That does it. I'm tearing up my Coach of the Year ballot and starting all over. And this time I have Jacksonville's Jack Del Rio and Tampa Bay's Jon Gruden at or near the top.
How can they not be? According to this year's Pro Bowl results they're doing more with less than anyone out there.
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Let me ask you: When you first went over Tuesday's winners, how many Jacksonville Jaguars and Tampa Bay Buccaneers do you remember seeing? OK, let's make this easy. You don't because there weren't any.
That's right, no Fred Taylor. No David Garrard. No Ronde Barber. No Joey Galloway. Nobody.
Garrard would have had a tough time cracking that lineup of Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Ben Roethlisberger. But Cleveland's Derek Anderson wouldn't, and I'll save that for later.
For the moment, let's stay with Jacksonville and Tampa Bay and start first with the Jags. Taylor and linebacker Mike Peterson were the most deserving, but Peterson disqualified himself when he bowed out last month with a hand injury.
So that left Taylor, who has never been to a Pro Bowl -- and now looks as if he never will. I guess the guy could've voted for himself a thousand times, and it wouldn't have made a difference because, at 31, he probably never will have another season better than this one.
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| Shouldn't Jermaine Phillips or one of the Bucs defenders be dancing in Hawaii? (Getty Images) |
OK, so he scored only four times. That's because he shares the backfield with Maurice Jones-Drew, who has twice as many TDs and probably pulled down twice as many votes.
I don't know, maybe Taylor was the victim of poor timing. If the voting were completed this week instead of last, maybe he makes it to Honolulu. It would have been hard for anyone to ignore Taylor's season-high 147 yards against Pittsburgh's storied run defense, especially in light of the poor conditions.
But he didn't make it, and the Jags were shut out. So how in the world are these guys 10-4, people?
They beat San Diego, a club that is playoff bound and had as many Pro Bowlers (8) as New England. The Jags beat Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay, too, and they came this close to catching defending Super Bowl champion Indianapolis in the RCA Dome.
So how do they do it?
Jack Del Rio, come on down. If it's not the players, then it must be the head coach putting the right guys in the right spots for all the right games.
Go ahead and snicker, but look what he did with his quarterbacks. Byron Leftwich was the popular choice to return as the team's starter, but Del Rio not only overruled the idea; he cut Leftwich before the season began to make sure everyone knew Garrard was in charge.
It was a gutsy decision. And it was the right one.
Then Del Rio had to play three times without Garrard, and you know something: He won two of them. Quick now: Can you name the Jags' backup? Yep, it was Quinn Gray, and there's another reason to like Jack Del Rio.
Now let's stay in Florida and move to the other coast where Gruden has the Bucs at the top of the NFC South. I don't know how he's done it, either, but the Pro Bowl tells me it's not because of his players. Not one guy will be out there dressed in Buccaneer red, pewter and black.
But that's nothing compared to the embarrassment that Gruden's division suffered. Not only is there no Buc on the all-NFC team; there is no one from the entire NFC South, period.
Think about that for a minute. Four teams in one division, and not one guy worth sending to Hawaii? Maybe Tampa Bay suffered from the company it keeps.
Anyway, when you think of the Bucs, quarterback Jeff Garcia is the first name that comes to mind because of the impact he's made on the team. But he's not going to crack the trio of Brett Favre, Tony Romo and Matt Hasselbeck, so let's move on.
Galloway? Nope. He's having a huge season, with a glittering 17.6 average per reception, but again the cast was too strong at his position.
But what about the league's third-ranked defense? Are you going to tell me there was no one -- not a Barrett Ruud, Jermaine Phillips or Barber -- who deserved to be recognized? So if it's not the players ...
... Jon Gruden, take a bow. The inescapable conclusion is that he's doing a lot better job than most of the guys in his profession. OK, most of the guys outside of Jack Del Rio.
Oh, and one more thing: You have to look hard for Browns and New York Giants, too, and the only complaint I have there is ... Derek Anderson? Are you kidding me? All the guy's done is given the Browns' offense something it hasn't had in years -- a pulse -- and he pulled it off with cool, efficient play and 26 touchdowns.
Tight end Kellen Winslow was deserving, too, but he wasn't going to push San Diego's Antonio Gates and Kansas City's Tony Gonzalez off the club. But I could see Anderson pushing Ben Roethlisberger.
It didn't happen. In fact, not much of anything happened with teams not named Dallas, New England, San Diego, Indianapolis and Green Bay. I understand because they're five of the best clubs out there.
But so is Jacksonville, and I'm still waiting for my first Jag to be nominated. On second thought, forget it. I have a better chance of pushing Del Rio for Coach of the Year.
