At the NFL Honors, the league announced that Broncos defensive coordinator Wade Phillips was recognized as the NFL assistant coach of the year.
Well, the night before Super Bowl 50 was rewarding to one individual on the Denver Broncos. In just the second year of the award’s existence, Broncos defensive coordinator Wade Phillips was named the Assistant Coach of the Year for the 2015 season.
2015 Assistant Coach Of The Year: @Broncos DC @sonofbum! #NFLHonors pic.twitter.com/dUK7YajJ06
— NFL (@NFL) February 7, 2016
Last year, the award went to another defensive coordinator. Todd Bowles, now head coach of the New York Jets, won the award last year with the Arizona Cardinals.
Phillips deserves this award. With how he has transformed this defense into the Orange Crush machine that it is, you are bound to get some recognition.
In the AFC Championship Game against the New England Patriots, Phillips’ defense hit Tom Brady 20 times. The most interesting thing about it was that the Broncos barely blitzed in the game.
The same defense to score go ahead touchdowns against the Ravens and the Chiefs in the first two weeks of the season. The defense that limited the 2014 NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers to 77 total yards in the game.
This has to be a great story thus far for Phillips. The guy was unemployed last year and he has led the defense to tops in the league in almost every single defensive category.
There is no doubt that Phillips and the Broncos defense will be going up against their toughest test yet against the league MVP Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers. But there is no doubt in my mind that Phillips will be ready for the task at hand on Sunday evening.
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Another solid statistic for the Broncos was that the Broncos have been in 14 games decided by seven points or less. The team has gone 11-3 in those games. So, when it comes to close games, the Broncos find some way to come away with the win.
Congrats to Wade Phillips. Winning the assistant coach of the year after being unemployed last year has to be a great feeling. Now go and finish it and get that cherry on the top. Go Broncos!