By Mark Malone
Special to ESPN.com
I would be happy with either coach in the playoffs, and one isn't far superior to the other. But Jimmy Johnson has an interesting way about him in that he is not as understated as Mike Holmgren is.
Johnson is a master motivator who treats players differently and isn't afraid to say that. In the big games, he has the ability to take the focus off the team and put it on himself. That's an interesting way of dealing with players. Sometimes, you do just the opposite. For instance, Bill Parcells put pressure on his team and challenged them. Behind close doors, I think Johnson will challenge his team, but in the media, he takes the pressure off the team and individuals and puts it on himself. Few coaches do it with such great ease and success. Coming from other coaches, that approach can be so contrived that people ignore it. But not with Johnson.
He has a magnetism about his personality that people are drawn to him and want to hear what he has to say. He hasn't shown it as much in Miami yet, but he is an extraordinary evaluator of talent. In today's free agency, Johnson might have a better skill at pushing the right kind of buttons with individuals and getting results.
|
|
By John Clayton
Special to ESPN.com
I would give more of an edge to Mike Holmgren over Jimmy Johnson in a playoff game, but only slightly, because of the offensive spark Holmgren can provide.
There is somewhat of a balance between the two coaches: Holmgren knows the offensive ways to win, and Johnson knows the defensive ways. Johnson's problem is on offense, and Holmgren's is on defense. As he proved in Green Bay with Brett Favre, and as he has demonstrated on occasion with Jon Kitna, Holmgren is a brilliant coach who knows how to work the strategies and make the adjustments on offense to be able to manage the game.
Even without Joey Galloway for the first half of the season, Holmgren showed he is creative enough to come up with big plays by design. He enters the playoffs with the more inexperienced quarterback, but Holmgren's offense makes less mistakes than the Dolphins. |
