Fassel paid so much attention to the offense in a losing season last year that the defense virtually mutinied. This year, Fassel mended fences with the defense and became a complete coach. Billick, whose defense kept the Ravens in the playoff hunt despite a stretch of four games when the team could not score a single touchdown, now says he has gone over to the dark side. Both men plainly did something right and while nobody would yet mistake either for Lombardi or Landry, they are the pivotal figures in Tampa this weekend. Football, more than any sport, is a coach s game.
Great coaches find ways to win with the talent at hand.
They take the players they are given and mold them into a team. They push the right emotional buttons and devise the strategy that maximizes their team s strengths and exploits their opponents weaknesses. Among coaches, there is no higher praise. Football coaches are like generals. It is hard to say why one is successful and another is not.