But it’s worth noting that Cassel is throwing to the most physically gifted wide receiver to play the position, Randy Moss, and one of the finest slot receivers of his era, Wes Welker. When half the secondary is keeping dibs on Moss on every snap, other guys are going to get pretty wide open. And Cassel — to his credit — is hitting them and making use of his own smarts and athletic ability to boot. But Cassel’s also working behind an offensive line with three Pro Bowlers (Matt Light, Logan Mankins and Dan Koppen). And the defense — while nowhere near as potent as Patriots defenses in years past — still has remarkable talent along its defensive line with Richard Seymour, Vince Wilfork and Ty Warren and a rookie linebacker who’s the best first year defender in the league, Jerod Mayo.

Short of winning the Super Bowl, nothing will trump the job done by Belichick in 2001. They won the Super Bowl with a kid taken 199th in the previous draft playing quarterback. They won the Super Bowl with Troy Brown, David Patten and Charles Johnson as their main wide receivers and tight ends Jermaine Wiggins and Rod Rutledge. Their offensive line was Matt Light (a rookie), Mike Compton, Damien Woody, Joe Andruzzi and Greg Robinson-Randall. Their running backs were Antowain Smith, Marc Edwards and Kevin Faulk. They started the year 0-2 and went 14-3 the rest of the way beating the Raiders, Steelers and Rams in the playoffs and they were underdogs in every one of those games. That’s the coaching standard by which all future coaching efforts should be measured.

Love him or hate him — and there are plenty in the latter camp — Bill Belichick is the best head coach in football. By a lot. Is he the best there’s ever been? Well, there’s no doubt a case could be made for guys like Lombardi, Noll, Walsh, Landry, Paul Brown and George Halas. But they never had to deal with free agency, roster turnover and players making three times as much as they did. Put it this way, he might not be the best but it’s hard to say there’s ever been anyone better.

So if people want to celebrate the guy for his team being 7-4 and — at this point — on the outside of the playoff picture, have at it. Lord knows he’s spent enough time getting ripped when he should have been lauded.

Also on NBCSports.com Howard: Look at what Agassi is now, not was PFT: Cowboys on rise in our power rankings NCAA FB: Ready for player exodus?  |    Top juniors MLB blog: A look at the top 111 free agents Twitter: Follow us @nbc_sports

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