NFL 2020 midseason awards

Coach of the Year

Usually this award goes to one of the coaches of the teams with the best records in either conference and while there is an obvious candidate at the top that fits that description, I went with two other names who I believe have done an excellent job getting their teams ready to play.

1. Mike Tomlin (Pittsburgh Steelers)

This one was pretty easy. Tomlin is leading the only remaining undefeated team in the NFL, as the Steelers are outscoring the opposition by an average of ten points.

The first four wins of the season weren’t overly impressive because of the teams they faced, but when you look at the last three weeks – they shellacked the then 4-1 Browns, they were up 24-7 at halftime against the recently 5-0 Titans, before taking their foot off the gas a little bit in the second half, and just this past Sunday, they beat their arch-rivals in Baltimore, as the Ravens’ only loss up to that point had come against the Chiefs.

Tomlin might not be one of those guys who is heavily involved in the play-calling, but he is a great motivator and his teams always show toughness and want to intimidate the opposition, plus as a former defensive coordinator, that unit has been the best in the entire league.

Pittsburgh’s defense is top five in yards and points allowed, yards per play and takeaways, to go with an NFL-best 52 tackles for loss and 30 sacks, while pressuring opponents on a ridiculous 35 percent of dropbacks.

However, they play great complementary football, as their offense is also fourth in time of possession and tied for third with Kansas City with a completion percentage of 49.5 percent.

This past Sunday they were down by more than one score for the first time all year and the Ravens were objectively the better team, but the Steelers still found a way to get it done, as they scored 21 points in the second half and stopped consecutive potential go-ahead touchdowns by Baltimore.

They already had their bye week pretty much cancelled on short notice by the COVID outbreak in Tennessee, but their head man has kept them focused. And looking at their schedule, I would actually be surprised if they weren’t still undefeated three weeks from now.

2. Kliff Kingsbury (Arizona Cardinals)

The arrow is clearly pointing up for this Cardinals team. Just two years ago, they went 3-13 and “earned” the number one overall pick in the 2019 draft because of it. While I didn’t completely agree with it at that point – which was more about the two elite players at the top of the board for me that they passed up – they decided to move on from a top ten pick from a year prior and selected Kyler Murray.

In Kyler’s rookie season, they went 5-11-1 and this year they have already matched that win total through seven games. A lot of that has to do with their dynamic young quarterback, who I have as one of my favorites for Offensive Player of the Year, but when you hand out these awards, it always goes to the entire coaching staff and these guys have done a really good job.

We all recognize that the offense has the potential to get as hot as any team’s in this stratosphere outside of Kansas City, with Kyler being a dynamic dual-threat, DeAndre Hopkins playing like one of the three best receivers in football and contributions from a bunch of lesser-known commodities – that has a lot to do with Kingsbury’s Air Raid-based spread system, which he has shown the willingness to adapt at times, implementing more pro-style run schemes and running the third-most 12 personnel in the league (30%).

However, the big story to me has been the defense, as they have gone from bottom-five in points allowed per game to top ten this year and after giving up at least 23 points in all but two of their 16 games last season, opponents have crossed that mark just twice through the first seven games. And they didn’t change a whole lot about their personnel, but rather Vance Joseph just has his guys coached up to run a more complex system, that gives opponents plenty of different looks.

3. Brian Flores (Miami Dolphins)

And then there’s the guy in Miami, who after having the fans chanting “Tank for Tua” at this point a year ago, now has his troops at 4-3 with an overhauled roster, that is now built around the lines on either side of the ball and is really coming together these last few weeks.

Nobody paid any attention to this group when they lost their first two games of the season, but since then, they have outscored opponents by an average of 14.2 points, with their only loss over those five games coming by one possession to the 6-1 Seahawks, in a game where they settled for six field goals. They beat the 49ers and Rams by a combined 37 points and they barely did anything on offense this past game against L.A.

I don’t know if any people realize this, but right now the Dolphins have the number one scoring defense (130 points through seven games), thanks in large part to the brilliant job their coaching staff has done at game-planning, which I put a video out on my Twitter and Instagram, if you are interested to see what they did against the Rams.

While a lot of this can be put on the opposing quarterbacks, Brian Flores & company have outclassed two of the brightest offensive minds in the sport in those two matchups – Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay.

And while you can somewhat see why they have been so successful defensively when you look at their lineup, with Xavien Howard and those guys that have come over from New England, Miami is also just one spot outside of the top ten in points per game as a team, at 26.9 points. And who are the stars on that side of the ball? Devante Parker? Myles Gaskin?

Give Chain Gailey some credit for the combination of a downhill run game and a horizontal passing attack, which has allowed them to move the ball.

And the man who ties it all together is Flores.

Notables: Andy Reid & Matt Rhule