Raheem Morris, Not Bill Belichick Should've Been Named NFL Coach of The Year

Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Raheem Morris should have been named the National Football League Coach of the Year instead of Bill Belichick.

Belichick and his New England Patriots team had a great season finishing with a 14-2 record and the American Football conference East title.  They would eventually lose to the New York Jets in the divisional round of the NFL Playoffs.

The award was based on votes from a panel of 50 members of the media.  Belichick received 30 votes, beating out Raheem Morris, who received only 11 votes.  It is Belichick's third time winning the award.  He won the award in 2003 and 2007.

As successful as the Patriots regular season was, the argument can be made that the Buccaneers results were more impressive from a coaching standpoint.

The first argument that is going to be made in favor of Belichick over Morris is the records of the two teams.  However, coming into this season the Patriots were expected to finish at the top of their division as well as the AFC.  There were far fewer that would have foreseen the Buccaneers winning 10 games in 2010.  They simply out played the expectations of those who had criticized them.

That motivation came from their head coach.  Morris had his team on a race to 10 wins with the hope of making the playoffs and possibly winning a division title this year.

Morris inherited a dumpster fire when he was named head coach in 2009.  In his first season the team was a miserable 3-13.  This year, they improved their record to 10-6.  It was the team's first 10 win season since 2005.  Unfortunately, they weren't able to make the playoffs because their division rival Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints finished with 13 and 11 wins respectively.

Although the team didn't qualify for the postseason you cannot discount the efforts of Morris and the impact it had on the team.  He was working with a second year quarterback in Josh Freeman and a pair of rookie wide receivers on offense.

If the definition of coaching is getting players to play above their perceived ability, then there is no way you can argue Raheem Morris wasn't the NFL Coach of the Year in 2010.