Regardless of having a sense this was going to occur final evening, it didn’t seem to be there was going to be this a lot blowback over the NFL Honors.
The uproar was loud in Detroit Lions-centric circles after head coach Dan Campbell completed third on this yr’s Related Press NFL Coach of the Yr award, incomes a complete of 33 factors on three first-place votes, three second-place votes, and 9 third-place votes. Kevin Stefanski of the Cleveland Browns received the tiebreaker over Houston Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans, incomes 21 first-place votes to Ryans’ 20-first place picks. For Stefanski, that is his second time profitable the award since he first turned the crew’s head coach in 2020.
Traditionally talking, the NFL’s Coach of the Yr award has been a narrative-driven award for many who both ridiculously outperform expectations (Brian Daboll in 2022, Sean McVay in 2017), lead a juggernaut (Invoice Belichick in 2007, Ron Rivera in 2015) or like Mike Vrabel in 2021, lead a crew to their convention’s No. 1 seed regardless of having probably the most injured roster in soccer.
The issue is that none of these describe the 2023 Detroit Lions, and Campbell’s possibilities of profitable the excellence all however went out the window when his crew completed 2022 on an 8-2 run as one of many hottest groups within the league. This yr, the Lions completed precisely what many had anticipated them to do—win the NFC North—however they had been a comparatively wholesome soccer crew who had a veteran quarterback beginning for them from begin to end. For the 2 coaches who completed forward of Campbell, that wasn’t the case, and the narratives took maintain.
With a first-year head coach in Ryans and a rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud—the winner of the league’s AP Offensive Rookie of the Yr award—this yr’s Texans crew was tasked with selecting up the items from a 3-13-1 marketing campaign final season. They responded in a means nearly nobody may have anticipated, posting a 10-7 report and profitable the AFC South regardless of having a preseason over/underneath win complete set at simply 6.5.
The Browns ran via a rolodex of quarterbacks this yr, beginning 5 totally different sign callers: Deshaun Watson, Dorian Thompson-Robinson, P.J. Walker, Joe Flacco, and Jeff Driskel. Watson, the crew’s $50 million anchor, performed in solely six video games this season, and the crew’s protection had performed every thing it may to maintain the crew afloat with a 7-4 report. Stefanski received absolutely the most out of a discarded and disregarded Joe Flacco—the winner of this yr’s AP Comeback Participant of the Yr—and went 4-1 over his 5 begins to propel the crew to 11 wins.
Compared to these conditions, the Lions confronted little adversity in the way in which of accidents or uncertainty on the quarterback place. Nevertheless, does it seem to be Campbell deserved to be on extra than simply 15 of the 50 ballots submitted by AP voters? Possibly, however there have been sufficient different groups that performed higher than Detroit down the stretch to diffuse the vote because of recency bias. Kyle Shanahan’s 49ers, winners of seven out of eight in November and December en path to the No. 1 seed within the NFC, stole some votes. McVay’s Rams received seven out of eight themselves to complete the season, their solely loss in extra time to the 13-win Baltimore Ravens—the AFC’s No. 1 seed who helped John Harbaugh earn some votes of his personal.
Make no mistake, the Lions had arguably their most profitable season in my father’s lifetime, however preseason expectations have rather a lot to do with the Coach of the Yr award, and the Lions merely met these expectations to win the division. The one means Campbell’s crew clearly exceeded their expectations was the playoff run they went on, and since voting occurs earlier than the postseason takes place, there wasn’t sufficient there to fire up a vote for a crew that had their over/underneath complete set at 9.5 wins. That is the territory that comes with soccer crew: you’re going to have to recollect, this crew is sweet, and so they’ve confirmed to be good for over 30 video games the previous two seasons, so now they must be higher than good to win awards.
Expectations are sky excessive, and that’s the unlucky actuality of individuals taking this soccer crew significantly; they’re not the “Cinderella” story Brad Holmes assured they weren’t in his end-of-season press convention. That is the subsequent problem that Campbell and this group must navigate. To ensure that him to win this award, he isn’t going to do it by taking anybody without warning—he’ll must maintain this crew taking part in at a excessive degree from begin to end with no late-season lull like there was in November.
But when there’s one man I wouldn’t guess in opposition to to climb that mountain and make voters take discover, it’s Dan Campbell.
