New Orleans Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas is leaving the NFL Honors awards ceremony with some more hardware, having earned recognition as the 2019 Offensive Player of the Year. That’s huge for him, but we can’t overlook a serious snub for another category: NFL Coach of the Year, which went to Baltimore Ravens shot-caller John Harbaugh. Here’s how the voting shook out, per ESPN’s Jamison Hensley:
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John Harbaugh, Baltimore Ravens: 27 votes
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Kyle Shanahan, San Francisco 49ers: 14
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Matt LaFleur, Green Bay Packers: 3
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Mike Tomlin, Pittsburgh Steelers: 2
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Sean McDermott, Buffalo Bills: 2
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Sean Payton, New Orleans Saints: 1
Payton’s candidacy needs little elaboration. No coach in the NFL has won more games over the last three years than Payton (37), and he won five games this season with franchise quarterback Drew Brees watching from the sidelines in sweatpants, wearing a bulky cast on his surgically-repaired throwing hand. There are few coaches around the league who could pull off the neat trick of winning five games in a row without their starting quarterback, much less a Hall of Fame-bound talent like Brees. But Tomlin deserves greater consideration than what the voters afforded, too.
Tomlin watched as his “Killer Bees” offense fell apart at the seams, with all-star running back Le’Veon Bell bolting in free agency, superfreak wide receiver Antonio Brown getting his way with trade demands, and an early-season elbow injury cutting down quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. Then he had to quickly retool his defense around youngsters like rookie linebacker Devin Bush and second-year safeties Terrell Edmunds and Minkah Fitzpatrick (acquired in a trade early in 2019).
And it’s not like the injuries slowed down for Pittsburgh; backup quarterback Mason Rudolph missed time, too, meaning practice squad call-up Devlin Hodges (more popularly known by his nickname, “Duck”) had to start six games, winning three of them. Nevertheless, Tomlin’s team finished the year at 8-8, and a couple of coin flips away from the postseason. Now that’s impressive coaching.
Still, we shouldn’t minimize what Harbaugh accomplished. He renovated his entire offense around Lamar Jackson, a quarterback with few believers around the NFL’s orbit, and ran over every obstacle in their way (until they met Derrick Henry on a cold night in January). He deserves consideration and respect, but not more than half the votes cast. As far as that goes, how can LaFleur command as many votes as Payton and Tomlin combined, when his players have publicly lamented how unprepared they were for the NFC Championship Game? It’s outrageous that voters dropped the ball this badly.
