Power Rankings: NFL's best coaching jobs
Chris Simms and Tank Williams look at the top coaching performances this season, including some key midseason moves that placed teams back in playoff contention.
Video Transcript
TANK WILLIAMS: All right, Chris. Now want to get into some of the coaches who I feel have done an exceptional job so far this season, whether it's guys who have dealt with a rash of injuries and still have their teams in the playoff race or guys who just got off to an unexpected high start and just kind of kept that train rolling.
So I'm going to get into it. And you should have the same list as me, unless you on some other stuff--
CHRIS SIMMS: What? Of course I'm not going to have the same list as you. But anyways, go ahead. I appreciate your opinion. Go ahead.
TANK WILLIAMS: All right, I'm going to just go ahead and throw these names off, and then we're going to rock to it.
Number three, Jon Gruden with the Oakland Raiders, number two. Mike Tomlin with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and number one, John Harbaugh with the Baltimore Ravens. What you got?
CHRIS SIMMS: I mean, I'm not mad at any of those. I like them all. I really do.
I still think, OK, there's one-- I'm still going to say Kyle Shanahan--
TANK WILLIAMS: Yeah, he deserves to be in there.
CHRIS SIMMS: --that conversation.
TANK WILLIAMS: Yeah. He's honorable mention for me.
CHRIS SIMMS: Right. And you know, they were undefeated until just this past Monday night. So that's been a phenomenal coaching job. We still got questions about the quarterback.
His first year, they started it out 0 and 10, and we were going, uh-oh. Man, the 49ers may have made a wrong decision hiring him as the head coach. I'm going to throw him in there.
Matt LaFleur.
TANK WILLIAMS: Yeah.
CHRIS SIMMS: I'm going to throw him in there, too, because it's not always easy to take over for a Super Bowl winning head coach like Mike McCarthy. And then you've got to deal with Aaron Rodgers and everybody talking about, oh, how is he going to handle him?
And I just give him a lot of credit for checking his ego at the door and working with Aaron Rodgers, and the whole audible thing and all that crap we heard in the off season. Well, they hashed it out, and it's working, because they're 8 and 2.
TANK WILLIAMS: And I'll tell you why John Harbaugh leads it for me, versus the winning coaches like Matt LaFleur and Shanahan. It's because he was willing to do what a lot of folks weren't.
Like, he embraced Lamar Jackson's athleticism. Like, I feel like when we saw Mike Vick back in the day, they were trying to turn Vick into a pocket quarterback. Like, nah.
He's like, Lamar, you're one of the best running quarterbacks I've ever seen. We're going to use that to our advantage.
And then we saw just last week in the Bengals game where he's throwing spin moves, the invisible juice on defense.
CHRIS SIMMS: I still think, though, one of the names you already mentioned is the leader in the clubhouse to me, overall. Mike Tomlin.
TANK WILLIAMS: Yes.
CHRIS SIMMS: I mean, come on. Just such a great motivator. We got Mason Rudolph. We'll figure out 50 million ways to throw the ball 4 yards, so we make him look good.
TANK WILLIAMS: But the one thing that he understands--
CHRIS SIMMS: --defense straight out.
TANK WILLIAMS: --that defense. There you go. Because that's the one thing the Steelers are always going to lean on, defense. And that's going to be the thing that holds true this year. If they're able to continue that success and make it to the playoffs, it's going to ride on that defense and that pass rush.
CHRIS SIMMS: It is. The front seven is special. Them having the vision, and Minkah Fitzpatrick, playing him in the right position.
TANK WILLIAMS: Defensive MVP right now.
CHRIS SIMMS: I want to ask you this, though. Do you think they can get to the playoffs playing this style of football?
I mean, it's tough to do what they're doing, basically playing through the defense on a week to weak basis.
TANK WILLIAMS: I mean, we've seen it done on a couple occasions. I mean, you remember that Baltimore defense when they had Trent Dilfer at quarterback, where you just lean heavily on the run game. And the defense just says, hey, you're just not going to score more points than us.
And I think the Steelers, with Minkah Fitzpatrick on the back end, now Joe Haden's playing better. They're able to stop the run. They're unable to pressure the quarterback when they could play from a lead.
So I think if the game script and the game flow is in their favor, Pittsburgh is going to be one of the most dangerous teams.
And I think my last name I'm going to throw up is Vrabel in Tennessee, because Tannehill has done an amazing job. Obviously, you give a lot of credit to that Titans offensive line, and Derrick Henry, and being able to run the ball.
But Tannehill has done enough with them to win the game. Their defense is starting to come along now, and they're right there in the mix of that race for the AFC south.
And so I believe Vrabel, making that tough decision midstream in order to insert Tannehill in that team and inject life into a team, is another decision-maker head coach that is probably flying a little bit underneath the radar but deserves a lot of credit.
CHRIS SIMMS: You're right. No doubt. Never easy to bench the number two pick of the draft who's supposed to be your face of the franchise.
TANK WILLIAMS: Right.
CHRIS SIMMS: And Ryan Tannehill, you're right, just gives him enough on offense and makes enough plays to where you're a little scared of the Titans once again when you see them pull off a victory like they did last week against the Kansas City Chiefs.
TANK WILLIAMS: Yeah these guys are neck and neck. It's going to be interesting to see who pulls away with the race. It's going to fun to watch.
CHRIS SIMMS: It is. It's going to be a good year, a good discussion.
TANK WILLIAMS: Yeah.
