Head Coach Ranking

Brian Flores Is the Newest Branch of Bill Belichick’s Shaky Coaching Tree

By HCR Staff | Feb. 5, 2019

The Super Bowl LIII celebration wasn’t over yet when one of those celebrating, New England Patriots linebackers coach Brian Flores, was already starting a new job with a new team. As expected, Flores on Monday was named the new head coach of the Miami Dolphins. Flores is the ninth Bill Belichick assistant to become an NFL head coach. And while Belichick has now won six Super Bowls as a head coach and will go down as perhaps the greatest coach in NFL history, his NFL coaching tree is nowhere near as impressive.

Sure, Nick Saban went on to become one of the greatest college head coaches after his stint as Belichick’s defensive coordinator with the Cleveland Browns in the early ‘90s. But in his two seasons as an NFL head coach, Saban was two games under .500 with the Miami Dolphins.

Overall, the eight former Belichick assistants who have become NFL head coaches have a combined NFL record of 174-247. Current Houston Texans head coach Bill O’Brien is the only one of the bunch to make the playoffs as head coach.

Of course, being in the same division with New England means Flores will face his former boss twice a year. For the record, Belichick owns a 16-8 record against his former assistants. He went 1-1 last season against the only other active head coaches from his tree – beating O’Brien and the Texans but losing to Matt Patricia’s Detroit Lions.

Here’s a rundown of the Belichick NFL coaching tree that Flores is now a part of:

Romeo Crennel: Went 24-40 in four seasons with the Cleveland Browns, then 4-15 in one-plus seasons with Kansas City. Record vs. Belichick: 0-2

Al Groh: Went 9-7 in his only season as head coach of the New York Jets, but then chose to leave the NFL to become head coach of his alma mater, Virginia. Record vs. Belichick: 2-0

Josh McDaniels: The only one-time head coach on this list who is back with Belichick, the Patriots current offensive coordinator went 11-17 with the Denver Broncos – going 8-8 in 2009 and then getting released after a 3-9 start in 2010. McDaniels made news a year ago when he accepted the vacant Indianapolis Colts head coaching job but then abruptly backed out. Many believe McDaniels is now in place to take over for Belichick in New England when the latter eventually retires. Record vs. Belichick: 0-1

Eric Mangini: Went 23-26 in three seasons with the New York Jets, followed by 10-22 win two seasons with the Cleveland Browns. Record vs. Belichick: 3-5

Nick Saban: Went 15-17 in two seasons with the Miami Dolphins, leaving there to take the Alabama job in 2007. Record vs. Belichick: 2-2

Jim Schwartz: The only one on this list who never actually coached under Belichick, Schwartz got his first NFL job as a personnel scout under Belichick in Cleveland. He quickly developed a reputation as a successful defensive coach in the mold of Belichick, eventually becoming head coach of the Detroit Lions in 2009. He compiled a 29-52 record in five seasons. Currently the defensive coordinator of the Philadelphia Eagles, Schwartz was in high demand after Super Bowl LII. Record vs. Belichick: 0-1

Bill O’Brien: O’Brien was an offensive assistant for the Patriots when they posted record-setting numbers in 2007, and he was offensive coordinator when the Patriots went back to the Super Bowl four years after that. After two years at Penn State, he took over as head coach of the Houston Texans in 2014 and has an overall record of 43-41 (including 1-3 in the playoffs). Record vs. Belichick: 0-5

Matt Patricia: Belichick’s former defensive coordinator went 6-10 in his rookie season as head coach of the Detroit Lions – but he can at least say that one of those six wins was against the Super Bowl champion Patriots. Record vs. Belichick: 1-0

Sean McVay Takes Blame for Not Making Enough Adjustments in Super Bowl LIII

By HCR Staff | Feb. 4, 2019

How did the New England Patriots win Super Bowl LIII? Defense, defense, defense. They held the Los Angeles Rams – a team that averaged 32.9 points per game in 2018 – to three points in their 13-3 victory, the sixth Super Bowl win of the Bill Belichick/Tom Brady era.

The chess match between defensive guru Belichick and Rams head coach Sean McVay, the offensive whiz kid, turned out to be the critical matchup everybody was expecting. It’s hard to imagine, though, that many people thought the matchup would be this one-sided.

The Rams averaged 421.1 yards of offense per game this season. In Super Bowl LIII, they were held to 260.

How did the Patriots do that? According to McVay, they adjusted from what they had been doing during their run through the AFC playoffs.

“They mixed it up,” McVay said, via The Athletic. “They had played almost exclusively man coverage principles and decided who they can take away… They had a great game plan.”

Based on game tape, the Rams expected more man coverage from the New England defense. What they got was a heavy dose of zone defense that they were not prepared for. McVay took the blame for his offense’s failure to adjust.

“They definitely changed it up with what they had done over the past couple of weeks, especially when you look at some of the things that enabled them to have success against the Chargers and against the Chiefs,” McVay said. “They still played some front structures that we anticipated and they did an excellent job with it… Their coverage principles were definitely mixed compared to what they put on tape. They did a great job, and it is something that I’m disappointed that I didn’t do a better job of adjusting in the framework of the game. That is one of the things that makes them great.”

Will Coaching Experience Really Matter in Super Bowl LIII?

By Don Banks | Feb. 1, 2019

ATLANTA — Super Bowl LIII is now mercifully close to unfolding and still the most intriguing angle to the Rams-Patriots showdown is the unprecedented half-his-age coaching matchup of 33-year-old Sean McVay versus 66-year-old Bill Belichick, who Sunday night can become the youngest or oldest coach, respectively, to ever win a Super Bowl.

The veteran defensive mastermind matching wits with the youthful offensive savant is about as stark a coaching contrast as you can ever hope for in a Super Bowl, and it got me wondering what history reveals when it comes to the value of previous Super Bowl head coaching experience squaring off against a Super Bowl novice?

Here’s the bottom line: In terms of significance, it’s pretty much a 50-50 proposition. This is the 24th Super Bowl that matches a head coach with a previous Super Bowl on his resume (Belichick, eight actually) against a head coach working his first Super Bowl (McVay). And in the first 23 such encounters, the coaches with some Super Bowl experience have prevailed 12 times, while the first-timers have won 11. That’s a mere .522 winning percentage in favor of the Super Bowl-veteran coaches, or in other words, a flip of the coin.

Of the other 29 Super Bowls that don’t fit the script on the coaching matchup front, here’s the breakdown: Sixteen games have featured both head coaches making their Super Bowl debuts, with the most recent being Gary Kubiak’s Denver Broncos dispatching Ron Rivera’s Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50 in Santa Clara, Calif., three years ago.

The other 13 Super Bowl pairings came with both head coaches having been there before, with the most recent example coming four years ago in Glendale, Ariz., when Belichick’s Patriots overcame a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit to nip Pete Carroll’s Seattle Seahawks, denying them the honor of winning back-to-back Lombardi Trophies (or at least Malcolm Butler denied them).

To no surprise, Belichick has been on both sides of this equation a lot in recent years, because as you may have heard, his Patriots are making their fourth Super Bowl trip in the past five seasons, and sixth in 12 years. Rinse, repeat.

Giving hope to Rams partisans everywhere, Belichick owns a far-from-infallible 3-2 mark when holding the Super Bowl experience edge over his coaching opponent, having lost just last year to Super Bowl coaching novice Doug Pederson of the Eagles, in Minneapolis.

Alas, the year before, it was Belichick’s Patriots, of course, who posted the Super Bowl comeback for the ages, digging out of a 28-3 third-quarter hole to stun Atlanta in overtime in Houston. Falcons coach Dan Quinn was the first-time Super Bowl participant — at least as a head coach — whose team let it slip away.

Belichick has also won Super Bowls in which he held more experience against then-Carolina head coach John Fox (2003 season) and then-Philadelphia head coach Andy Reid (2004). Belichick was victorious in the novice-versus-novice situation of coaching against the Rams’ Mike Martz 17 years ago in New Orleans, earning his first Super Bowl ring with New England.

But he lost to his ex-fellow-Giants assistant and Super Bowl novice, Tom Coughlin, when Coughlin’s G-Men stunned the football world by knocking off the 18-0 Patriots in the 2007 season. Four years later, the two teams and coaches had their rematch, and New York won again.

Overall, the recent trend favors McVay coming out on top, because Super Bowl first-time head coaches have won four of the past five matchups against coaches with Super Bowl experience, over a span of the last 11 years.

That list includes Pederson over Belichick last year, Carroll’s Seahawks besting Fox’s Broncos in 2013, Mike McCarthy and his Packers coming out on top of the Steelers and Mike Tomlin in 2010, and the aforementioned Coughlin-Belichick showdown in 2007. The only outlier was Quinn’s Falcons with their epic collapse two years ago against New England, and it took something that historic to reverse the trend.

It’s worth noting that each of those winning first-time Super Bowl coaches (as well as Quinn) made the Super Bowl within the first five years of their tenures with their team, as has McVay. His sterling record in his first two seasons with the Rams is 26-9 overall, including a 2-1 playoff mark. At the same point in his Patriots’ tenure, heading into that first Super Bowl matchup with the Rams in early 2002, Belichick was just 18-16 overall.

Will Super Bowl coaching experience be decisive this year? We’re about to find out when McVay and Belichick take center stage Sunday night, calling the shots for the Rams and Patriots players who will settle matters on the field.

Super Bowl LIII Coaching Matchup: Special Teams

By HCR Staff | Jan. 31, 2019

With so much focus being placed on how the Los Angeles Rams defense can get to Tom Brady and what Bill Belichick can do to slow down the Rams’ high-octane offense, it’s quite possible Super Bowl LIII will come down to special teams.

The Rams have already proven they’re not afraid to be aggressive on special teams. A successful fake punt in which punter Johnny Hekker completed a fourth-down pass to convert the first down was a turning point in the Rams’ NFC title game win over New Orleans. Hekker completed two other passes during the regular season, so this isn’t new to him.

As for special teams coach John Fassel, he’s got some Super Bowl experience in his bloodlines – his father, Jim Fassel, took the Giants to Super Bowl XXXV as head coach.

While Fassel is the son of a coach, New England Patriots special teams coordinator Joe Judge is the son of a former player. Judge’s father played at Temple and then professionally with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League.

What’s impressive about Joe Judge’s coaching lineage is that he’s worked for arguably the two greatest football coaches of the modern era. He’s been with Belichick in New England since 2012. For three years prior to that, he was a football analyst working for Nick Saban at the University of Alabama. Between Saban and Belichick, Judge most certainly has learned some best practices of the job.

The Patriots’ special teams are always sound, though they’re much less apt to try a fake punt. They did execute one successfully in Week 12 of the 2017 season – with current special teamer Nate Ebner taking a direct snap and running for the first down – but that was actually New England’s first fake punt attempt in 13 years.

The Patriots have had up-and-down play from their special teams in the last two Super Bowl appearances. In last year’s Super Bowl LII loss to the Eagles, Pro Bowl kicker Stephen Gostkowski missed a field goal and an extra point in the game. In Super bowl LI, special team play was solid as the Patriots staged their record-setting Super Bowl comeback vs. the Falcons (though they did have a failed onside kick attempt).

Gostkowski’s Super Bowl LII struggles aside, both of these teams have Pro Bowl kickers in Gostkowski and the Rams’; Greg Zuerlein. The most dangerous kick returner in the game will be the Patriots’ Cordarrelle Patterson. On the other end, the Rams have a Pro Bowl special teamer in Corey Littleton who has five blocked kicks in the last two seasons.

Bill Cowher on the Super Bowl LIII Coaching Matchup

By Craig Ellenport | Jan. 30, 2019

Bill Cowher was 48 years old when he coached the Pittsburgh Steelers to an NFL title in Super Bowl XL. That’s a year younger than Bill Belichick was when he coached the New England Patriots to their first title in Super bowl XXXVI; it’s 15 years older than the current age of Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay, who is making his first appearance in the Super Bowl this week.

Cowher, who is in Atlanta this week as part of CBS Sports’ Super Bowl Today pregame show, has great respect for both head coaches in Super Bowl LIII. Of course, he’s gone head to head against Belichick five times (going 1-4, including losses in two AFC Championship games).

Cowher might not even know this, but he has faced off once against McVay. In 2006, Cowher’s last season as Steelers head coach, a 20-year-old McVay was in his first season as an NFL coach, the assistant receivers coach for the Buccaneers. McVay’s offensive genius was yet to show at that time; the Steelers won, 20-3.

With the Super Bowl LIII focus on the matchup between Belichick’s experience and McVay’s youth, Cowher said he thinks McVay’s Super Bowl inexperience is actually a good thing.

“What Sean has done in his two years, he’s changed the whole culture in L.A.,” Cowher said Tuesday during a CBS Sports conference call. “A lot of times getting to this game, it just becomes that — it’s a game. Sometimes when you get there early in your career, it’s almost like it’s not a big deal to you. You’re almost naïve enough to know that, ‘Well, we’re here. We should be here.’ But the longer you’re in the game, the more you realize how special this game is. So I think (he’s) almost young enough that you have this brashness about you.”

As for what to expect in the game, Cowher isn’t concerned that either of these coaches might get conservative.

“I think both these coaches have proven their ability to be very aggressive in their coaching,” Cowher said. “We saw the fake punt (in the NFC Championship Game) that kind of propelled the Rams to their comeback. We know Bill Belichick will not hold anything back. I think what makes both of these coaches very special is the fact that they are very aggressive in thinking.”

McVay finished the 2018 season tied for second in Head Coach Ranking with an overall grade of 7.9; Belichick finished sixth at 7.6. Both coaches finished in the top five when it comes to in-game adjustments – a factor that Cowher sees as vital heading into Sunday.

“They will adapt, they’re able to adjust,” said Cowher. “I think that’s why this will be a great chess match with the young coach and the old coach. Because the young coach, Sean McVay, has a lot of great attributes and his players respond to him. Just like they do with Bill … Two coaches that have a way of pushing the right buttons with their respective teams.”

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Headcoachranking.com assigns a grade to the in-game performance of NFL head coaches each week.  Our knowledgeable graders analyze each head coach’s performance in 5 key areas of decision making. After determining their “HCR” (Head Coach Ranking), we rank them from best to worst. HCR rankings are posted every Tuesday of the NFL season, and fans will be able to track each coach’s performance throughout the season.

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