John Harbaugh and the coach of the year conversation

John Harbaugh just had the best regular season of his entire career. It would be hard not to give him the NFL Coach of the Year Award.

John Harbaugh has had an incredible season with the Baltimore Ravens and strongly deserves to be the NFL Coach of the Year. Harbaugh went 14-2 with a completely new offense and a quarterback many pundits spent the offseason doubting. Do you remember people arguing that Lamar Jackson couldn’t throw?

The Ravens last loss came at the first quarter mark of the NFL season. Harbaugh and the Ravens used that loss to find themselves, and when they did the results were better than even an optimist could have projected.

There are some other names in the Coach of the Year conversation. Sean Payton kept the New Orleans Saints one of the NFC’s top teams through a long stretch without Drew Brees. Payton led the Saints to 13 wins and this was probably the best coaching job he’s ever done. If Payton wins the award it would at least make sense.

Another name in the debate is Sean McDermott of the Buffalo Bills. McDermott however, did exactly what he should have been expected to do. He took a talented Bills team with a young quarterback to the playoffs. It’s hard to crown him as the top coach this year. The Bills had  chances to beat the New England Patriots and they came short both times. The Bills finished with 10 wins. The Bills had a good season, but nothing that merits McDermott this honor.

The last name that has been floated around is Mike Tomlin. Tomlin was in the conversation because he kept the Pittsburgh Steelers in the playoff hunt until the final week of the season, without Ben Roetblisberger. Winning eight games was a major accomplishment when you consider Mason Rudolph and Devlin Hodges were the quarterbacks for almost the entire year. When the Steelers lost to the Jets and then lost to a Robert Griffin III led Ravens team, Tomlin lost his spot in the Coach of the Year talk.

It boils down to Harbaugh and Payton for the award. The reason Harbaugh should get the nod is because everything in Baltimore is so different and so fresh all of the sudden. The Ravens took Lamar Jackson and rebuilt the entire team around what he could do. Harbaugh had to overhaul the comfort zone that he spent his career in. He got into analytics and he became a more aggressive coach. He got the entire team to buy in and both of his coordinators are top head coaching candidates.

The Ravens have been the best team in the NFL this season. They have the best record, and the best resume. The Ravens have crushed good teams. The Ravens have been consistent. Harbaugh’s accomplishments are not debatable.

The Saints came into the season as contenders for the Super Bowl. The Saints were expected to be this good. Yes Drew Brees missed basically six games, but Teddy Bridgewater is a great backup quarterback. The Saints and Ravens both have great talent, but the Ravens have far exceeded rational expectations for their season. The Ravens are doing things most pundits didn’t think were possible.

At the end of the day, there are two men in this conversation. The race for Coach of the Year is tight, yet the Ravens’ ability to exceed expectations gives Harbaugh the strongest case. In other words, Big Truss.