Belichick, Pederson, and Coaching Experience In The Playoffs

by Chase Stuart on February 3, 2018

Bill Belichick is no stranger to the playoffs. He’s been on the sidelines for 38 postseason games as a head coach with 28 victories, and entering the 2017 playoffs, he was tied with Don Shula and Tom Landry for most playoff games coached (36). Of his three opposing head coaches in the 2017 playoffs — Mike Mularkey, Doug Marrone, and Doug Pederson — none had made the playoffs before this year.

Prior to their games with the Patriots, Marrone and Pederson had been 2-0, while Mularky had been 1-0, giving Belichick a 35-game/25-win advantage over Mularkey and Marrone, and a 36-game/26-win advantage over Pederson (who, like Belichick, had a bye this postseason). It should go without saying, but let’s state the obvious truth: a 36-game coaching edge, and a 26-win coaching edge, are both playoff records.

Before this year, the largest coaching differential in playoff game experience was 34, held by Tom Landry in this game against John Robinson and the Rams.

The table below shows the largest coaching disadvantages in playoff history prior to 2017 (since now the top three rows would all be Belichick). Note that all of the data presented below is the coaching experience prior to the start of that postseason, so Belichick would show up as +36 against each of Mularkey, Marrone, and Pederson.

Year	Coach	Opp Coach	Team	Opp	Boxscore	Round	Result	Prev G	Opp Coach PG	Diff
1983	Tom Landry	John Robinson	dal	ram	Boxscore	W	L 24-17	34	0	34
2016	Bill Belichick	Dan Quinn	nwe	atl	Boxscore	S	W 34-28	33	0	33
2016	Bill Belichick	Bill O'Brien	nwe	htx	Boxscore	D	W 34-16	33	1	32
1985	Tom Landry	John Robinson	dal	ram	Boxscore	D	L 20-0	35	3	32
1994	Don Shula	Bobby Ross	mia	sdg	Boxscore	D	L 22-21	33	2	31
1992	Don Shula	Bobby Ross	mia	sdg	Boxscore	D	W 31-0	31	0	31
1982	Tom Landry	Joe Gibbs	dal	was	Boxscore	C	L 31-17	31	0	31
1982	Tom Landry	Bart Starr	dal	gnb	Boxscore	D	W 37-26	31	0	31
1981	Tom Landry	Bill Walsh	dal	sfo	Boxscore	C	L 28-27	29	0	29
1982	Tom Landry	John McKay	dal	tam	Boxscore	W	W 30-17	31	3	28
2015	Bill Belichick	Gary Kubiak	nwe	den	Boxscore	C	L 20-18	31	4	27
1985	Don Shula	Raymond Berry	mia	nwe	Boxscore	C	L 31-14	27	0	27
1985	Don Shula	Marty Schottenheimer	mia	cle	Boxscore	D	W 24-21	27	0	27
1981	Tom Landry	John McKay	dal	tam	Boxscore	D	W 38-0	29	2	27
1990	Don Shula	Marv Levy	mia	buf	Boxscore	D	L 44-34	29	3	26
2014	Bill Belichick	Chuck Pagano	nwe	clt	Boxscore	C	W 45-7	28	3	25
2013	Bill Belichick	Chuck Pagano	nwe	clt	Boxscore	D	W 43-22	26	1	25
1980	Tom Landry	Leeman Bennett	dal	atl	Boxscore	D	W 30-27	26	2	24
1990	Don Shula	Marty Schottenheimer	mia	kan	Boxscore	W	W 17-16	29	6	23
1980	Tom Landry	Dick Vermeil	dal	phi	Boxscore	C	L 20-7	26	3	23
1979	Tom Landry	Ray Malavasi	dal	ram	Boxscore	D	L 21-19	25	2	23
2016	Bill Belichick	Mike Tomlin	nwe	pit	Boxscore	C	W 36-17	33	11	22
2012	Bill Belichick	Gary Kubiak	nwe	htx	Boxscore	D	W 41-28	24	2	22
2007	Mike Holmgren	Mike McCarthy	sea	gnb	Boxscore	D	L 42-20	22	0	22
1992	Don Shula	Marv Levy	mia	buf	Boxscore	C	L 29-10	31	9	22
1978	Tom Landry	Ray Malavasi	dal	ram	Boxscore	C	W 28-0	22	0	22
1978	Tom Landry	Leeman Bennett	dal	atl	Boxscore	D	W 27-20	22	0	22
1980	Tom Landry	Ray Malavasi	dal	ram	Boxscore	W	W 34-13	26	5	21
2015	Andy Reid	Bill O'Brien	kan	htx	Boxscore	W	W 30-0	20	0	20
1994	Don Shula	Marty Schottenheimer	mia	kan	Boxscore	W	W 27-17	33	13	20
1982	Bud Grant	Joe Gibbs	min	was	Boxscore	D	L 21-7	20	0	20

We can do the same thing for playoff experience using wins instead of games coached. Belichick set a new record by being +25 against Mularkey, and will set a new one by being +26 against Pederson, but he already held the record:

Year	Coach	Opp Coach	Team	Opp	Boxscore	Round	Result	Prev W	Opp Coach PW	Diff
2016	Bill Belichick	Dan Quinn	nwe	atl	Boxscore	S	W 34-28	23	0	23
2016	Bill Belichick	Bill O'Brien	nwe	htx	Boxscore	D	W 34-16	23	0	23
1983	Tom Landry	John Robinson	dal	ram	Boxscore	W	L 24-17	20	0	20
2015	Bill Belichick	Gary Kubiak	nwe	den	Boxscore	C	L 20-18	22	2	20
1985	Tom Landry	John Robinson	dal	ram	Boxscore	D	L 20-0	20	1	19
1982	Tom Landry	Joe Gibbs	dal	was	Boxscore	C	L 31-17	18	0	18
1982	Tom Landry	Bart Starr	dal	gnb	Boxscore	D	W 37-26	18	0	18
2014	Bill Belichick	Chuck Pagano	nwe	clt	Boxscore	C	W 45-7	19	1	18
2013	Bill Belichick	Chuck Pagano	nwe	clt	Boxscore	D	W 43-22	18	0	18
1994	Don Shula	Bobby Ross	mia	sdg	Boxscore	D	L 22-21	18	1	17
1992	Don Shula	Bobby Ross	mia	sdg	Boxscore	D	W 31-0	17	0	17
1981	Tom Landry	Bill Walsh	dal	sfo	Boxscore	C	L 28-27	17	0	17
1982	Tom Landry	John McKay	dal	tam	Boxscore	W	W 30-17	18	1	17
2016	Bill Belichick	Mike Tomlin	nwe	pit	Boxscore	C	W 36-17	23	6	17
1981	Tom Landry	John McKay	dal	tam	Boxscore	D	W 38-0	17	1	16
2012	Bill Belichick	Gary Kubiak	nwe	htx	Boxscore	D	W 41-28	17	1	16
1985	Don Shula	Raymond Berry	mia	nwe	Boxscore	C	L 31-14	15	0	15
1985	Don Shula	Marty Schottenheimer	mia	cle	Boxscore	D	W 24-21	15	0	15
1990	Don Shula	Marv Levy	mia	buf	Boxscore	D	L 44-34	16	1	15
1992	Joe Gibbs	Dennis Green	was	min	Boxscore	W	W 24-7	15	0	15

And here are those previous playoff win differentials for each of the times Belichick has lost in the postseason.

Year	Coach	Opp Coach	Team	Opp	Boxscore	Round	Result	Prev W	Opp Coach PW	Diff
2015	Bill Belichick	Gary Kubiak	nwe	den	Boxscore	C	L 20-18	22	2	20
2010	Bill Belichick	Rex Ryan	nwe	nyj	Boxscore	D	L 28-21	15	2	13
2009	Bill Belichick	John Harbaugh	nwe	rav	Boxscore	W	L 33-14	15	2	13
2013	Bill Belichick	John Fox	nwe	den	Boxscore	C	L 26-16	18	6	12
2012	Bill Belichick	John Harbaugh	nwe	rav	Boxscore	C	L 28-13	17	5	12
2007	Bill Belichick	Tom Coughlin	nwe	nyg	Boxscore	S	L 17-14	13	4	9
2011	Bill Belichick	Tom Coughlin	nwe	nyg	Boxscore	S	L 21-17	15	8	7
2006	Bill Belichick	Tony Dungy	nwe	clt	Boxscore	C	L 38-34	11	5	6
2005	Bill Belichick	Mike Shanahan	nwe	den	Boxscore	D	L 27-13	10	7	3
1994	Bill Belichick	Bill Cowher	cle	pit	Boxscore	D	L 29-9	0	0	0

What stands out to you?

Tagged as: Super Bowl LII

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