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Heres who deserves to be coach of the ye

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发表于 2023-6-7 12:14:06 | 显示全部楼层 |阅读模式
No NFL coach has been better than Jack Del Rio this season. Nobody. There are plenty of accolades to go around with the ' stunning transformation seemingly complete, and quarterback and linebacker are on the precipice of collecting some major hardware themselves. But not as much is being made of the work that "Bra s Balls" Del Rio has done, truly changing the culture. He instilled a winning attitude last season and is now guiding his young team to the top of the AFC. He has cultivated the blo soming talent into a potent and cohesive group despite facing some unique and daunting challenges. From Week 1 -- with the gutsy decision to go for the win in New Orleans with a two-point conversion rather than kick the extra point for the tie -- right through to Thursday's huge matchup in Kansas City, Del Rio has been pushing all of the right buttons both on game days. Behind the scenes, he's getting these upstarts to believe they can compete with any team in the league. That's why he should be recognized with coach of the year honors. Week 14    When you think about it, it's not even close. His counterpart this week, the ' Andy Reid, would be a finalist for me, and the ' Jason Garrett will get some votes, and you can always make the case for Bill Belichick. But given the herculean task Del Rio a sumed when he walked in the decrepit O.co Coliseum for  Andrei Mironov Women Jersey the first time in 2015, and all that he has accomplished in le s than two seasons there, it's time to give the man his due. Oft-maligned owner Mark Davis also deserves some props for putting together the team of Del Rio and GM Reggie McKenzie, who I have every reason to believe will be named the NFL's executive of the year for the talent he has collected there. It was right around this time, in 2014, when I first heard rumblings that, if Davis could not land his dream coach -- Jon Gruden, who once led the Raiders to glory when Davis's father, Al, was stilling running the team -- then Del Rio was very well positioned to land that job. And I can recall how many mocked my report and/or ridiculed Davis for considering him. Del Rio's star had fallen, precipitously, since his salad days Sven Andrighetto Men Jersey  as head coach in Jacksonville, and he was looking for work in the aftermath of John Fox's falling out with John Elway in Denver, where Del Rio had been Fox's defensive coordinator. And the Raiders job was something, frankly, few coaches even wanted.   That job was a career killer. No one wins in Oakland. No one wanted to work for Mark Davis. No one wanted to coach in that stadium. No one even finishes above .500 there. No quality free agents would sign there. The outlook was bleak. Maybe not quite as bleak as Cleveland -- pro football's Siberia -- but pretty close, lest we forget the depths Del Rio and the Raiders have climbed from. It wasn't that long ago that Raiders coach Dennis Allen was fired a mere four games into that disastrous 2014 season -- four weeks! -- after getting trounced by the weak , 38-14, in London. The Raiders didn't win a game until Week 12, which snapped a 16-game losing streak dating back to the previous season. They failed to win consecutive games and finished 3-13, with a lone Pro Bowler on the roster, and a fullback at that -- since-departed . They stunk on offense. They stunk on defense. That is what Del Rio walked into. It wasn't the sexiest hire, or the flashiest decision. Anything but. It was, however, the perfect guy at the perfect time. Del Rio's friends would tell you he was humbled by the way things ended in Jacksonville (where his record rivals that of the Jags' previous coach, Tom Coughlin) and Denver. He's still an alpha male,  Nikita Zadorov Women Jersey a tough guy, plenty stern, but more well-rounded and nuanced now. He embodies many of the quinte sential Raiders hallmarks -- he still looks like he could kick a s if he had to, in a locker room or otherwise -- but his edges have been softened after being churned through the coaching grinder and some lean years. Del Rio was prepared to take on these challenges and learn from past mistakes. The pending po sible relocation can't stop them. The sewage in the stadium won't stop them. No one, it seems, can stop their offense. And the defense is improving by the week. It's been a remarkable story, and Del Rio has everything to do with it.  This was a very young team -- born, in many ways, of the masterful 2014 draft that McKenzie and his staff put together -- and they were going to make their share of mistakes. The franchise had been crippled for years by lack of discipline and rampant penalties. All of that had to change. And Del Rio showed a shrewd and steady hand through the 2015 season, as Carr and Mack began to take the team over. And it has been clear from the way players galvanized around Del Rio from Week 1 on of this season how much they have come to embrace him. Del Rio is very much of the group, fist-bumping and chest-bumping, reinvigorated by the youth surrounding him. He reflects his players as they reflect him   When this team gets down, now, no one sulks. There is energy and purpose on the sidelines. There is belief. Oh, and there are wins. Lots and lots of wins. Blowouts and close games. Come-from-behind heroics. They just win, baby. Pretty much every week now. Only the Dallas Cowboys ( Philipp Grubauer Jersey 11-1) have a better record than the Raiders (10-2) and there is a legitimate chance that the road to the Super Bowl might go through the Black Hole, with Oakland po sibly hosting an AFC title game. That seemed unfathomable only a few months ago. And Del Rio has done all of this under the backdrop of Davis' very public campaign to move the team. I can't recall a more overt maneuver, actually, ever. Davis has been doing anything he could to secure a move to Las Vegas before this season even began. Literally the future of the franchise hangs in the balance, fans and players don't know what's to come after the season, and the Raiders have become one of the league's top teams while politicians have been literally voting in Nevada to fund and build a new stadium for them there. Davis has been high-fiving other owners and releasing statements of intent to move to Vegas as soon as po sible, and the Raiders just keep humming along, and doing so in the best division in football.   That ain't easy, which is why Del Rio deserves all the credit in the world. And, with two years on his contract, it would behoove the owner to work on a new deal for his coach in a few months, between all those Vegas meetings. The Raiders have already won 10 games for the first time since 2002 -- the last time they went to the playoffs -- and their next victory will match Matt Nieto Jersey  the entire win total from 2012-2014, the three seasons before Del Rio arrived. They've already clinched their first winning season since 2002. Hell, the Raiders haven't even finished above third in the division since 2002. And they are far from done. The pending po sible relocation can't stop them. The sewage in the stadium won't stop them. No one, it see
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