nick in* england Posted September 1, 2004 Posted September 1, 2004 Many readers, including Michael Gendron of Brampton West, Ontario, wrote to protest TMQ including Marv Levy on a list of coaches who excelled in the regular season but sputtered in the playoffs. He notes that Levy won two Grey Cups in the CFL and was, of course, the sole NFL coach ever to prowl the sidelines muttering about the officials in four straight Super Bowls. In haiku, Marv Levy: winner. Four Super Bowls in a row count for something, no? -- Michael Gendron, Brampton West, Ontario TMQ has always admired Levy, one of the few accomplished coaches who really believes sportsmanship matters more than victory. If you could have any famous NFL coach to your house for dinner, you would do well to choose Levy: He's a warm human being in a profession where many of the successful are cold at heart. But Levy's admirable qualities may have held him back from Super Bowl triumphs, as the farther you go in the playoffs, the more important game plans and psych-ups become. In that environment, win-at-all-cost types tend to prevail. Levy won four AFC championships, but consider the incredible talent he had in the Jim Kelly-Bruce Smith-Thurman Thomas years -- 17 players from that era made the Pro Bowl, and several will make Canton. During the Kelly-Smith winning run, Levy's teams were 97-47 or .674 in the regular season but fell to 11-8 or .579 in the postseason. Through the regular season in the 1990s, Levy was 14-2 against the NFC East; during his Super Bowl appearances in the same period, Levy was 0-4 against the same division. At the Super Bowl pressure-cooker, that extra level of total determination seemed missing. Levy did not enforce Super Bowl curfews, for instance, relying on his players' good judgment not to go out and party; many went out and partied, and it showed on game day. During the regular season, Levy consistently beat Bill Parcells, Joe Gibbs and Jimmy Johnson: At the Super Bowl, when game plans and psych-up tactics mean more, he was blanked by these three. In the regular season, Levy was king; in the postseason, one of the princes.
Black ICE Posted September 1, 2004 Posted September 1, 2004 Whose articles? Gregg Easterbrook and Marv Levy both have articles published on NFL.com site although Levy hasn't had anything published since February. I am expecting Levy back in September again. Recent Gregg Easterbrook column: (Aug. 31, 2004) -- In 2001, Drew Bledsoe signed a "10-year, $103 million" contract described in the sports press as the biggest in football history. The "10-year, $103 million" agreement lasted three years and paid $24 million. Maybe the contract was hundreds of pages long -- making the document itself the biggest in NFL history! This winter, Bledsoe consented to tear up the "10-year" contract, replacing it with what is officially a "three-year, $18.5 million" deal but which assures him only of one season and about $9 million. So the "10-year, $103 million" pact has downsized to four years and $33 million, which is still an awfully good stipend for tossing a ball, but about a third of what was originally treated as a mega-blockbuster. http://www.nfl.com/nflnetwork/story/7630560
nick in* england Posted September 1, 2004 Author Posted September 1, 2004 Where are his articles nowadays? 14413[/snapback] TMQ is available on NFL.com... It always bugs me to read about Marv and his failure to win a Superbowl. He/We really deserved to win it - he owned every other coach in the regular season and yet mystically couldn't get in done in the big show. It's upsetting...
mary owen Posted September 1, 2004 Posted September 1, 2004 14305[/snapback] I think he was being fair.
nobody Posted September 1, 2004 Posted September 1, 2004 I laugh at TMQ's take on the Bills colors - the Bills never wore flag colors. Show me where the Bills colors were ever said to be Old Glory Blue. Royal Blue sure. Actually I think their new blue is closer to flag blue then before.
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