Head Coach Ranking

W.O.W. – Winners Of The Week (Week 5)

By Juan Lozano and Marc Harper | October 14, 2020

Bucs @ Bears– Kyle Fuller (CB)

  • Cornerback Kyle Fuller separated Bucs rookie running back Ke’Shaun Vaughn (last week’s WOW for Tampa Bay) from the football on a 3rd & 10 play from the Bucs 25-yard line near the end of the first half. The play was first ruled an incomplete pass but later the call was reversed and determined to be a completed pass and fumble. Robert Quinn recovered the fumble at the Bucs 27-yard line and the Bears would capitalize and score a touchdown four plays later to amazingly take a 14-13 lead into the half. At one point, early in the second quarter, Tampa Bay had a 13-0 lead.  Fuller’s jarring hit and the forced fumble would prove to the major turning point in the game. 

Rams @ WFT – Troy Reeder (LB)

  • Rams second-year linebacker Troy Reeder was a force against the Washington Football Team on Sunday. The undrafted second-year starter out of the University of Delaware finished with 11 tackles, two sacks, and three pass defended on the day. 
  • The Rams were up 13-7 early in the second quarter and Washington was at their own 36-yard line. Reeder stopped running back J.D. McKissic for a 6-yard reception on 3rd down and WFT was forced to punt. The Rams scored a touchdown on that next drive on to put the game out of Washington’s reach. 
  • Reeder made the Rams roster as an undrafted free agent out of training camp in 2019. He began to make starts down the stretch in his rookie campaign and is becoming a consistent contributor to the club in 2020. Redder was on the field for 58 total snaps on Sunday. 

Bills @ Titans– Anthony Firsker (TE)

  • The rare Tuesday night NFL contest was a close game up until halftime.
  • The Titans were up 14-10 and started a drive from their own ten-yard line after a booming Bills punt. They would go the length of the field to score a touchdown and take the two-score advantage. One big play in the drive came when tight end Anthony Firsker made a first down catch on 3 and 4 from the Buffalo 22-yard line with 27 seconds left in the half. On the next play, Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill ran the ball in to the end zone and extended the Titans lead to 21-10.
  • It was all hands on deck as the Titans week was in flux due to Covid-19- related issues. Tennessee was expected to be without a lot of offensive firepower this game. Wide receiver AJ Brown was declared active before this game and contributed significantly, but fellow wideouts Corey Davis and Adam Humphries were still out and thus many young receivers and tight ends, like Firsker had to step up.
  • Firsker, a third-year undrafted tight end out of Harvard had a total of three catches on the night. But none was bigger than this one that allowed the Titans to extend a drive to make it a two-score game.

Eagles @ Steelers– Chase Claypool (WR)

  • There was fantastic rookie wide receiver play around the NFL on Sunday, but Canadian Chase Claypool easily had the most impactful performance of the day. He had seven catches on 11 targets for 110 yards and three scores. He also added a TD on the ground. Every time the Eagles started to creep back into the game, Claypool responded with a big catch or score. Year after year, the Steelers replace big name WRs with younger players, and year after year they prove they scout and develop WRs better than any team in the NFL.

Cardinals @ NY Jets- Chase Edmonds (RB)

  • It’s not clear the Jets are going to win a game this season. Opponents might take advantage of the opportunity to play the Jets and get reserve players some meaningful reps. Edmonds, the third year running back out of Fordham University, staked his claim for more touches in the Cardinals offense. While Kenyan Drake is the starting back, Edmonds provided a big boost as the primary receiving back against the Jets. He finished with five big catches for 56 yards and added a score on the ground. 

Raiders @ KC Chiefs-Raiders Defensive Line

  • In a game in which the Chiefs scored 32 points, I’d still argue the Raiders defensive won the game. The defensive front caused Patrick Mahomes all types of trouble throughout the entire game, but especially the second half. Mahomes never looked comfortable and missed some throws he normally makes. The Chiefs offense really never got going until the game was out of hand. Mahomes was sacked three times, and under pressure throughout the entire second half. To beat the Chiefs, teams will need to replicate what the Raiders did defensively.

Jaguars @ Texans–  Brandin Cooks (WR)

  • Obviously, Brandin Cooks is a big-name player with a bigger contract. However, expectations were low after an underwhelding season with the Rams in 2019.  On Sunday, he was the main reason for the win. He caught eight of 12 targets for 161 yards and a score. The Texans obviously miss Deandre Hopkins (and David Johnson hasn’t been much help), but Cooks was a bright spot on an offense trying to get it going. He was a big reason why the Texans got their first win of the season. 

Bengals @ Ravens–  Patrick Queen (LB)

  • This was an easy call. The rookie linebacker from LSU forced and recovered a fumble. He later returned another fumble 53 yards for a score. He did all this while leading the team with 9 combined tackles on the day.  The Ravens didn’t play particularly well on offense, but their defense made Joe Burrow uncomfortable the entire day. Queen, playing against his former college teammate, was a big part of that. It’s clear why he was a first-round pick. 

Panthers @ Falcons- Juston Burris (S)

  • With the Panthers leading 20-13 lead with 8:49 left in the game, the Falcons were at the Carolina five-yard line and facing a 3rd & 4.  Safety Justin Burris intercepted a Matt Ryan pass intended for Russell Gage. The two teams would go on to exchange field goals, and the Panthers held onto win this NFC South contest.  A score here would have obviously tied the contest and the outcome may have been different.
  • Burris would finish with 3 tackles, and a pass defended in addition to the interception.  
  • Burris was a Jets fourth-round pick in 2016 and has bounced around going from the Jets, to the Browns, the Raiders, back to the Browns and now the Panthers where it appears he has found a home for the foreseeable future. 

Dolphins @ SF 49ers- Preston Williams (WR)

  • Second-year player Preston Williams had four catches for 106 yards and a touchdown in the Dolphins destruction of the 49ers in Santa Clara. 
  • Three of Williams’ catches were in the first half and were for first downs.  The touchdown came after the rout was on in the second half. 
  • Williams, at 6-5, 210 was undrafted out of Colorado State University after beginning his college career at Tennessee. He declared for the NFL Draft after a standout junior season in 2018.  His 2019 rookie campaign was shortened by a torn ACL suffered in Week 9. At the time of the injury he was the best offensive skills player for Miami with 32 catches for 428 yards and three touchdowns. He’s picked up where he left off before the injury. This was a fantastic undrafted free agent signing for the Dolphins. 

NY Giants @ Cowboys– CeeDee Lamb (WR)

  • Sunday was a great day for rookies. The Cowboys traded for Amari Cooper to be the number one threat, but five games into the season, it’s clear that Lamb makes the offense go. He had eight catches for 124 yards, and just about every ball that went to him, it was a big play. The offense will obviously take a hit with quarterback Dak Prescott’s season ending injury, but the emergence of Lamb can help keep this team competitive (especially in the horrendous NFC East). 

Colts @ Browns – Ronnie Harrison (S)

  • Third-year Browns safety Ronnie Harrison intercepted a Philip Rivers pass at the Colts 47-yard line and returned it the length of the field for a score to increase the Cleveland lead to 27-10. 
  • Harrison would finish the game with two tackles, two passes defended in addition to the touchdown and interception.
  • Harrison, a 23-year old in his third season in the league was a Jaguars third-round pick in 2018 out of Alabama. He was traded at the beginning of the season from Jacksonville to Cleveland for the Browns fifth-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.

Vikings @ Seahawks– Damontre Moore (DE)

  • Damontre Moore signed with the Seahawks just over a month ago. It’s his second stint with the team having played for them in 2016. He’s bounced around to a number of teams since being drafted by the Giants in the third round of the 2013 NFL Draft. Moore even played in the now defunct AAF. 
  • Moore made an outstanding play on Sunday that contributed to the Seattle win. 
  • The Seahawks were down 13-0 at the half. They finally got on the scoreboard and a little momentum in the third quarter with a touchdown. After finding the end zone to make it 13-7, they had Minnesota pinned deep in their own territory. 
  • On 3rd & 17 from the Vikings 18-yard line, Moore strip sacked quarterback Kirk Cousins and the ball was recovered by Seattle linebacker K. J. Wright at the Vikings 15-yard line. 
  • Two plays later, the Seahawks would take their first lead of the contest. 

Chargers @ Saints– Marquez Callaway (WR)

  • The Saints wide receiving corps sorely misses Michael Thomas who was unavailable in three prior games due to injury and Week 5’s contest for disciplinary reasons. 
  • Emmanuel Sanders stepped up with 12 catches, but the Saints received an unexpected contribution from undrafted rookie wide receiver, Marquez Callaway. Callaway had four catches for 34 yards, including a first down catch on the first play in the overtime period that resulted in a Saints score. 
  • Callaway also contributed on special teams, returning 6 punts for 69 yards and 2 kickoffs for 57 yards.  Callaway like the previously mentioned Preston Williams, both played at one time for the University of Tennessee.

Opinions expressed are solely of the author and do not express the views or opinions of Headcoachranking.com.

NFL Week 5 Observations

By HCR Staff | October 12, 2020

As we thought at the season’s eve, 2020 was going to be the most interesting season in a long time.  Let’s get to it.

The Steelers Have Super Bowl Ingredients, But Can Mike Tomlin Gain More Consistency With His Own Decision-Making?  Steelers GM Kevin Colbert has successfully re-stocked the talent cupboard, and the team is poised for a deep playoff run.  They’ve got the ability – on both sides of the ball – to step on the gas at a moment’s notice.  There’s speed and physicality, and there’s more cohesiveness. 

Mike Tomlin deserves credit for both, particularly after all of the drama with former WR Antonio Brown.  When some head coaches lose the locker room, they can never get it back.  We’re not saying Tomlin lost it, but surely he was close, based on all the stories that emanated from there.  All of that is the rear view mirror now, and Tomlin is in position to eye a 2nd Super Bowl victory for himself. 

Tomlin, however, still needs button up his own in-game decision-making.  In the win over the Eagles yesterday, the Steelers held a comfortable 31-14 lead at 10:32 in the third quarter.  The Eagles were going nowhere momentum-wise, and came into this game with a significant talent deficit vis-à-vis the Steelers.  In short, the Steelers were in a strong position to fully control their 17-point lead to game’s end, and that’s what we were looking for.  Unfortunately, they didn’t, and that’s a reflection on Tomlin.  

The Steelers didn’t exhibit the control we wanted to see; instead, we saw decision-making that wasn’t Super Bowl quality, and the Eagles clawed their way back into the game and put it into jeopardy.  The Steelers ultimately won, but how the game ended showed us that Tomlin still has a ways to go – at least this season – in strategizing with a lead.  Tomlin has never threatened the top of our HCR rankings, and this is why.

We Watched The Jets And Adam Gase With The Intention Of Giving Him The Benefit Of The Doubt, But We Were Disappointed Again.  Gase has been beaten up by the national media – justifiably so – but coming into this game, we wanted to try analyzing what he’s doing with the most favorable lens possible.  Why? Well, maybe we’ve all missed something about Gase, so we wanted a game where we gave him every benefit of the doubt.  What did we see? 

First, and as we all know, there is a significant talent deficit here, so Gase doesn’t have much to work with.  The WR group is a disaster.  For example, undrafted free agent WR Jeff Smith had at least 5 targets.  On an important 3rd– and-1 early in the game, Gase did dial up a good play for a throw to Smith.  Smith got open, the ball was on the money, but Smith dropped the ball.  That’s not on Gase. 

On the first drive of the game, Gase dialed up an easy throw to Smith in the right flat; a completion would allow Smith a lot of room to run.  Smith was wide open, but backup quarterback Joe Flacco way overthrew him.  Clearly, this Flacco – Smith ‘combo’ wasn’t working. 

Notwithstanding this, and as a head coach, you have complete power over how to script the game, so there are other ways to keep your team competitive.  In this game, the Jets players did fight hard, but did Gase always make the best decisions to keep his team competitive?  Generally speaking, no.  Here’s one example. 

Trailing 7-0 early in the game (9:49 in the second quarter), the Jets faced a 3rd-and-1 at the Cardinals 13.  The Jets were on their best drive of the day, with Flacco finally finding a rhythm.   There is one position group where the Jets do have some talent, and that’s at running back, with Frank Gore and Le’Veon Bell – 2 players who will get Hall of Fame votes.  On this 3rd-and-1 play, it was reasonable to expect that Gore or Bell would touch the ball.  What did Gase do?  He gave it to TE/FB Trevon Wesco…who had 1 career carry.  Of course, he was stuffed. 

Now it is 4th-and-1.  We would have expected a 31-yard field goal attempt kick; not a hard kick, and a reward for a nice drive that would close the score to 7-3.  What did Gase do?  He chose to go for it, and at 4th-and-1, brought in Bell, and predictably gave it to him, and Bell was stuffed. 

Outcome: an excited Cardinals defense, and more psychological damage for the Jets offense. 

If Gase wants to win, he’s got to show he can accept the small victories in a game first, but he’s not showing that at all.

Bengals Head Coach Zac Taylor Had A Very Bad Day, Hopefully It’s Not A Pattern.  Taylor is another young head coach we want to like, but in an ugly loss to the Ravens, he really regressed.  Look, we get that on “any given Sunday” any team can win, but what that cliché does is equate a 1% chance to win with a 50% chance to win.  Yesterday, going into this game, the Bengals did not have a 50% chance to win, but Taylor chose to coach that way. 

The Bengals got down 17-0 quickly, and what we wanted to see is Taylor deliberately slow down the game, run the ball, and most importantly, preserve quarterback Joe Burrow’s health.  Burrow’s been taking a vicious beating all season, and he’s the future of the Bengals, more so than Taylor.  Taylor didn’t do what we wanted to see, unfortunately.  He kept coaching as if it was a one-score game.  He had Burrow keep slinging the ball out of formations that offered no protection advantage, and the quick possessions kept his defense – which actually fought valiantly – out on the field all game long.  Burrow was beaten up badly again, and it didn’t have to happen. 

We Will Keep Banging The Matt Rhule Drum.  Early on, we saw the quality in rookie Panthers head coach Matt Rhule, and now the rest of the league is seeing it.  The Panthers got down early in this road game against the Falcons, who came out with good energy.  But Rhule has instilled poise into his squad, and they didn’t panic.  Instead, they slowly took control of this game like a patient python swallowing a large pig.  Rhule is a clinical decision-maker; he’s very impressive in this department.  We also like that he never asks his players to do something they physically can’t do – they’re not widgets to him.  He’s very disciplined about this.  The Panthers are going to be a very tough out for every team this year and into the future.

Brian Flores Registers An Impressive Performance, And Kyle Shanahan Got Humbled.  The Dolphins have had a tough early season schedule, but they’re handling it well and with poise, and that’s a reflection on Flores.  The Dolphins play hard, physically, and with explosion.  One other thing stands out to us:  if a player makes a mistake, it matters to him.  That kind of accountability is also a direct reflection on the head coach.  All of this resulted in a dominant performance for Flores against a tough opponent in a distant road game.  The Dolphins also show excellent unit cohesion.  Flores hasn’t won anything yet, but the way he manages a game reminds of us…Bill Parcells. 

On the flip side, this was a bad performance for the 49ers’ Kyle Shanahan.  We rarely see him out-game planned, but he was this game.  We also rarely see Shanahan mis-gauge the ability of his players, and he did in this game.  For example, the 49ers are playing short-handed at cornerback; they had to start journeyman Brian Allen.  Did their defensive scheme account for this?  No.  The result was predictable – an early game torching of Allen that led to a quick deficit.  49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh didn’t help Shanahan here as he took far too long to adjust.  Shanahan simply was surprised by the Dolphins’ aggressiveness and tempo, and he was slow to adjust.  Just goes to show that even the very best can have a bad game here and there.

Head 2 Head Numbers for Week 5 in the NFL

By HCR Staff | Oct. 4, 2018

As always, Week 5 presents some interesting matchups in the NFL, particularly when it comes to coaches going up against each other. Each week, Head Coach Ranking presents its exclusive Head 2 Head numbers – comparing the rankings of the coaches that are facing off.

Here are a few matchups to watch:

• Colts-Patriots became a great rivalry thanks to Peyton Manning and Tom Brady. With the Colts in more of a rebuilding mode, Thursday night’s game doesn’t have quite that same appeal. That said, we’ve seen some positive things from rookie head coach Frank Reich. Of course, Reich knows what it’s like to go up against a Bill Belichick defense, seeing as he was the Eagles’ offensive coordinator in last year’s Super Bowl win over New England.

• There are only two matchups this week between coaches who are both in the top 10 of the Head Coach Rankings. The highest-graded matchup will be the Jacksonville Jaguars at Kansas City Chiefs. The Jags’ Doug Marrone ranks seventh with an HCR score of 7.4. The Chiefs’ Andy Reid is second overall with a score of 8.2. It’s also a classic battle between one of the NFL’s most explosive offenses against perhaps the league’s best defense. Can Jacksonville shut down Patrick Mahomes and hand the Chiefs their first loss?

• The second top 10 matchup takes place on Monday night in New Orleans, where Sean Payton (tied for fifth with a 7.5 HCR score) and the Saints play host to Jay Gruden (tied for eighth, 7.3) and the Washington Redskins. While the focus will be on Drew Brees as he will likely become the NFL’s all-time passing yardage leader in this contest, it will be interesting to if Gruden gives Adrian Peterson a chance to gain a measure of revenge after the running back’s brief and ill-fated stint in New Orleans last season.

• The New York Giants visit Carolina Sunday, still trying to kick-start their offense. While it’s head coach Pat Shurmur calling the plays, it will be interesting to see what impact offensive coordinator Mike Shula has in this game. Shula was the offensive coordinator for the Panthers last season, so perhaps he has a handle on how to attack his former team.

Check out all the Week 5 Head 2 Head numbers