Inside the NFL: Falcons’ Smith has the edge for Coach of the Year
The NFL’s Coach of the Year race goes down to the wire today. It’s a tough call among four top candidates — Atlanta’s Mike Smith, Miami’s Tony Sparano, Tennessee’s Jeff Fisher and Baltimore’s John Harbaugh.
Fisher has the best record in the league, but the Titans had a very good team last year, too, going 10-6 and making the playoffs.
Harbaugh was a low-profile hire who was the Ravens’ second choice last January after Dallas’ Jason Garrett opted to stay with the Cowboys. Harbaugh has taken the Ravens from 5-11 to 10-5 despite starting a rookie at quarterback in Joe Flacco. But the Ravens had a strong defense in place and pretty good talent across the board thanks to General Manager Ozzie Newsome.
So the choice comes down to Smith or Sparano, and this vote is leaning toward Smith, depending on what happens today.
Miami has had the bigger turnaround, going from 1-15 to 10-5. Atlanta has gone from 4-12 to 10-5. But the Falcons were in just as much disarray, after enduring the Michael Vick saga of 2007 and watching coach Bobby Petrino play first-rat-off-the-sinking-ship and bolt for the University of Arkansas.
Miami turned around with a veteran quarterback in Chad Pennington. Atlanta has done it with a rookie quarterback in Matt Ryan and arguably less defensive talent. Miami is 15th in yards allowed and Atlanta is 24th. Sparano also has had the benefit of master builder Bill Parcells’ guiding hand.
Long TD runs
Carolina’s DeAngelo Williams has an NFLbest 20 touchdowns, and he needs one more long score this season to put his name in the same sentence with Hall of Famer Jim Brown.
Brown had seven TD runs of 30 yards or longer in 1958. Williams has six. Williams will not, however, truly tie the record with one more such run, because Brown did his in a 12-game season.
Williams credits his wide receivers with making his long scores happen.
“The offensive line and [fullback] Brad Hoover get us those 15-, 20-, and 30-yard runs,” Williams said. “The wide receivers get those 50-and 60-yard touchdowns. They’ve been doing a great job all year, led by Muhsin Muhammad and Steve Smith.”
Williams has scored five of his long TDs in the last seven games. Brown averaged 53 yards on his seven long scores. Williams has averaged 46.5 yards on his six.
Lions making history
A loss today puts Detroit in the history books as the first ever 0-16 team, and the Lions’ futility is close to that of the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Tampa went 0-14 in 1976 then lost the first 12 games of the ’77 season for a 26-game losing streak. The Bucs then won their last two games of ’77 to go 2-26 over two seasons.
Detroit went 1-7 the last half of last season. So the Lions are 1-22 in their last 23 games. A loss today puts the Lions’ losing streak at 17 straight. The second-longest streak to Tampa’s 26-game stretch is 19 straight losses. The Chicago Cardinals did it in the 1940s and the Oakland Raiders did it in 1961-62. Houston lost 18 straight in 1972-73.
Leonhard aids Ravens
Former Bill Jim Leonhard has enjoyed a solid season as the starting strong safety for Baltimore. Leonhard took over for Dawan Landry two games into the season after Landry went out for the year with a spinal cord concussion. Leonhard ranks fifth on the Ravens with 79 tackles and has a sack and an interception. He also has fared well on punt returns with a 12.2-yard average, sixth best in the league.
“I think the best words to describe Jim Leonhard is he’s a football player,” Ravens special teams coordinator Jerry Rosburg told the Baltimore Sun. “Put him out there at any task, he just finds a way of getting the job done. The thing that people are perhaps a little mistaken on is they look at Jim and they think he’s an overachiever.
“That guy is a good athlete,” Rosburg added.
Bad teeth?
Chargers defensive end Jacques Cesaire took the run-up to today’s AFC West showdown between San Diego and Denver in humorous stride.
“They have bad teeth,” Cesaire said of the Broncos in the San Diego Union-Tribune. “They have bad hair. They don’t know how to cook. What else don’t I like about them? They watch ‘Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.’ Who does that? Who watches ‘Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman?’ That’s what I want to know. I heard the Denver Broncos watch it. I’m just sayin’. ”
Cesaire on Denver’s Jay Cutler: “My biggest complaint with him is that he looks like Ringo Starr, you know? I’m just not feeling his haircut. Take a look at Cutler sometimes. He has like this shag look going. I don’t even know what it’s called. I was just looking at his press conference the other day after the game. He had on this overgrown suit jacket. It was like, ‘Come on, man. Let’s get it together.’ ”
Onside kicks
• Vikings defensive tackles Kevin and Pat Williams both used a banned diuretic because they each were in line for $400,000 bonuses if they were at or below their prescribed weight a set number of times each year. That admission was revealed this week in court papers that are part of the Williamses’ suit against the NFL to avoid a four-game suspension for violating the league’s drug policies.
• New Orleans QB Drew Brees needs 402 yards passing against Carolina to break Dan Marino’s season record of 5,084 yards, set in 1984.
• We may be in the golden age of punters. Last year Oakland’s Shane Lechler and San Francisco’s Andy Lee became the first punters ever to finish a season with a net average of better than 40 yards. Lechler had 41.1, Lee 41.0. This year there are four punters over 40 — Lechler (41.1), St. Louis’ Donnie Jones (40.9), San Diego’s Mike Scifres (40.9) and Baltimore’s Sam Koch (40.6). The Bills’ Brian Moorman is sixth at 39.6. Moorman’s career best is 39.2 in 2006.
• Make that the golden age of punters and kickers. There have been a record 62 field goals of 50-plus yards this year. The old mark was 61 in 1993.
• More punting: Entering today’s game against St. Louis, Atlanta punter Michael Koenen has allowed 49 punt return yards. The NFL record for fewest allowed in a 16-game season is 53 held by the 1991 Bills.
• Kansas City has just nine quarterback sacks, four shy of the Baltimore Colts’ record for fewest sacks in a 16-game season, set in 1981.
• How impressive is the Giants’ home-field advantage accomplishment? The Giants face their 10th straight opponent today (Minnesota) with a winning record. The Giants have gone 7-2 in this stretch. . . . Giants back Derrick Ward needs 52 rushing yards to hit 1,000. He and Brandon Jacobs would become the fourth running back duo to each cross the 1,000-yard plateau. (That does not count the Falcons duo of Warrick Dunn and QB Vick, who did it in 2006.)
• Brett Favre has one TD and six INTs in his last four games.
