The evil genius has done it yet again. Yes, Bill Belichick is the NFL Coach of the Year. This is his third time winning the prestigious crown; he also won in 2003 and 2007. He now stands in a league of his own only trailing Don Shula, a four time winner of the award.
Belichick’s Hall of Fame resume was also enhanced as he became the first coach to win three Super Bowls and three AP Coach of the Year Awards.
The entire New England Patriots family can be proud despite a disappointing end to their 14-2 season at the hands of Rex Ryan’s NY Jets. “I accept the award on behalf of the entire organization, –ownership, our assistant coaches and certainly the players – they’re the ones hat stepped up and made the plays this year,” Belichick said in an NFL Network phone interview.
His players seem to think just as highly of him, “He really stays on top of us,” wide receiver Wes Welker said. “He makes sure that we’re not getting overconfident or believing in the noise outside the locker room and understand that every game’s tough in the NFL.”
This year, we saw the Patriots completely revamp many of their weapons on both sides of the ball. They had immense success on every level. In the Patriots secondary we saw rookie Devin McCourty make the Pro Bowl and Benjarvus Green-Ellis step up as the main running threat. We also witnessed Belichick’s ability to wheel and deal when he traded Randy Moss for a third round draft pick, while at the same time bringing back wide receiver Deion Branch.
But his career hasn’t always been full of victory. Before taking the job in New England, he coached the Cleveland Browns to a 37-45 record and maintained a relationship with local Clevelanders that was “shaky” at best.
Owner Robert Kraft recalls the day he signed Belichick, “When I chose him, people at the league office, people in this town, sent me tapes of him in Cleveland and said, ‘You don’t want to hire this guy.’ And, remember, he went 5-11 his first year and we gave up a No. 1 draft choice. People thought we were nuts.”
But now with a record of 126-50, three Super Bowl rings, and a 14-5 mark in the postseason, Kraft has all of the justification he needs.
“So I think that probably was one of the best decisions I’ve made in football,” Kraft said.
Belichick received 30 votes from a nationwide panel of 50 media members who regularly cover the NFL. Tampa Bay’s Raheem Morris took second with a modest 11.5 votes.
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