well i think he played a huge part. he came across to me as a leader. as brilliant as martz was, he never came across as a true leader. not the way vermeil was.
of course i could have read that all wrong.
and who knows if that would have made a difference going forward. meaning could they have won more than one superbowl with that core group.
He deserves the lions share for sure. That team was so stacked even in 98′ I’m surprised they weren’t much better that year. DV has a brilliant football mind and an eye for talent no doubt and he learned from mistakes and adapted. When he left there was definitely a leadership gap on D an ST.I often wonder what would have happened if DV stuck around for a couple more years.