— Someone asked me this summer; “Who are more important, coaches or players?”
I thought about it for a minute, then said how I think that no team can be great without great players. Players make the train roll down the tracks, coaches keep the train on the track. It is the truly great teams that have both, but given my choice, I’d rather have great players.
— Bill Belichick is a polarizing figure, but no doubt he is a Hall of Fame coach, with six Super Bowl rings as a head coach (333-178 record), two more as an assistant coach with the Giants.
Upon further review, this is his record:
1991-95 Cleveland 37-45
2000-23 New England 296-133
In New England when Tom Brady started at QB, he was 249-75
In New England, when someone else started, he was 47-58.
Overall, his NFL record without Brady: 84-103 (also 4-6 in college this year)
— Other QB’s records when starting under Belichick:
Testaverde 16-15………Kosar 14-22………….Zeier 1-3
Cassel 10-5………………Mac Jones 18-24…..Hoyer 0-2
Garoppolo 2-0…………Bledsoe 5-13…………Brissett 1-1
Rypien 2-1………………Newton 7-8…………..Philcox 2-3
Tomczak 4-4…………..Zappe 4-4
— I posted those numbers on Twitter over the weekend; that post had 10 times more activity than anything else I ever posted there, so I decided to research a few more coaches.
— QB’s who started under Bill Walsh:
Joe Montana 88-40
Steve Young 4-2
DeBerg 6-18
Cavanaugh 2-0
Kemp 3-2-1
Gagliano 1-0
— QB’s who started under Chuck Noll:
Terry Bradshaw 121-56………Kruczek 6-0…….Bono 2-1
Bubby Brister 26-27………….Gilliam 4-2-1……Blackledge 2-3
Mark Malone 21-24…………..Woodley 7-6…….SCampbell 0-2
Hanratty 6-11…………………..O’Donnell 2-6…..Shiner 1-8
Stoudt 9-7
— QB’s who started under Joe Gibbs
Joe Theismann 53-23……..Brunell 16-19……..TCollins 3-0
Mark Rypien 47-22………..JCampbell 8-12…..Rutledge 0-1
Jay Schroder 24-7………….Ramsey 4-4………..Rubbert 3-0
Doug Williams 5-9…………Humphries 3-2
— QB’s who started under Don Coryell:
Dan Fouts 72-53…….Luther 2-7………..Harris 0-2
Jim Hart 41-28………Herrmann 1-4…..Keithley 1-1
Famous birthdays, November 19th:
Bob Boone, 78
Ahmad Rashad, 76
Allison Janney, 66
Meg Ryan, 64
Ryan Howard, 46
Adam Driver, 42
Framber Valdez, 32
Joey Gallo, 32
Poona Ford, 30
Zach Collins, 28
— Apparently Florida Gators have offered Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin a six-year deal worth $81M; had to be awkward over the weekend, when the Rebels beat Florida, 34-24.
— Best wishes to former NFL quarterback Bernie Kosar, who underwent a liver transplant a few days ago. He says he feels good after the surgery, which is excellent news.
— Dallas Cowboys TE Jake Ferguson is the grandson of longtime Wisconsin coach/AD Barry Alvarez; Ferguson has caught 60 passes for 400 yards so far this season.
— Michigan State 83, Kentucky 66
Spartans shot 11-22 on the arc, Kentucky 7-30.
Michigan State out-rebounded Kentucky, 42-28
Kentucky is 3-2, but 0-2 vs teams ranked in the top 250.
— Duke 78, Kansas 66
Duke shot 62.5% inside arc; they only played one senior.
Kansas PG Peterson (hamstring) didn’t play.
Teams combined to shoot 11-47 on the arc.
— Florida State 87, Tenn-Martin 73
Skyhawks turned ball over 26 times, FSU only six times.
Tenn-Martin has turned ball over 27.3% of time in its D-I games.
Tenn-Martin has also covered the spread in all three D-I games.
— Texas A&M 86, Montana 81
Aggies led by 14 at half, shot 71% inside the arc.
Montana made 16-31 on arc, covered after trailing by 19.
Montana shot 59.3% inside arc in its four D-I games.
— Fresno State 80, Stephen F Austin 78
Lumberjacks led by 7 with 3:55 left to play.
Bulldogs were 11-19 on foul line, SF Austin 3-6.
Fresno State shot 64.3% inside the arc.
— Troy 108, San Diego State 107 2OT
Kid on San Diego State hit a half-court shot at the buzzer to force OT.
6-8 junior Dowd scored 25 points, had 19 rebounds for Troy.
Aztecs were 34-48 on foul line, Troy 32-43.
Pretty good week for Troy, with four games in seven days in SoCal, playing LMU, Northridge, this game and USC Thursday night.
