Patriots provide perfect opportunity for Schottenheimer
So this is San Diego's reward for having the best team out there this season: Bill Belichick vs. Marty Schottenheimer, and Tom Brady vs. Philip Rivers. I can already hear the groans around the bar at Bully's.
Relax, people.
I know Belichick is the platinum bar by which others are measured in the playoffs, and I know that Marty is ... well, let's just say Marty's best coaching doesn't take place in January. Sooner or later someone's going to mention he's 5-12 in the playoffs, but that's OK.
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| Marty Schottenheimer can shake the playoff monkey from his back with a win vs. N.E. (US Presswire) |
And maybe that's what I like about Marty Schottenheimer's chances against Goliath. He seems relaxed. No, he is relaxed. He doesn't worry about what people say or think, and he doesn't seem to worry that ownership has a gun pointed at his skull -- essentially, saying win or else.
No, there's a peace about the guy that's refreshing, almost as if he welcomes the opportunity to prove himself -- again -- to skeptics. But Marty doesn't have to prove anything to anyone. Heck, he has won 200 games. He has more playoff appearances than everyone but Don Shula and Tom Landry.
So he hasn't been to a Super Bowl. Was he the one who fumbled the football in Denver? Did he miss those kicks in Kansas City? Did he push Nate Kaeding's field goal wide against the Jets? Listen, I know the record, and the record isn't good. But Schottenheimer is, and he just proved it.
Now he's in a position similar to one the 49ers cast George Seifert in in 1994. He'd already won a Super Bowl, but critics charged that he got there with Bill Walsh's players. Five years later, management was ready to jettison him and replace him with then-offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan if Seifert didn't win a Super Bowl.
So Seifert won.
I don't know what happens here, but I can tell you that Marty Schottenheimer isn't concerned about fighting for his job, his image or his reputation. Marty Schottenheimer is just trying to win another game, only this time he drew the low card in the deck: He has to beat a club that won three of the past five Super Bowls and a quarterback who's 11-1 in the playoffs.
So do it. If the club wants a statement victory, this would be it. Let's see him against the best; then we can judge if his critics are on target. All I know is he has done a hell of a job this season, winning with a quarterback who hadn't started a game and winning while his job security hung in the balance.
Now it's a second season, where he has to do it all over again. Marty knows it, and he's unconcerned -- and if I'm a Bolts fan, that's encouraging. There's a collective angst in the city that basically amounts to, "Oh, no, here we go again," but follow your leader, people. If Marty Schottenheimer's not tighter than a knothole, why should you be?
"People say I'm conservative," Schottenheimer said, "but what I try to do is make sure no matter what happens we keep our players in a position to do what they do best."
