When the NFL announced the finalists for all of the awards that would be handed out at the NFL Honors ceremony three days ahead of Super Bowl LX, I have to imagine my reaction to seeing all of the nominees was the same as it was for many fans of the Houston Texans... Where the hell is Matt Burke's name on this list of finalists for Assistant Coach of the Year?
Now granted, I don't have the sort of insider information nor the level of expertise that would be required to get excessively granular in an explanation of why Matt Burke -- or any assistant coach for that matter -- deserves consideration for such an award. But what I can tell you is that the Houston Texans were arguably the most relentless, well-prepared, technically sound and disruptive defense I saw in the NFL all season, and to be clear, the numbers back that up.
Category | Total | NFL Rank |
|---|---|---|
Points Per Game | 17.3 | 2nd |
Yards Per Game | 277.2 | 1st |
Turnovers Forced | 29 | 3rd |
Sacks | 47 | 7th |
Tackles for Loss | 91 | 5th |
3rd Down Conversion Rate | 36.2% | 6th |
Opponent Completion % | 59.3% | 3rd |
Just for the sake of clarity, the Texans were the only team in the NFL to rank in the Top 7 in each of these 7 key defensive categories, which serves as even more proof that this was arguably the best defense in the National Football League this season. Of course, the Seattle Seahawks, Denver Broncos and maybe even the Philadelphia Eagles could make this claim as well, but the point stands... Matt Burke's unit was an absolute terror.
The problem here is that Burke seems to be getting docked points for A) running a fairly simple defensive scheme, B) having the benefit of coaching one of the most talent-stacked defenses in the NFL, and C) not calling plays for the Texans defense to start the season. But to those points, I'd offer the following rebuttals:
A) It doesn't need to be complicated if it's well-coached and well-executed.
B) Matt Burke was instrumental in both bringing many of these players to Houston, and getting the absolute best out of them under his watch.
C) Burke took over as the defensive play-caller in Week 4, and from that point on, the Texans went 12-2. Also, this isn't the Play Caller of the Year award.
Why those three points have been largely ignored I'm not totally sure, yet here we are, one day removed from the NFL Honors ceremony in San Francisco, and it feels like each and every voter missed the boat on this one.
Well, almost every voter.
In the end, Matt Burke did receive three first place votes for the Assistant Coach of the Year award, the most of any coordinator or position coach who wasn't named a finalist and invited to the ceremony. Hopefully next year more voters get it right and Burke's invite won't be lost in the mail.