NFL Honors Predictions: Can anybody catch Aaron Donald?
By Erik Lambert
Assistant Coach of the Year: Rod Marinelli (DC, Dallas Cowboys)
People don’t remember but the expectations were low for the Cowboys defense coming into 2018. It’s not hard to see why. They were starting a number of players who were either rookies or had just one year of experience. The group hadn’t been truly good for almost a decade. It would seem Ron Marinelli got tired of hearing that. The old coordinator has done phenomenal work this year with his #2 defense carrying the team from a 3-5 start to 7-5 and leading the division.
Closest threat – Ken Whisenhunt of the Los Angeles Chargers. Not enough people are acknowledging what the offensive coordinator has done this year. The Chargers have a top five offense overall, a top 10 rushing attack and Philip Rivers is having the best season of his storied career at the age of 37. He’s already thrown for 28 touchdowns with just six interceptions. That’s all the work of Whisenhunt.