Super Bowl Deja Vu?

The buildup to this year’s Super Bowl surrounds two already Super Bowl winning quarterbacks and coaches. Both Eli Manning and Tom Brady have won at least one Super Bowl, while their current coaches have also won before. This got me thinking about how rare of a matchup this is. The chart at the bottom lists the starting QBs and coaches and there are some interesting results:

• This is the fifth time two SB winning QBs have faced off and also the fifth time two SB winning coaches have met.
• Surprisingly or not surprising at all, eight of those ten instances were the same games. The exceptions were when Warner (now on the Cardinals) faced Big Ben (now with Tomlin) and Don Shula was trying to win with Marino against Bill Walsh.
• Along similar correlating lines, there have been 27 QBs trying to win their second ring, and 29 coaches. Those QBs have won 17 or 63% of those attempts, while the coaches have gone 62%.
• It gets even weirder, three QBs have won their second ring with a different coach (Montana/Seifert, Aikman/Switzer, Big Ben/Tomlin) and three have lost trying with a new play caller (Warner/Martz, Warner/Whisenhunt, P Manning/Caldwell). Likewise, four coaches have won with a new QB (Gibbs/Williams, Parcells/Hostetler, Gibbs/Rypien, Seifert/Young) and four have lost with a new passer (Shula/Woodley, Shula/Marino, Parcells/Bledsoe, Holmgren/Hasselbeck).
• Since this is only the fourth matchup of two previously winning QBs and coaches in the same game, you would think it was the first rematch between the same two pairs in a Super Bowl. However, the Steelers of Bradshaw and Noll faced off against the Cowboys lead by Staubach and Landry twice after all four had already been champions.

What does this all mean for Super Bowl XLVI? Not a clue. However, I do have a new found respect for Joe Gibbs, Bill Parcells, Kurt Warner and Super Bowl XIII.

Elway and Favre are not Walking Through that Door: Be Wary of the New Holmgren and Shanahan Eras

Now that Mike Shanahan has officially been named head coach and executive vice president of the Redskins, the city is abuzz with high expectations. A couple weeks ago, there was similar optimism in Cleveland when the Browns hired Mike Holmgren as president of football operations. Both men are Super Bowl winning coaches from the mid 90’s, however there is reason for concern.

Shanahan took over the Denver Broncos in ’95 and led them to back to back titles in ’97 and ’98 with Hall of Famers John Elway, Gary Zimmerman, and 8 other Pro Bowlers including MVP Terrell Davis. But after Elway retired, in the subsequent 10 seasons, Shanahan only produced a 55% winning percentage, one divisional title, four playoff appearances, and one close playoff win. At least he somehow maintained a tan in Colorado during those years.

Likewise in Green Bay, Holmgren joined the Packers and was very successful as a coach, with a Super Bowl title, six straight playoff appearances, and a 66% winning percentage. However, Ron Wolf, the general manager at the time, traded for Favre before Holmgren arrived, and signed Reggie White, the cornerstones of their Super Bowl run. Then Holmgren took over the head coaching and GM job in Seattle in ’99 with mixed results. While he drafted Shaun Alexander, Steve Hutchinson, and brought in Matt Hasslebeck the backbones of their later Super Bowl run, he also drafted Koren Robinson and Jerramy Stevens, who had run-ins with the law. After four seasons with both positions, a 47% winning percentage and only one playoff appearance, the Seahawks removed him from the GM position. Now as just the coach, Holmgren went on a five year playoff run including their Super Bowl appearance.

Whether Shanahan’s recent unsuccessful coaching record and lack of GM experience, and Holmgren’s mediocre seasons as a GM will help the Skins and Browns rise to prominence, is yet to be seen. One thing’s for sure, they will miss these two.

To Bench or not to Bench

This week against the New York Jets, Jim Caldwell, coach of the undefeated Indianapolis Colts, benched his starters in the second half to rest up for the playoffs. With homefield advantage wrapped up, the Colts had nothing to play for except for the undefeated season and history. Of course the Colts lost, creating a creating a big hubbub over history or health. Here are the generic arguments for and against benching your starters and the ESPN versions.

Bench:

• Allows dinged up players to rest for the playoffs
• Prevents disastrous injury to key starter
• ESPN Column For

Play:

• One chance at history
• No correlation between resting and winning in playoffs
• ESPN Column Against

However, the Colts situation provides some interesting side notes. Peyton Manning has never missed a start in his career, and has only missed one snap ever due to injury. Meanwhile, Anthony Gonzalez, the #2 WR going into the year, tore up his knee in week 1 without even being touched.

The Colts recent playoff history itself is ripe with contradictions to these arguments. In 2008 and 2007, they finished the seasons on long winning streaks, but rested their starters in the last weeks, only to lose in their first playoff game. 2005 and 2004 were similar situations, either 8 game winning streaks or starting 13-0, but neither year did they get to the AFC Championship game after resting their starters in the last week. The exception was in 2006, which after starting 9-0, the Colts stumbled down the stretch and had to win to secure the 3^rd seed, in route to their Super Bowl victory.

Therefore, looking at Indy’s past they should have played it out, but the recent undefeated run by the Patriots proves an example otherwise. New England went for the undefeated season and were a miracle catch away from going 19-0, but will just be known as a Super Bowl runner up. Speaking of Tom Brady, even if Caldwell is proven right, and Indy wins the Super Bowl, Brady will still have 3 Super Bowls to Peyton’s 2. However, if they went undefeated, Peyton could claim something pretty boy Brady cannot, and have a piece of history with the ’72 Dolphins.

At least my fantasy team didn't suffer for it this year.

Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus?

Here are the possible replacements for Al Groh, and some of them would make my early Christmas wish list:

Lump of Coal:

• Ron Prince, 40, not coaching. Former UVa OC.
• Jeff Jagodzinski, 46, not coaching. Former Boston College head coach.

Clothes and Books:

• Tom O’Brien, 61, head coach, NC State. Former coach and OC at UVa for 15 years.
• Danny Rocco, 49, head coach, Liberty. Former UVa Assistant Coach.

The crazy unknown gift that could be fun:

• Gus Malzahn, age 43, offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach, Auburn. Former OC at Arkansas and “introduced Wildcat.”
• Jon Tenuta, 52, defensive coordinator, Notre Dame. Played at UVa.
• Jeff Mullen, offensive coordinator, WVU.
• Charlie Strong, 49, defensive coordinator, University of Florida.

The good gifts on your list you were expecting and were guessing correctly while unwrapping:

• Mike London, 49, head coach, University of Richmond. Former UVa DC.
• Al Golden, 40, head coach, Temple. Former UVa DC.
• Jim Grobe, 57, head coach, Wake Forest. 2006 national coach of the year. Played for UVA.
• Derek Dooley, 40, head coach, Louisiana Tech. Played for UVa, coached under Nick Saban.

The gifts not on your list but thought about:

• Troy Calhoun, 44, head coach, Air Force.
• Tim Murphy, 53, head coach, Harvard.
• Randy Edsall, 51, head coach, UConn.
• Greg Schiano, 43, head coach, Rutgers.
• Turner Gill, 47, head coach, Buffalo.
• Skip Holtz, 45, head coach, East Carolina.
• Ken Niumatalolo, 44, head coach, Navy.
• Kevin Sumlin, 45, head coach, Houston.

The awesome gift you were up all night dreaming about but weren’t expecting to get:

• Tommy Tuberville, 55, not coaching. Was the 2004 national coach of the year at Auburn.
• Chris Petersen, 45, head coach, Boise State.
• Gary Patterson, 49, head coach, TCU.
• Brian Kelly, 48, head coach, Cincinnati.

The outlandish wishes, like a pony:

• Bud Foster, 50, defensive coordinator, Virginia Tech.
• Jon Gruden, 46, Monday Night Football commentator. Former Super Bowl winning coach.
• Bill Cowher, 52, not coaching. Former Super Bowl winning coach.
• Mike Shanahan, 57, not coaching. Former Super Bowl winning coach.