Coach bags

The end of the NFL regular season brings with it two things ... the start of the playoffs with Wild Card weekend and the end of some careers with the coaching firing squad. The Monday after Week 17 is often littered with coaches canned for either one disastrous season or a string of bad ones. It's a reminder for Pats' fans just how lucky we are to have Bill Belichick.

There's usually two or three coaches fired on Monday morning, but yesterday there were seven coaches sent packing. A surprising number and a few surprising names on the list:

• Andy Reid, Eagles, after 14 seasons.
• Ken Whisenhunt, Cardinals, after 6 seasons.
• Chan Gailey, Bills, after 3 seasons.
• Lovie Smith, Bears, after 9 seasons.
• Pat Shurmur, Browns, after 2 seasons.
• Romeo Crennel, Chiefs, after just 1 season.
• Norv Turner, Chargers, after 6 seasons.

That's a lot of coaches. There were also a few GMs canned (like Tannenbaum of the Jets) but who really cares about GMs getting fired unless it's your team?

Looking at the list of coaches fired, it breaks down into two categories. The first category is guys who have been with their team for a long time and who have had some success but their teams were clearly heading in the wrong direction. The other category are guys who have only been in the job for a short time and were obviously bad choices when they were hired.

Let's take the second category first. Pat Shurmur was hired by the Browns two years ago billed as one of the games best young offensive minds. He played offensive line at Michigan State and he learned NFL coaching under Andy Reid for 10 years. Not a bad teacher. He moved to St. Louis to be offensive coordinator in 2009 and did that for two years before getting the Cleveland job. Two years as a coordinator is not nearly enough experience to become an NFL head coach unless you had done some head coaching in college. Shurmur had not. But the Browns gave him the job anyway. Which is fine. Why not take a chance on a young guy? Tennessee did that with Jeff Fisher in 1994 and he turned out to be a great coach. But if you are going to hire a guy like Shurmur, you have make a commitment to him for more than two years. Otherwise, why bother?  And that's why the Browns have been bad for years. Eric Mangini ... two years. Romeo Crennel ... three years. If you are only going to give a guy two or three years to get the team headed in the right direction then don't bother hiring him. It's just stupid.

Speaking of stupid... the Chiefs hiring of Crennel and the Bills hiring of Chan Gailey fit that description because they both had head coaching jobs before and had proven they were not head coaching material. Not even close. They are both good guys and great coordinators. But there should be restraining orders preventing them from getting any where near a head coaching job. And yet the Chiefs and the Bills gave them another shot. And not surprisingly, their teams underachieved. Especially the Bills. If Buffalo hires a real coach for next season, with the talent they have, they could win ten games. But since it's Ralph Wilson and the Bills there's a good chance they will mess it up.

My guess is the Bills will probably hire one of the other guys fired yesterday. I'm really hoping it's Norv Turner. It would be great to have Norv in the division. Don't get me wrong. I think Norv is actually a pretty good coach. But he's one of those good coaches whose teams always make crucial mistakes. Which I guess means he's not really a good coach. It's tricky. Same thing with Andy Reid. He's a very good coach. But you just know his team is going to blow it. Reid took Philly to four straight NFC title games, the first three times his team fell flat on its face. The fourth time the Eagles finally won only to lose the Super Bowl to the Patriots. Reid will get another job very quickly. He learned from Mike Holmgren. He's a winner. But it was time for a change after 14 years in Philly. I don't want to see him in Buffalo.

The two other guys fired, Lovie Smith and Ken Whisenhunt, were a bit of a surprise. Smith's Bears went 10-6. It's very rare when a coach gets fired after a winning season. But they were 7-1 halfway through the season and went 3-5 the rest of the way. The Bears were not as good as 7-1 and not as bad as 3-5. They were 10-6 and considering Jay "Goober" Cutler is their QB that's pretty good. Lovie took his team to two NFC title games and the Super Bowl in 2007. But the Bears have only made the playoffs once in the last six years. That will eventually get you fired no matter how nice a guy you are and how much your players love you.  It's the same with Whisenhunt. The Bill Cowher-trained coach got off to a great start with Arizona, taking the team to the Super Bowl in his third season (2009), But since then the Cards have gone 5-11, 8-8, and 5-11. They started off 4-0 this year, including a win at Gillette in Week 2, but they lost nine in a row after that. I think the Cards should have stuck with him another year because it looked like he was building something there with a tough young defense. But that's why teams like the Cards are usually not very good. They are not patient. So now they will be looking to start over.

There was one name not on the list of coaches canned yesterday. Rex Ryan. I'm pretty happy about that. For the second year in a row Ryan's team not only missed the playoffs, but the season ended with the locker room is complete disarray. A team always reflects its coach. And the mess that are the Jets is a mirror image of Skinny Rex. I can't wait to hear what he has to say about what happened this year. But I'll have to wait a while because he decided not to hold the NFL mandated end-of-the-season press conference and head to the Bahamas. That's right. Rex Ryan passed up an opportunity to talk to the media. I know. I can't believe it either. But don't worry. Talk he will. And at some point in his press conference he will be asked about next season and he will make some statement about catching the Patriots and winning the AFC East. That's what I love about Rex. He never learns. And I'm glad his name wasn't on the list.

Romeo. Oh, Romeo.

ROMEO: Telling it like it is.

Romeo Crennel -- defensive coordinator for the Pats Super Bowl teams -- has another shot at a head coaching job. He left the Pats after the '04 title and ran the Browns for four long seasons. He was let go after a four win 2008. Romeo just didn't catch too many breaks during those four years in Cleveland. Injuries. A tough division. Bad drafting. Angry fans in dog masks. Just not much luck.

Now he has the controls of the Chiefs for the final three games of the season to show what he can do. He starts this weekend against ... the undefeated Packers. His bad luck continues.

Romeo doesn't really seem to be cut out to be NFL head coaching material. He's just too nice. But he's a great defensive coordinator and his players seem to love him. But he's just too nice. And just too honest. Take his press conference today as a good example.

Romeo announced that he was benching Tyler Palko in favor of veteran Kyle Orton. Not exactly a shocker. Palko has been awful. But most coaches don't announce a QB change until the last second. You know, keep the opponent guessing. Keep the media clueless. It's the Belichick way. It's the NFL way. But it's not the Romeo way.

When asked why he decided to announce the QB change, Romeo answered honestly. Nicely.

"I thought about Green Bay not knowing but then I said, "Hey, they don't care who our quarterback is.' When they look at the quarterbacks on our roster, they don't care who plays. They look at Tyler and what he's done the past couple of weeks and they look at Orton and know he's got a finger injury (uh, they do now) and they look at a rookie (whatever his name is). I don't think they are shaking in their boots."

An NFL coach saying "All our QBs suck, so who cares who starts."

Love that Romeo.

Dynasty. Starring ...

It seems just yesterday I was working at my old newspaper on New Year's Eve 1999. Y2K! The millennium! The world is going to end! Hoard water and Yodels! Well the decade began and we all survived. As it comes to an end it won't go down as a favorite decade of many -- unless of course you are a Patriots fan. For us, it was a most amazing decade indeed. Looking back at the Super Bowls, great playoff wins (and tough losses), and seasons of 14-2, 14-2, and 16-0, it's easy to select the most important player in this dynastic decade (Mr. Bundchen). But who would make up the rest of the list if you were naming the top 15 (10 wasn't quite enough) of the '00s? I'm glad you asked. (Note: Nine of the 15 were Patriots' picks. That's great drafting).

15. Ted Johnson: I'm not sure any Patriot sacrificed his body more than inside linebacker Ted Johnson did for the team this decade. The guy's a football player. Ohio State. No neck. He's the Jason Bourne of LBs. You can knock him unconscious and he will still get up, find you, and make the tackle. A draft pick of Bill Parcells, Johnson was one of the guys who helped build the dynasty in the mid-90s and then got the satisfaction of still being there when all the work paid off.

14. Deion Branch: The MVP of Super Bowl XXXVIII. Branch became the deep weapon that Brady had been missing and was the piece that turned the Pats offense from solid to dangerous. His long TD catch early in the '04 AFC title game in Pittsburgh set the tone for the romp. His catch to set up the winning kick in the Carolina Super Bowl was one of the toughest -- and most underrated -- catches I've ever seen.

13. Antowain Smith: The man was a bull with a hell of a kick. I loved Smith when he played with the Bills but injuries made him a big question mark when the Pats picked him up for the 2001 season. He answered all the questions. He ran for almost 1,200 yards and scored 12 TDs in his first season, leading the Pats on their improbable run to the playoffs. He was even bigger in those playoffs, returning to his hometown of New Orleans and playing a key role in the Pats erasing the nightmares of their previous two bayou Super Bowl trips.

12. Ted Washington: As important as Smith was in the Pats building a running game, the acquisition of the house that is Ted Washington was even more important when it came to stopping the run. The Pats had a huge hole in the middle of the D just a week before the season started in '01 and the late August trade for Washington filled that hole and then some. The Pats ranked 4th in the league against the run. Big Ted was the foundation -- literally -- of that defense.

11. Wes Welker: The only guy on this list without a Super Bowl ring. Hopefully he gets one soon but he doesn't need one. He's already one of the toughest, grittiest, smartest Patriots I've ever seen. He's averaging 100 catches a season. Simply put: How can you not love watching him play? How many clutch third-down catches has he made? Too many to count.

10. Adam Vinatieri: Is there another dynasty that has its kicker in the top 10? The greatest clutch kicker in the history of the game. Which kick do you want? The first Super Bowl winner ("It's gooooood! It's gooooooood!). The Snow Bowl kick. The Snow Bowl winner. The winner against the Titans in 6 degree temps. And those are just in the playoffs. I've seen so many great seasons by teams end on a "wide right." Not with Vinatieri. We didn't call him "Money" for nothing.

9. Kevin Faulk: Yes, Kevin Faulk. Most underrated player in the entire league these last ten years. Need a big catch? Go to Faulk. Need a big block? Line him up just in front of Brady. Need a big kick return? Put #33 back there. He's one of those guys that every dynasty has. The role player who plays every role to near perfection.

8. Corey Dillon: I can still remember the summer day over my parent's house when my brother Richie called from North Carolina. "ESPN's reporting that we traded a second-round pick for Corey Dillon.. Corey Dillon! We're going back to the Super Bowl!" And he was right. The Bengals sent away their disgruntled star and he had one more Hall of Fame season left in him to lead the '04 Pats to the title. He capped it with a monster game in the Pats most solid playoff victory of the decade -- the 20-3 punishing of Indy.

7. Ty Law: Kurt Warner drops back to pass. He throws it right just as he gets hit. The ball ... is intercepted! Ty Law! He takes it all the way for a touchdown! Patriots lead! That pick-six in the first Super Bowl made the team believe they really could pull off the upset. Law, who early in his career spent most of his time drawing yellow flags, evolved into an All-Pro shutdown corner. His three-pick game against Manning in the '03 AFC title game is one of the greatest performances by a cornerback ever.

6. Mike Vrabel: The cast-off from Pittsburgh who fit the Bill Belichick/Romeo Crennel defense perfectly. Vrabel, another OSU linebacker, is the man who hit Warner in the face (was that a penalty?) that forced the errant pass that was picked off by Law. He also forced the fumble in the Carolina Super Bowl that set off the scoring binge. Vrabel was always there to make a play. On both sides of the ball. He caught five passes while a Patriot. All for touchdowns.

5. Rodney Harrison: I can still hear the sound of Rodney coming on a blitz and smashing the quarterback to the ground with one of the hardest hits I've seen. And that was in a preseason game before the '07 season. You hear a lot these days about how all players take plays off. Not Rodney. He played every play as if the Super Bowl was on the line. Voted the dirtiest player by his peers year after year, that's what happens when you take pleasure in hitting as hard as you can. A Hall of Fame safety for sure.

4. Tedy Bruschi: Was there ever a better match of player and coach than Bruschi and Belichick? Watching them on the sideline it was like having two defensive coaches. During the years Romeo was there ... well, the three of them were pretty tough to outsmart. Belichick called him "the perfect player" at Bruschi's retirement press conference. That says it all.

3. Troy Brown: Who has the most catches in Patriots history? Troy Brown. Bingo! Who returned a punt and set up a blocked field goal return to beat the Steelers in their first AFC title clash? Troy Brown. Bingo! Who made the biggest catch in the drive to set up the winning kick in New Orleans? Troy Brown. Bingo! So many clutch catches. So many game-changing special teams plays. He even played nickel back when the Pats were decimated on defense. Whatever Belichick asked him to do he did. Troy Brown is the Patriots. Bingo!

2. Willie McGinnest: OK. I'm biased. Willie was my favorite player before he even played a down for the Patriots. I loved to watch the Pac 10 back in the '80s and early '90s and McGinnest was one of the best linebackers USC ever had. And that's saying something. When the Pats took him with the fourth pick in the '94 draft I was thrilled. Unfortunately Willie was plagued by a groin injury that slowed him for several years. But that all changed when this decade started. Willie's big plays stack up with anyone's on this list but it was the way he made his big plays that made him the leader of the dynasty. He didn't just sack you. He took you down with a fist in your face or a knee in your back. He was an intimidating playmaker. He was the man.

1. Tom Brady: One of the greatest stories in sports of the past 100 years. That's right. 100. A skinny sixth-round pick walked onto the field with his hands in his pockets on that September afternoon in 2001 and proceeded to lead the team to three Super Bowls in four years. I know he's got Gisele now, and Bridget's baby, and his commercials aren't funny like Manning's. And he wears those stupid TB hats. But he still has a burning desire to win after all he has accomplished. If he should be able to win another title before he hangs it up sometime in the next decade he goes down as arguably the best to ever play in the league. He's already the best to ever play in a Patriots uniform.

Almost made the cut: 16. Randy Moss. 17. Lawyer Milloy. 18. Vince Wilfork. 19. Richard Seymour. 20. Matt Light. 21. Daniel Graham. 22. Dan Koppen. 23. Ty Warren. 24. Asante Samuel. 25. David Patten. Did I miss anyone?