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Recently NFL Media analyst Elliot Harrison published a piece about NFL coach power rankings. I love coming into these things already angry that my coach isn’t high enough, but this one is better than most. I’m still not happy about the overall ranking, but a different view isn’t always bad.
Names that are ahead of John Harbaugh that I (and most should) agree upon:
Bill Belichick (1)- The football encyclopedia himself, there is no doubt this man is the best coach in football now, and arguably in NFL history. Call me crazy, but him being ranked number one isn’t arguable.
Pete Carroll (2)- This man is one pass away from going back-to-back in the Super Bowl with a team he built to become one of the best defensively. Great drafting and formidable coaching helped to build one of the best in pass defenses in history.
Bruce Arians (5) - If you told me I could trade John Harbaugh for Bruce Arians right now I don’t know what to do. Without bias, it’s much closer than I’m comfortable with. Arians is an absolutely terrific NFL head coach. He was the interim coach for the Colts with Pagano battling cancer and posted up big victories. Then transferred to the Arizona Cardinals and went to the NFC Championship last year. Bruce has won two Coach of the Year awards — one of them as the interim coach. He is a great player coach, and outstanding strategist.
Names ahead of Harbaugh that I can understand an argument for:
Mike Tomlin (4)- A very good head coach when not causing sideline antics. "Many feel that, had Le’Veon Bell not gone down the last two years, Pittsburgh’s offense would’ve tipped the balance in the postseason," writes Harrison. "Tomlin’s regular-season record of 92-52 is nothing to scoff at." I mean, he’s not wrong. The man’s been to two Super Bowl’s and hoisted one Lombardi. While the Ravens argue about health, the Steelers are consistently losing one star player as well.
Andy Reid (6) - The man who doesn’t understand the clock is somebody I was not happy seeing ahead of Head Coach John Harbaugh. After reading why he’s placed six, I pumped the brakes a bit.
"Reid has been at it so long that it's easy to take his career for granted. He's just kind of there for some fans, until someone blows up his clock management on Twitter. OK, maybe he's had one (or 28) foul-ups in that area. Yet, Reid has also been to a Super Bowl, five conference championships and 11 postseasons. He's also 51 games over .500 during his career. I'd say that is successful."
Nice to know he cites just how many screw-ups Andy has had with managing the clock. I can’t say I agree with Andy being ahead, but the argument can be made.
I only flat-out disagree with one name being ahead, and that is Green Bay Packers Head Coach Mike McCarthy. The man has been with the Pack for over a decade, with two Hall of Fame caliber quarterbacks. In this time McCarthy has won only one Super Bowl. Only been to one Super Bowl. Finally, in 2016, Green Bay wasn’t the NFC North champ, and the reason being: it’s no longer a cakewalk division. They played the downtrodden Lions, and bad Chicago teams. Let’s not forget they had the Vikings to punish without a basic NFL caliber QB with Christian Ponder at the helm.
The excerpt for John Harbaugh
7) John Harbaugh, Baltimore Ravens
A little criticism -- much of it of the pinprick variety -- has landed at John Harbaugh's feet recently. Little things you hear, here and there. Then, at the end of the day, you realize the man has won the vast majority of his games as a head coach, as well as a Super Bowl. Last year was not kind to him and the Ravens, as Joe Flacco, Justin Forsett, and Terrell Suggs all went down. The team lost nine one-score games. Expect Baltimore to bounce back in 2016.
Fair assessment of Coach Harbs, and I would like to agree, expect Baltimore to bounce back in 2016.