 7-1 record after struggling with a very similar roster last season under Mike Zimmer.  While their schedule has been slightly weak to start off the season, they have also performed well enough on the field to warrant this record, and seem to be a shoo-in as NFC North division winners this season as long as they do not fold under the pressure down the stretch.

#4 ”“ Brian Daboll ”“ New York Giants

It feels almost wrong putting Daboll so low on this list, but that just goes to show how great the head coaches have been this season.  Another rookie head coach, Daboll has led the New York Giants, one of the lesser rosters in the NFL entering the season, to a 6-2 record, and straight into the dogfight for the NFC East division title.  The giants have had 3 statement wins so far this season, against the Tennessee Titans (21-20), the Baltimore Ravens (24-20), and the Green Bay Packers (27-22).  Overall, Daboll has done a great job utilizing the run game with Saquon Barkley correctly and has turned this franchise back into its winning ways in only half a season.

#5 ”“ Mike McDaniel ”“ Miami Dolphins

Another AFC East head coach coming from the San Francisco 49ers previously would be Mike McDaniel, who has been able to handle the turmoil of losing Tua Tagovailoa mid-season relatively well and has coached this offense into something teams fear now.  Just 3-4 years ago this team was at the bottom of the league scraping up losses to try and tank for Tua, and now they sit only a half-game back of the AFC East title and are doing everything in their power to take this division away from the Jets, Bills, and Patriots.  McDaniel has the assets to work with, hence why he is lower on this list slightly but is absolutely deserving of this award if he can keep this team on track going the distance. 

The post Top 5 candidates for Coach of the Year so far this season appeared first on Pro Football Mania.

By: Jeremy Trottier

The Philadelphia Eagles have started off the season hot going 3-0 and being the only team in the conference that is currently undefeated.  This has largely been the product of a few different factors, including a revamped roster via way of Howie Roseman, Jalen Hurts developing exceptionally well, and some all-around great coaching by 2nd-year head coach Nick Sirianni.  In this article, I will be covering 3 reasons why Sirianni could win coach of the year this season, and why I believe he is in the top 3 to be nominated for the award at this moment.  So without further ado, let us start with the first reason.

Low strength of schedule = high win total

One of the main benefits for the Philadelphia Eagles this season would be their strength of schedule, as they are tied for playing the least amount of 2021 playoff teams this season at only 6.  According to Sharp Football Analysis, the Eagles have the 2^nd easiest strength of schedule, only more difficult than the Giants’ schedule.  Why does this play a role in how Nick Sirianni can win coach of the year? 

The reason this has such a huge impact is that despite teams improving over the offseason, the odds that the bad teams remain bad are pretty high.  This should allow the Eagles to make a pretty easy playoff push, with a 93% chance of making the playoffs according to FiveThirtyEight (see tweet below). 

A coach taking a team that was 4-11 the year before he came into the head coaching position to 9-8 last season, and 3-0 already this year, is a drastic improvement in only two seasons.  With such a seemingly weak schedule as well, if the Eagles can take a top seeding, this should all but guarantee Sirianni the coach of the year honors. 

Drastic production increases on both sides of the ball

A very interesting statistic to monitor for NFL teams is points for/points against, as well as points differential, which is notable for offensive and defensive production, and how much one may outweigh the other.  The Eagles are on track for 487 points this season, which would be their highest total in team history, the next closest being 474 in 2014.  As for points against, they have only allowed 50 so far, which would mean they are on pace to allow approximately 283 points this season, the lowest total since 2004 in which they went 13-3 and made it to the Super Bowl.  If you take the points differential for these stats, it would be 191 in favor of the Eagles, meaning they outscored all opponents on the season by 191 points.  This would be their highest total since 1949 in which they won the Championship, and 1948 respectively in which they also won the Championship (both pre-Super Bowl era). 

Now granted, the likelihood of the Eagles keeping this up all season is pretty slim.  But the fact that they had a -84 points differential prior to Sirianni joining, and then immediately went to +59 and now are on track to set records for points differential on their team is immensely impressive.  It goes to show how much impact good roster development and coaching have on a team. 

Developmental Prowess

Let’s just take a look at the players Sirianni has developed in the last two years to be high-tier draft talents or better than they were before:

• Landon Dickerson (0 sacks allowed this season, 2 penalties in 207 snaps)
• Jalen Hurts (916 passing yards, 4 touchdowns, 1 interception, 67.3% completion rate)
• Devonta Smith (249 receiving yards, 1 touchdown, 65.2% catch rate)
• Jordan Mailata (1 sack allowed this season, 3 penalties in 218 snaps)

While Sirianni has not necessarily been the best developmental coach of all time or anything, he has done well to turn the prospects he has into functional contributors to the team.  This is key with any new head coach who is taking the spot after previously being a coordinator, as it shows they not only know how to call plays for their side of the ball, but also know how to develop talent, and work other parts of the team. 

The post 3 reasons why Nick Sirianni could win coach of the year this season appeared first on Pro Football Mania.

By: Jake Rajala

The New Orleans Saints head coach Dennis Allen is out for blood in his second stint as a head coach. With that said, I’m going to simply untwine three reasons why the Sean Payton disciple could even win Coach of the Year in 2022.

Improvement from 2021

The Drew Brees-less Saints didn’t make the playoffs last season, but I really believe the Saints will have a significant turnaround and three to four more victories than the 2021 season. I expect a healthy Jameis Winston and a highly motivated Michael Thomas to wreak havoc against opponents on a frequent basis. Kev Stefanski was COTY in 2020 for leading the Browns to 11 wins in 2020 — after CLE had a mere six victories in 2019. I believe Allen will receive a lot of buzz after jolting the Saints team in 2022.

Buccaneers

I recently wrote about why the Buccaneers could *finally* beat the Saints next season. Although, the Saints still have the upper hand at this point in time. It should be noted that DA caught a lot of attraction for shutting out TB12 in their last match-up. If the Saints can have a successful season, while ousting a dominant victory (or two) against the Bucs, there should be very high praise for the Saints HC.

Defense

Allen’s baby is clearly the defense — as he plans to retain play-calling. I expect the Saints defense to be a Top-3 unit and they could potentially be the utmost best defense next season. Allen will garner heaps of glory for pressing the right buttons with a Saints defense that added the Honey Badger this off-season. Marshon Lattimore, Mathieu, Demario Davis, and Cameron Jordan will delight in dismantling under Allen opponents moving forward.

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By: Adam Hulse (@AdamHulseSports)

According to the Draft Kings Sports Book, head coach Frank Reich of the Indianapolis Colts has odds of +2500 to win Coach of the Year in the 2021 NFL season. This really could be an excellent value choice, or a “sleeper” pick, considering his situation this year. The award is not strictly based on who coached the team with the most wins, but instead, it takes into serious consideration the relative success of the team compared to several other factors such as major organizational changes, overcoming adversity, and exceeding team expectations. Using this criterion, Reich has a real chance to win the Coach of the Year award this season.

The Carson Wentz Factor

Nothing qualifies more as a major change than making a blockbuster trade to acquire a quarterback in the “prime” of their career while also being in the middle of a huge contract. That is exactly what the Colts did this offseason when they made a move for Carson Wentz of the Philadelphia Eagles in exchange for two draft picks. The move wasn’t so much about how much the Colts gave up to get Wentz, but more about taking on the money that he is still owed despite coming off of an extremely disappointing season in 2020. He is signed through the 2024 season and the Colts owe him nearly 100 million dollars over that span.

This could be a very solid deal for the Colts if they are getting the MVP caliber version of Wentz but that may not be the case. Back in the 2018 season, Wentz was having the best season of his career before suffering an unfortunate season ending injury. Through 11 games that year, he completed 69.6 percent of his passes for 3074 yards with 21 touchdowns and just 7 interceptions. His 2020 season, comparatively, was an absolute disaster. In 12 games, before being benched for rookie Jalen Hurts, he completed just 57.4 percent of his passes for 2620 yards with 16 touchdowns and an alarming 15 interceptions. This is clearly a major drop off and what really makes this trade a huge risk for the Colts.

One of the main reasons why the Colts acquired Wentz is because of Frank Reich. When Wentz was having his success in Philadelphia, Reich was actually their offensive coordinator. The belief is that by reuniting the pair in Indianapolis, it will help Wentz get back to the version of himself that was one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL. This is the type of move that really could be make or break for the head coaching job of Reich. If it works out the way they hope it does, the Colts are a sleeper to be contenders for the Super Bowl, and will greatly improve the chances of Reich winning Coach of the Year. If it doesn’t, then the contract will set the franchise back several years by wasting a team roster that is built to win now, and could even cost Reich his job.

Team Expectations

Last season, with Philip River as their quarterback, the Colts finished with an 11-5 record and made an appearance in the NFL playoffs. They believe that Wentz is a significant upgrade at quarterback, despite the fact that Rivers had a much better season than Wentz last year. In 16 games, Rivers completed 68 percent of his passes for 4169 yards with 24 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. Regardless, if the Colts are right that they improved at this position, while keeping the large majority of the rest of the roster together, then it’s fair to expect an even more successful campaign in the 2021 NFL season. If this is true, that means that the Colts will not only make the playoffs this season, but advance further than their first round exit last season. All things considered, if the Colts are able to accomplish their goals this season, then Reich will be right in the mix to win the Coach of the Year award.

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