Coach of the Year

[JPatera76]

Definitely should’ve gone to Coach Macdonald not Vrabel.

Coach Mike put on display a masterclass in defensive play calling and coaching Sunday against the COTY

And McDaniels shouldn’t have won what Offensive Coordinator of the year or assistant coach of the year whatever he won

 

[Welshers2]

Definitely should’ve gone to Coach Macdonald not Vabrel.

Coach Mike put on display a masterclass in defensive play calling and coaching Sunday against the COTY

And McDaniels shouldn’t have won what Offensive Coordinator of the year or assistant coach of the year whatever he won

100%. Macdaddy coached circles around "Verbel" in the SB. Vrabel only won it because they had 4 wins last year without him. Mike was punished for winning last year and of course for being in the PNW

 

[Natethegreat]

I mean, who cares at this point? Nobody is going to remember who won coach of the year but they will remember who was coaching the Seahawks in super bowl 60!

 

[pittpnthrs]

Let's not get big headed here. Vrabel deserved it. That team won 4 games last year and went to the Super Bowl the next. He deserves it.

 

[JPatera76]

Let's not get big headed here. Vrabel deserved it. That team won 4 games last year and went to the Super Bowl the next. He deserves it.

Yeah so? Macdonald came in first yr had this team a mere decimal points from a playoff appearance. In a “rebuild” the this offseason gets rid of DK and Geno and Grubb.. all while hitting on the draft and acquisition. They would’ve won 4 games this yr if they had that same schedule. Coach Macdonald had one of more difficult schedules both seasons. Vrabel is an experienced HC already from his time in Tennessee. This is Coach Macdonalds 2nd yr as HC. I’m sure now if I actually tried I could keep going however, you enjoy downplaying a lot of what the team does.

 

[Natethegreat]

Yeah so? Macdonald came in first yr had this team a mere decimal points from a playoff appearance. In a “rebuild” the this offseason gets rid of DK and Geno and Grubb.. all while hitting on the draft and acquisition. They would’ve won 4 games this yr if they had that same schedule. Coach Macdonald had one of more difficult schedules both seasons. Vrabel is an experienced HC already from his time in Tennessee. This is Coach Macdonalds 2nd yr as HC. I’m sure now if I actually tried I could keep going however, you enjoy downplaying a lot of what the team does.

Just glad we have Mike and JS. We rarely get the awards. Just the way it is. We got the award that no one votes on!

 

[dopeboy206]

Let's not get big headed here. Vrabel deserved it. That team won 4 games last year and went to the Super Bowl the next. He deserves it.

They played in a bad division, played a historic easy schedule. Put his team in the toughest division in football (NFC West) and I don't think the pats make the playoffs

 

[Hockey Guy]

If it's any consolation, Vrabel said in his post game that the Seahawks were the better team in every aspect including coaching.

 

[CPHawk]

Won’t matter. In 15 years Macdonald will have won multiple SBs. While Vrabel and Maye will be like Marino and Shula. Always trying to just get back to the SB, but never accomplishing it.

 

[sutz]

Can't remember many years when I could not disagree with their choices of Coach of the Year. Always seems to be another guy who did a pretty good job as well.

 

[Ycrew]

Yeah so? Macdonald came in first yr had this team a mere decimal points from a playoff appearance. In a “rebuild” the this offseason gets rid of DK and Geno and Grubb.. all while hitting on the draft and acquisition. They would’ve won 4 games this yr if they had that same schedule. Coach Macdonald had one of more difficult schedules both seasons. Vrabel is an experienced HC already from his time in Tennessee. This is Coach Macdonalds 2nd yr as HC. I’m sure now if I actually tried I could keep going however, you enjoy downplaying a lot of what the team does.

Do you realize this is Mike Vrabel's first year as HC of the Patriots.

And the roster that he had was 1/2 new players.

 

[Rat]

Mac didn't even finish second for that, he was third behind Vrabel and Coen.

Objectively, Vrabel did a great job this season. I get why the voters were impressed with him, and while I don't agree he should have WON, I don't see this as some all-time travesty either. There was at least a legitimate argument for him.

That being said, I think it's incredibly lazy that this award just defaults each season to the coach of the team that exceeded preseason expectations most. That's why Carroll never won, and Belichick only won three times in 20 years: the year the Pats first came into the scene, and two years that required extraordinary circumstances. While exceeding expectations is great, that should only be part of the equation to determine who did the best job. Winning WITH expectations isn't exactly easy either.

Honestly, if Mac didnt win, it should have been Shanahan. Winning as many games as they did in THIS division with as many injuries as they had was incredible.

 

[Trackhawk]

Shanahan was my vote for COTY, and Gonzalez was my vote for Super bowl MVP, or Dickson.

Sometimes it shouldn’t just go to the guys who have team success.

 

[Ycrew]

Imo

Sam Darnold had 14 wins and to remove Geno and to add Sam, that's more like an upgrade.



My vote would had been, Vrabel - 1st then Ben Johnson 2nd then Mac as 3rd.

 

[themunn]

Yeah so? Macdonald came in first yr had this team a mere decimal points from a playoff appearance. In a “rebuild” the this offseason gets rid of DK and Geno and Grubb.. all while hitting on the draft and acquisition. They would’ve won 4 games this yr if they had that same schedule. Coach Macdonald had one of more difficult schedules both seasons. Vrabel is an experienced HC already from his time in Tennessee. This is Coach Macdonalds 2nd yr as HC. I’m sure now if I actually tried I could keep going however, you enjoy downplaying a lot of what the team does.

Coach of the year is almost always without fail given to a coach who gets a team playing from crap the year before to competitive. If it wasn't Vrabel I'd still have ranked Ben Johnson up there too.

Yes MacDonald had us a hair from the playoffs in year 1 - but we only lost out on play-offs in 2023 through conference record so it's not like he took over a dumpster dive of a team like the Patriots (2 successive 4 win seasons) or Bears (6 years without a winning record) had been.

Not to take anything away from MacDonald of course. But Carroll never won a coach of the year award either - even if he was named to the All-Decade team alongside Belichick

 

[sutz]

Kimmel video in another thread. Kimmel asked Coach if they should take that award back and give it to Mac.

 

[onanygivensunday]

When your team wins the Lombardi, who gives much of a flying EF who wins the individual awards.

When your team does NOT win the Lombardi, you instinctively clutch to ANYTHING that makes you feel better about your team... and that's why they invented the individual awards decades ago. LOL

 

[CalgaryFan05]

They played in a bad division, played a historic easy schedule. Put his team in the toughest division in football (NFC West) and I don't think the pats make the playoffs

They absolutely ******* don't. Every. Single. Year.

Creampuff division making you think you're all *adequate* and shit.... that's cute

Come run with the big dogs for a season! Oh yea, we got nothing to prove - we just whipped your ass

 

[pmedic920]

Definitely should’ve gone to Coach Macdonald not Vrabel.

Coach Mike put on display a masterclass in defensive play calling and coaching Sunday against the COTY

And McDaniels shouldn’t have won what Offensive Coordinator of the year or assistant coach of the year whatever he won

A very good reason, thee reason these awards should not be handed out until AFTER the Super Bowl.

This particular race was close enough that winning the SB should have been the difference maker.

 

[RiverDog]

Definitely should’ve gone to Coach Macdonald not Vrabel.

Coach Mike put on display a masterclass in defensive play calling and coaching Sunday against the COTY

And McDaniels shouldn’t have won what Offensive Coordinator of the year or assistant coach of the year whatever he won

Although there's obviously a good case for Macdonald, there's also a very strong case for Vrabel.

In one year, Vrabel took a team that was 4-13 and led them to a 14-3 and one win away from the Lombardi. Macdonald, on the other hand, took a team that in the year prior to his arrival was 9-8, improved to 10-7 but missed the playoffs, then had a slam dunk Lombardi season this year.

Being that the measurement is for one season, in particular the difference in the regular season W/L records, 4-13 to 14-3 is more impressive than 10-7 to 14-3, while not necessarily agreeing, I can understand voters choosing Vrabel.