Best coaching performance so far? Choice might surprise you

It is too early to name a coach of the year, but certainly it is easy to acknowledge the good job a number of coaches have done this season.

The following are some of the coaches I think have done an exceptional job. In arriving at these names, I took into consideration my feelings on what kind of a season I expected them to have -- and in one case I looked at it as a two-year evaluation.

Ken Whisenhunt has transformed the Cardinals. (Getty Images)

In the alphabetical order of their teams, the runners-up before revealing my choice below:

Ken Whisenhunt, Arizona: This is the coach I looked at over a two-year period. When I saw the Cardinals last year, I felt the same way I felt when I left the Dolphins camp this year. I saw a team that was establishing a tough, no-nonsense attitude and would play physical football and establish an identity as aggressive on both sides of the ball. You're seeing that this year in how they play.

The most important decision that Whisenhunt had to make was at starting quarterback. Kurt Warner outplayed Matt Leinart in camp and deserved to start. In doing that, it showed the players that how you play was going to determine if you play. When you do that as a head coach, you win the respect of the whole team.

Mike Smith, Atlanta: This team had a number of questions coming into the season. It had a rookie QB, a new starting running back, a rookie left tackle, a rookie middle linebacker, a questionable O-line and an inexperienced secondary.

You could see in training camp the Falcons had a plan that made sense and they believed in it. They were going to run the ball with Michael Turner and Jerious Norwood, limit the throws Matt Ryan was going to have to make (at least early in the season) and take their shots with Roddy White deep in the passing game. It helps when all four of these players have talent, but their plan to run the ball also helped two areas where (in my opinion) they were suspect -- their pass protection and their secondary. Their conservative, ball-control game plan was going to help the secondary.

Early in the season, the schedule helped them get off to a good start (Detroit and Kansas City at home), but they did look sharp in winning those games. This built confidence, and later they defeated Green Bay, Chicago and New Orleans. The other thing I like about the job Smith has done is the team has remained consistent over the course of the season.

John Harbaugh, Baltimore: I think Harbaugh had one of the more challenging jobs. On the one hand, he was taking over a team where it appeared that not much was expected this year, so from that point of view, you could say he had a "free ride."

John Harbaugh has made a quick, confident impression in Baltimore. (Getty Images)

I did not look at it that way. John was coming into this job replacing a coach in Brian Billick who had won a Super Bowl with the Ravens. Besides that, Billick had been told he was going to return but was fired at the end of the season. I think this put Harbaugh in a tough position. Another challenge was winning over a veteran team that knew what good coaching looked like and had some strong personalities in it -- and widely respected defensive coordinator Rex Ryan had been passed over for the top job.

In one of his first moves he made, Harbaugh showed me a lot by naming Cam Cameron as his offensive coordinator. What was significant about that was not only a first-year head coach naming a former NFL head coach to that position, but Cameron was his boss when he as an assistant at Indiana University.

The point I am making here is Harbaugh, who had never been an offensive or defensive coordinator in the NFL (he was a special-teams coordinator), has shown the necessary leadership skills and vision it takes to be a successful head coach.

Here is how he has done it. He has hired two strong coordinators. He has gained the respect of the locker room and used a smart game-planning formula -- emphasizing the run and being smart with a rookie QB, which plays to this team's strength -- the defense.

Tony Sparano, Miami: As I said earlier, the thing that impressed me about the Dolphins when I saw them this year was the mental toughness I saw them practice and play with. I also saw a head coach who had hired a strong staff and was not going to be intimidated working under Bill Parcells. The Dolphins are a better team this year in a number of positions partly due to players like Ronnie Brown staying healthy and the addition of players like Chad Pennington and Jake Long.

The thing I like about the Dolphins is how they went to New England and Denver and won, as well as beating San Diego at home. They have played consistent, tough football all year. Clearly, no one -- including myself -- thought they would win those games.

Jeff Fisher, Tennessee: Year in and year out, the Titans are one of the best-coached teams. Fisher has always hired good coaches, and that is a credit to him. But to me, the big move Fisher made was benching Vince Young. When Fisher made the move, he made it clear to everyone that Kerry Collins was going to be the QB for the rest of the season. In my opinion, the Titans would not be undefeated at this point with Young at QB.

Jim Zorn, Washington: This was a playoff team last year -- barely. So the cupboard was not bare, but where I see his impact is in Jason Campbell’s development. Despite playing in a new system, Campbell has been one of the better QBs in the league.

Also after a Week 1 loss to the Giants, the Redskins dramatically improved despite playing a tough early schedule and are now 6-3. What also has impressed me is although he has never been an offensive coordinator or head coach, his offense has been creative. And he clearly is in charge of the team; he takes a no-nonsense approach to disciplining his players.

Bill Belichick has kept a wounded team afloat and yet again in contention. (Getty Images)

Bill Belichick, New England: All of the previously mentioned coaches could make a case for being coach of the year at this point of the season, but I think the man who has done probably the best coaching job so far this season has been Bill Belichick.

This is Patriots team that has more questions than answers when I look at them. They lost Tom Brady and replaced him with a young QB who had not started a game since high school. Although Matt Cassel has improved his production recently, that has been more manufactured by the structure of the offense and play calling than his brilliant play.

They changed how they played the game. Adjusting to the fact that they could not run a wide-open passing game with Cassel, they went to a short, quick-read passing game. They also decided to emphasize the run, which was smart. This took pressure off Cassel, time off the clock and helped keep the defense off the field.

The only problem with going to a run-first offense was they ran out of healthy running backs and wound up with a college free agent as their starter in BenJarvus Green-Ellis, who has more parts to his name than the Pats have healthy backs. The other problem the Pats faced was their offensive line. It is a well-coached unit, but had not been put in the position of having to have a run-first mentality. Switching that mind-set can be hard to do, but the Pats have done it.

On defense, the Pats have a suspect secondary -- and that was before they lost veteran Rodney Harrison, an effective defender against the run but only average against the pass. The Pats do have a strong front three that is good against the run, but they do not generate a pass rush without blitzing, and their linebackers struggle in coverage.

They are somewhat predictable in what they do on defense -- they take away what the other team does best. Last week, Lee Evans was not going to beat them, and he did not. The week before against the Colts, they were not going to give up the deep pass to Peyton Manning and they were going to limit his possessions, and the Patriots succeeded. They might be predictable but they usually find a way to disguise it.

For these reasons, I think Belichick has gotten more out of his talent than any coach in the NFL in the first half of the season.