Romeo, Poor Romeo...

Maybe it's the name Romeo:

Bill Belichick has been named the The Associated Press 2007 NFL Coach of the Year.

The first undefeated season since the 1972 Dolphins propelled Belichick to his second award in five years. Packers coach Mike McCarthy finished second with 15 votes. Wade Phillips and Jack Del Rio each received two votes while Tony Dungy and Jon Gruden each garnered one.

Look, the Browns went 10-6 this year. That's WAY, WAY better than anyone rightly expected. Isn't that half of what counts in the Coach of the Year voting? (Isn't that way, for example, Mike McCarthy got 2nd place in the voting?)

Look, I'm no fan of Crennel, and I thought before the season that he was one of the worst coaches in the NFL. But he obviously did a lot of things right this year, even if the Browns record probably had as much to do with luck than actual talent on the field. (The offense is great, but the stats around turnovers, defense, etc., suggest a much lower winning percentage than worked out.)

It's not a race thing; I'm definitely not suggesting that. But what it might be is a feeling by the writers who vote on this that Crennel still might get fired; it would be embarassing (see Joe Girardi in MLB) to vote for Coach of the Year, only for him to be fired days or weeks later.

That's about the only thing that makes sense here to me.