FOXBOROUGH – Congratulations are certainly in order for Saints head coach Sean Payton, who was awarded the NFL’s Coach of the Year honor yesterday.
Payton, who took over a 3-13 Saints team in his first year as an NFL head coach and led it to a 10-6 record to win the NFC South, was surely a worthy candidate and was deserving of the honor.
The problem is this: The wrong man won the award.
Eric Mangini was more deserving of the award – quite a bit more deserving.
That Payton received 44 first-place votes and Mangini got only three is somewhere between a downright insult and a bunch of writers (the voters) not paying enough attention.
Taking absolutely nothing away from the terrific job Payton did this season and in no way minimizing the devastating effects that Hurricane Katrina had on New Orleans, let’s be honest here: A large majority of the votes that went Payton’s way were tied into Katrina.
That’s wrong.
Katrina did not have anything to do with the coaching job Payton did this season. It had a much more significant effect on former Saints’ head coach Jim Haslett last season with his team forced into being vagabonds, having to live and train away from home and having no true home games.
Though life in New Orleans probably will never be the same as it was, things were much more in place for Payton when he was hired than they were for Haslett, who was fired after the season.
Now, if you’re looking at pure, raw coaching jobs, name the stars on the Jets’ roster. There are no stars on the Jets.
Now, look at the Saints’ roster Payton had to work with this season. Drew Brees has been one of the most prolific quarterbacks in the NFL the last couple of seasons and he was signed as a free agent in the offseason.
Reggie Bush was, without argument, the most exciting player in college football in 2005 and he was the Saints’ top draft pick in April. He was then paired with Deuce McAllister in the backfield, making the Saints running back combo among the most productive in the game.
The Jets, with Curtis Martin having been driven to the brink of retirement, have not had a consistent running game all season.
They had no idea whom their quarterback would be in training camp, with Mangini conducting a four-player competition from which Chad Pennington would emerge as the winner despite coming off two rotator cuffs surgeries in a year.
Mangini, too, has struck the intricate balance as being not only to be a terrific disciplinarian but a masterful motivator whom the players embrace as a players’ coach. He’s done this because he’s ego-less.
Mangini showing his players tapes of certain fights and bringing boxers and trainers in to talk to the team before games has not only gotten their attention, but they go into today’s wild card game with a 10-3 record in games before which he’s shown a bout.
Last night on the eve of the Jets’ playoff game against the Patriots, Mangini had Arturo Gatti in the team hotel to address the team after he showed them a tape of Gatti’s victory over Micky Ward.
The bottom line to the Coach of the Year argument is this: Mangini led a team with less talent to the same record that Payton led his team to while working with more talent.
That, more than anything else, should have been the determining criteria when awarding this honor, and it should have been handed to Mangini.
