Head Coach Ranking

Head Coach Rankings for NFL Week 3

By HCR Staff | Sept. 24, 2019

In NFL Week 3, we saw two head coaches brilliantly orchestrate wins using their backup quarterbacks. New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton lost his future Hall of Fame quarterback Drew Brees last week and the once potent Saints offense looked like a lost cause. However, Payton proved he could win with anyone when given some time to prepare. Payton asked just enough of backup QB Teddy Bridgewater, who executed, while star RB Alvin Kamara put on a show. This was an example of a team that has been coached to know how to win doing what needed to be done to steal a tough road victory in Seattle, snapping Pete Carroll’s long September winning streak at home.

Across the country, New York Giants head coach Pat Shurmur pulled off a thrilling win with backup QB Daniel Jones. This was different than Payton’s situation, however, as Jones playing was a result of a change in franchise direction rather than injury replacement. Jones answered a lot of questions people had about him being taken sixth overall, and Shurmur led his team to a much-needed road win. Shurmur saw the biggest jump in scores since Week 2.

HCR’s top head coaches for Week 3

1. Sean Payton — 9.0
2. Bill Belichick — 8.4
T3. Andy Reid — 8.0
T3. Jason Garrett — 8.0
T3. Kyle Shanahan — 8.0
6. Pat Shurmur — 7.6
T7. Bill O’Brien — 7.4
T7. Frank Reich — 7.4
T7. John Harbaugh — 7.4
T7. Matt Nagy — 7.4
T7. Mike Zimmer — 7.4

Click here for the complete Head Coach Rankings

NFL Head Coaches — The Clubs Within the Club Tier Five

By HCR Staff | August 28, 2019

Continuing with our series on how we perceive all NFL Head Coaches, and the tiers they would fit into for us:

Tier 5

Jason Garrett – the hard thing about Garrett’s job is that he not only has to manage his players, but he also has to manage his owner, and that is as tough a job in the NFL as one can have. We have Garrett in this lower-tier simply because we really aren’t sure what his brand of football is.

Jay Gruden – he has been the unluckiest coach in the NFL over the last several seasons. Injuries have ravaged his teams each year, so it is really difficult to gauge his effectiveness. We like his offensive acumen, but wonder about the control he has in the locker room. He also is hobbled by a challenging front office.

Sean McDermott– he is a great defensive coordinator, but the jury still is out for us with respect to his head coaching ability. He has shown strong flashes toward excellent game management ability, but he has had to endure a challenging time as the Bills have completely reworked their roster.

Pat Shurmur – he has a high degree of football intelligence and a lot of experience. Shurmur brings tremendous passion to the job and he desperately wants to prove that his first go-around as Browns head coach was not indicative of his abilities. Shurmur runs hot, however, and we sometimes wonder if that affects his judgment.

Mike Vrabel – we really like the promise that Vrabel shows. He is going to deliver a physical brand of football, and he would rather have his team execute at a higher level than the opponent, as opposed to trying to out scheme the opposition.  He has some ways to go, however, in his game management judgments.

Dallas Cowboys 36, New York Giants 35 – Dec. 30, 2018

At New York
1:00 p.m. ET
37 degrees

TEAM PLAY
CALLING		 PERSONNEL GAME
PLANNING		 IN-GAME
ADJ		 CLOCK
MGMT		 HCR
DAL 8 8 8 7 8 7.8
NYG 8 8 8 8 7 7.8

Key Coaching Decision #1: (DAL ball, leading 14-10 / fourth-and-2, DAL 43 / 6:57 Q3)
• Dallas decided to go for it on fourth down. Dak Prescott completed an 11-yard pass to Cole Beasley to keep the drive alive. Prescott finished off the drive with a touchdown pass and a 21-10 Dallas lead.

Key Coaching Decision #2: (NYG ball, trailing 21-16/ 2-point attempt / 2:00 Q3)
• After a Giants touchdown, they decided to go for two. Eli Manning hit Evan Engram for a short pass an a successful 2-point attempt to cut the lead to three points.

Key Coaching Decision #3: (NYG ball, trailing 28-25 / fourth-and-1, NYG 35 / 7:48 Q4)
• Giants went for it on fourth down trailing by three points. Eli Manning ran a quarterback sneak to get the first down. Saquon Barkley capped off the Giants drive with a 2-yard touchdown run.

Key Coaching Decision #4: (DAL ball, trailing 35-34 / 2-point attempt / 1:19 Q4)
• After an amazing touchdown reception by Cole Beasley, the Cowboys went for two. Dak Prescott hit Michael Gallup for the successful conversion to give Dallas a 1-point lead.

Key Observations:
• Dak Prescott played one of the best games of his career and finished with 387 yards passing and four touchdowns to lead the Cowboys to the road victory.

• Saquon Barkley set the NFL record for receptions by a rookie as he finished with 91 catches on the season. He finished the game with over 130 yards of total offense and a touchdown.

• As winners of the NFC East, Dallas will host the Seattle Seahawks in the Wild Card round next Saturday night. The Giants will head into the offseason having to decide if Eli Manning will be back leading the New York offense.

Indianapolis Colts 28, New York Giants 27 – Dec. 23, 2018

At Indianapolis
1:00 p.m. ET
Dome

TEAM PLAY
CALLING		 PERSONNEL GAME
PLANNING		 IN-GAME
ADJ		 CLOCK
MGMT		 HCR
NYG 7 7 7 6 5 6.4
IND 7 7 7 <8/td>

8 7.4

Key Observations:
• The Giants were efficient on offense at times, especially early. They did well to spread out the field with screens and multiple jet sweeps on their first drive. They opened with a touchdown, so credit to their game planning and opening script.

• The Colts seemed a little off-kilter in the first half. They were charged with 12 men on the field in the first quarter and Andrew Luck threw a careless interception on an attempted throw-away pass in the second quarter. They came back much sharper on the second half, scoring touchdowns on their first two possessions and ultimately executing a game-winning touchdown drive in the final minutes of the game. Credit to their in-game adjustments.

• The Giants had an opportunity to execute a final drive to take back the lead with 55 seconds remaining in the game. Unfortunately for them, they had already used two of their timeouts. The first play saw a tackle inbounds and the subsequent time scramble put them in a difficult third down that they could not convert. Poor game clock management cost the Giants an opportunity to win this game.

Tennessee Titans 17, New York Giants 0 – Dec. 16, 2017

At New York
1:00 p.m. ET
40 degrees, Rain

TEAM PLAY
CALLING		 PERSONNEL GAME
PLANNING		 IN-GAME
ADJ		 CLOCK
MGMT		 HCR
TEN 8 9 9 8 8 8.4
NYG 6 6 6 6 7 6.2

Key Observations

• On a wet and cold day Titans running back Derrick Henry dominated with 170 yards rushing and finished with two touchdowns. He was by far the best offensive weapon for the Tennessee offense. Henry has over 400 yards rushing with six touchdowns over the past two weeks.

• Giants running back Saquon Barkley was completely shut down by the Titans defense and finished with 31 yards on the ground and only 56 yards of total offense.

• Without Odell Beckham JR in the game the Tennessee defense dared Eli Manning to beat them, but he could not find any consistency and finished with 229 yards passing and threw one interception.

• The Titans defense was able to record their first shutout since 2000 and is playing at a high level as they continue to make a push towards the post season. Tennessee plays Washington next week and close with a home game against the Colts which may be for the final Wild Card berth in the AFC.