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Voted 2007 ArmchairGM User's choice for "Best NFL Coverage"
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The Hawks Nest: So You Don’t Trust Holmgren?
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From: http://afraidofedhochuli.blogspot.com
What about the USA Today?
USA Today wrote an article called “ Ranking and revealing the NFL's best play-callers ”.
I will let the article explain the rules:
“Who are the NFL's best play-callers?
That question was posed to members of USA TODAY's NFL staff (Jarrett Bell, Chris Colston, Jim Corbett, Nate Davis, Larry Weisman and Skip Wood).
Each submitted a top-10 list, and each play-calling coach received 10 points for first-place votes, nine for second place, etc.
From those votes, a list of the NFL's top 15 play-callers was compiled, with comments from the nation's top analysts: Troy Aikman of Fox, Cris Collinsworth of NBC, Ron Jaworski of ESPN and Phil Simms of CBS.
(Note: NFL experience includes entire career, not just years of play-calling.)”
Here is their top 5:
- MIKE HOLMGREN (53 points), Seattle Seahawks head coach
- TOM MOORE (46 points) Indianapolis Colts offensive coordinator
- MIKE SHANAHAN (38 points) Denver Broncos head coach
- JOSH McDANIELS (34 points) New England Patriots offensive coordinator
- JASON GARRETT (30 points) Dallas Cowboys offensive coordinator
That is right; Mike is the number one “Play-caller” as voted on by people who are smarter then me. (No Jokes)
Troy Aikman (who knows a thing or two about offenses) spoke highly of Holmgren:
"He's absolutely outstanding as far as his attention to detail within the passing game and how routes are supposed to be run. I've seen him stop practice and really let players have it for not understanding route depths. You have to be that way if you're going to be successful throwing the football. It's mandatory that guys are where they're supposed to be. Coaches who aren't that specific about it don't understand how difficult it is to play quarterback. Sometimes you can't see a receiver, and you have [to] rely on him being where he's supposed to be."
Phil Simms had a different perspective:
"Matt Hasselbeck can look at more receivers on one pass play than anybody I've seen in the NFL. And that is a direct reflection of Mike Holmgren and his system."
So who is right? The pundits who get paid to break this stuff down or the fans who are tired of seeing him hand off to someone they are frustrated with?
I am going to go with the pundits.
Why?
Because Mike Holmgren has 22 years of experience. In 16 seasons as a head coach he has a career 157-98 record in the regular season, 14 winning seasons (one 7-9 and one 6-10), 8 Division Championships, 11 playoff appearances, 12 playoff wins, 2 NFC Championships and a Super Bowl win.
His list of Quarterbacks include: Brett Favre and Matt Hasselbeck.
When he was a coordinator he tutored Joe Montana and Steve Young.
I think that is a pretty solid resume, so why is Seattle up in arms with him?
I believe there are 4 main reasons:
•1) He has spoken of retirement People don’t like that he isn’t sure of his future. No one wants a “lame-duck”.
•2) They hired Jim Mora as Assistant Head Coach Is he next in line? People like new blood and younger coaches, but what has he done? Took someone else’s team to the NFC Championship his first season (11-5) and then watched as the team became worse (8-8, 7-9). But the fans who wanted him to end up at the UW now want him to be the coach of the Pro team.
•3) People are upset with Alexander and Holmgren still tries to use him One of the biggest problems people have is that he is too compassionate to the players. That is the reason that players like Koren Robinson was around for so long. People feel that he feels obligation to Alexander even if the problems are there.
•4) People believe that he has become “predictable” Is his calling predictable or the talent less then the past? For example: Is Josh McDaniels that good of a coach in New England or do they just have great pieces that can run whatever play he calls?
All of these are valid, but I can not get past the fact that his play-calling works. If it didn’t work the Seattle Seahawks would not be 4-time NFC West Champions. If he was a bad coach his mid-season switch from the run-heavy game to the pass-heavy game would have never worked.
Why is it that only the Seattle fans/media are talking badly about Mike? Everyone else still considers him a coach on the cusp of the Hall of Fame, a coach who can lead a team to the playoffs and a coach who can shape a team into a contender.
Is Seattle really looking for a goat that bad?
If he retires, he will be missed. If he retires, I hope that Jim Mora is not the coach. I am not ready to see him take over my team. Shaun has been injured, he is working his way back and the only way to get him in the groove is to actually use him. Predictable? Again, you need to have the play-makers, which the team is arguably missing in some positions.
Did the Patriots have playmakers when they won in 2003 and 2004? I would argue that they didn’t have anyone that is better then what the Hawks have this year. That’s right, I would put those Tom Bradys against this Matt Hasselbeck any day.
Mike, I trust you.
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