Which Came First: The Coach or the Player?

Commenter Dougie2 posted the following on my recent post about Mike Tomlin:

The players that make the plays!!??? Coaches get way too much credit.

Two reactions:

1. I was thankful he wasn't another commenter saying I look like David Cross.
2. I respectfully disagree with Dougie2.**

It's true with other professional sports. I'm sure the Yankees would still do pretty well with me filling out the lineup card. And do you really think Mike Brown has a shot at coach of the year honors for a Cleveland Cavaliers team without LeBron James?

Football is different. It's a game of coordinating 11 large men at a time while 42 others stand around on the sideline and wait for their orders. What a nightmare. NFL coordinators take on a role more similar to White House advisors.

However...

Jared Allen made a big impact last year by adding a pass rush to the Vikings defense. But overall, the team still had that same just-barely-good-enough aesthetic we've grown use to the last decade.

So is the exception to my rule the quarterback? Not necessarily. Jay Cutler hasn't really made much of an impact in Chicago yet. In fact, his old team seems to be better off with the lesser quarterback included in the deal for him - Kyle Orton (who, by the way, is now under the tutelage of head coach Josh McDaniels, who also transformed Matt Cassell from no-name backup to hot commodity).

So why Favre? For one he's like a coach on the field. But he's also just executing plays orchestrated by the coaching staff.

Whatever the result, one thing is clear: Whether it be coach or quarterback, the leadership positions on a football team are the most important. At the beginning of the season (pre-Favre), Coworker Bill and I debated what we would rather have: A new coach or a new quarterback. I argued for quarterback. It appears we may have gotten a 2-for-1 in Favre.