DMN: Did Jerry Let A Great Head Coach Get Away?

[Section446]

Don't fool yourselves, Parcells is running that team from top to bottom much like Jerry runs this team from top to bottom.

 

[L-O-Jete]

In one offseason the Dolphins under Sparano have increased their win total by 400% and have increased their legitimacy as an NFL team by 10,000%.

In one offseason since Sparano's departure, the Dallas Cowboys have....

You as a fan???

 

[Kilyin]

In one offseason the Dolphins under Sparano have increased their win total by 400% and have increased their legitimacy as an NFL team by 10,000%.

Holy hyperbole batman. They've won four games. It's almost mathematically impossible to regress from a one win season. Increased their legitimacy by 10,000% ?



Let's revisit this topic when December rolls around. Granted, I don't have high expectations for the Cowboys anymore, but let's not pretend the Dolphins are suddenly a worldbeater.

 

[AsthmaField]

It's not that hard to go from 1-15 to a .500 club. It's getting above .500 that's difficult.

WAY too early to tell if Sparano is a good head coach or not.

 

[Alexander]

Yes he did.

I would love for our head coach to run this team the way Sparano runs his.

Coach Parcells may have "run down" the team, but he has the Dolphins clicking on all cylinders.

========

Miami Dolphins coach Tony Sparano stays vocal even in good times
Tony Sparano is following the lead of some great NFL coaches who were most critical of their teams when they were winning.

BY DAVID J. NEAL
dneal@MiamiHerald.com
It's one of the paradoxes of coaching, especially in professional sports: often, sideline and bench jockeys need to go to the whip more when their teams are winning than when they're losing.

The Dolphins have had ''Victory Mondays'' the past two weeks, off days that, combined with their usual Tuesday off, mean they don't have to be back in the Dolphins facility until Wednesday's practice. That's about the only rest they can expect this week from a coaching staff that remembers its first two-game winning streak this season resulted in a week of good feeling and losses to Houston and Baltimore.

And there's the same good feeling around the Dolphins now that they're back to .500 at 4-4 and have home games against 2-6 Seattle, 2-6 Oakland and New England minus Tom Brady. Much as players say they don't pay attention to the media and fan noise, it's too incessant not to read or hear in the tone of interaction with reporters and fans.

This is what worries coaches.

''I want to see absolute attention to detail and focus right now,'' Dolphins coach Tony Sparano said. 'We've been down this road before. We've won two games and we kind of drank the Kool-Aid a little bit and then we lost two of them. Now we've won a couple, so we can't do that. We can't worry about everybody telling us `what a good job you did' right now. We need to keep our head down and really keep swinging.''

Fans, especially those who love to live vicariously through emotional coaches verbally eviscerating athletes, might be surprised how many Hall of Fame coaches were bigger yellers in the good times than in the bad.

'DON'T LET UP'

Vince Lombardi, who valued exhaustive preparation over great motivation, would drop the volume a notch in favor of more teaching during the rare Green Bay rough streak. So did John Madden when he coached Oakland in its glory days, back before he became a broadcaster and a video game title.

''As a coach, when your team starts a streak going, you don't let up,'' Madden wrote in One Knee Equals Two Feet. 'Instead, you've got to be tough. You've got to be just the opposite of the way the players are. When your team wins two or three in a row, the players' friends tell them how great they are. But that's when you've got to pound that work ethic into them. If they win the next game, they'll accept it again the following week. But even before you see them trying to slide, that's when you've got to whap them back into line.''

Conversely, Madden said, ``When we were on a losing streak, I'd try to be gentle with my players. Well, not exactly gentle but I'd try not to get upset, not to get angry. When you're angry, you say things you don't mean. And when your team is losing, angry words hurt and form scars.''

Of course, Madden's Raiders didn't lose very often and expected to be in the Super Bowl every year -- they won one Super Bowl and reached the AFL/AFC title game six other times in Madden's 10 seasons. There were no one-win seasons or six-season playoff droughts that allowed two-game win streaks to create a glorious feeling among friends and fans.

Still, the Dolphins' brass has denied throughout 2008 that this season would be just about regaining respectability.

IN THE MIX

''Every team goes into a new season thinking, obviously, the best,'' Sparano said. ``We went into the season feeling like we had just as good of a chance to put ourselves in the mix as anyone else did. I don't know right now whether or not that's where we are, but I know is that today we wake up and we're one of 15 teams right now that have four or five wins in this league. We just kind of threw ourselves into the middle of something here, and all we've done right now is create an opportunity to have a real big game at home this week.''

 

[Alexander]

Holy hyperbole batman. They've won four games. It's almost mathematically impossible to regress from a one win season. Increased their legitimacy by 10,000% ?



Let's revisit this topic when December rolls around. Granted, I don't have high expectations for the Cowboys anymore, but let's not pretend the Dolphins are suddenly a worldbeater.

Nobody said they are beating the world. But they have improved from 1-15 to potentially a playoff threat. That is remarkable.

 

[TraceActions]

People said the same thing about Sean Peyton in his first year at NO.
Now look what's he's done since then......jack squat.

If Tony is still improving that team in 3 years, then you can call him a good HC.

 

[InmanRoshi]

It's not that hard to go from 1-15 to a .500 club. It's getting above .500 that's difficult.

When you have Miami's talent level, getting to .500 is a milestone. Remember, Jason Garrett just can't execute his offense with with Patrick Cratyon as his 2nd WR? We have to give away a 1st and a 3rd and provide him with a Pro Bowler caliber talent at every skill position for him to do his job? Miami is winning with Greg Carmillo as their #1 WR.

And given their division and upcoming schedule, playoffs are very much in the picture.

 

[sacowboysfan513]

When you have Miami's talent level, getting to .500 is a milestone. Remember, Jason Garrett just can't execute his offense with with Patrick Cratyon as his 2nd WR? We have to give away a 1st and a 3rd and provide him with a Pro Bowler caliber talent at every skill position for him to do his job? Miami is winning with Greg Carmillo as their #1 WR.

And given their division and upcoming schedule, playoffs are very much in the picture.

This, I can agree with.

It seems our coaches are having trouble finding what our players strengths and weakness are.

 

[theebs]

Thank you alexander and inman roshi.

A bad week is getting worse.

I ran the idea of sporano two years ago and got laughed at. I liked it even more when norm let everyone know that parcells had recommended an in house candidate, Gary Gibbs. Sporano is right there on the same level.

Oh well. And I have always liked pasqualoni. So did the players.

But alas, sporano is not from Texas, and whats worse is he is from connecticut...so no way he could be good.

In a year or two this whole time period is going to be looked back at as a complete travesty. Wade phillips mocking parcells in his first five minutes of his first PC had everyone giggling and laughing. Now they are all wondering what happened to this team.

There is no way the players dont notice this nonsense and that is playing a huge role. I said this earlier, these guys were raised in the nfl on discipline and structure and now it is gone, I would be willing to bet alot of these guys are drifting off when the staff talks to them because they dont have any respect for them.

 

[TellerMorrow34]

People said the same thing about Sean Peyton in his first year at NO.
Now look what's he's done since then......jack squat.

If Tony is still improving that team in 3 years, then you can call him a good HC.

Exactly. Giving anyone a great HC tag after all of 8 games is beyond silly.

 

[theebs]

Exactly. Giving anyone a great HC tag after all of 8 games is beyond silly.

How would you describe the miami organization right now?

How would you describe the Dallas organization right now?

Who do you have more faith in?

 

[burmafrd]

New Orleans is still a lot better then they were before Peyton got there. They are a consistent contender and look so much better then the saints have for at least 20 years.

 

[Alexander]

How would you describe the miami organization right now?

How would you describe the Dallas organization right now?

Who do you have more faith in?

Add also:

Who is doing more with much much less?

That is the entire point.

 

[TellerMorrow34]

How would you describe the miami organization right now?

How would you describe the Dallas organization right now?

Who do you have more faith in?

I still have more faith in Dallas but that's a bias on my part, no doubt, cause they're my team.

I'd point out, immediately, just how important QB play is. The Dolphins have had the benefit of playing with their starting QB, who I know a lot of people think sucks but Pennington is a servicable, good, QB, while Dallas has been forced to play with absolute crap on offense at the most important position.

I absolutely believe if Romo isn't hurt right now that we're not 5-4 but at the very least 6-3 if not 7-2.

So that I do believe has to be factored in.


Also we all know that everyone is giving Dallas, even with injuries, their best shot because they're Dallas and they were a favorite. If anyone honestly believes that to this point that anyone has looked at Miami and thought...hmmmm these guys might be tough are absolutely over valuing what is going on there.

It's much easier to be good when the expectations of your team are extremely low and that's what they have coming off a 1-15 year.

Now, again, if they finish say 9-7 this year and maybe makes the playoffs, or even if they just barely miss, the big challenge will be rather they can do it again next year when everyone is giving you a real look.

But simply being 4-4 doesn't exactly make me giddy right now. It's an improvement but it would have been pretty much next to impossible to get worse than they were last year.

 

[DallasEast]

John Madden's coaching philosophy test

1) "As a coach, when your team starts a streak going, you don't let up."

2) "Instead, you've got to be tough."

3) "You've got to be just the opposite of the way the players are."

4) "When your team wins two or three in a row, the players' friends tell them how great they are. But that's when you've got to pound that work ethic into them.

5) "If they win the next game, they'll accept it again the following week. But even before you see them trying to slide, that's when you've got to whap them back into line.

6) "When we were on a losing streak, I'd try to be gentle with my players. Well, not exactly gentle but I'd try not to get upset, not to get angry.

7) "When you're angry, you say things you don't mean. And when your team is losing, angry words hurt and form scars.''

Wade Phillips' graded test

1) "I disagree" (wrong)
2) "I disagree" (wrong)
3) "I really disagree" (wrong)
4) "I disagree" (wrong)
5) "Who me? I run Camp Marshmallow." (wrong)
6) Agree (correct & extremely so)
7) "I couldn't harm a fly" (wrong)
___________________________

6 of 7 incorrect

Grading scale

A = zero incorrect
B = 1 incorrect
C = 2 incorrect
D = 3 incorrect
F = 4 or more incorrect

http://i356.***BLOCKED***/albums/oo4/DallasEast1701/340x1.jpg

 

[jterrell]

Miami is 4-4 and now Sparano is a "great" HC?

4-4 and healthy.

We are 5-4 and riddled with injuries.

Nice story tho mediots.

 

[jterrell]

When you have Miami's talent level, getting to .500 is a milestone. Remember, Jason Garrett just can't execute his offense with with Patrick Cratyon as his 2nd WR? We have to give away a 1st and a 3rd and provide him with a Pro Bowler caliber talent at every skill position for him to do his job? Miami is winning with Greg Carmillo as their #1 WR.

And given their division and upcoming schedule, playoffs are very much in the picture.

It isn't much of a milestone against their competition.
Before we lavish praise on Miami perhaps we ought to see if they can beat any real teams.

They are 4-4 and haven't played a team with more than the 5 wins this oh so bad Cowboys team has.

BTW... they are IN LAST PLACE IN THEIR DIVISION.

And with Sparano here our OL struggled which is why we signed Leonard Davis to a huge contract and drafted OL day 1 three years in a row.

 

[Kilyin]

Add also:

Who is doing more with much much less?

That is the entire point.

As your hero Bill Parcells likes to say, don't break out the annointing oil just yet. The Miami Dolphins haven't DONE ANYTHING yet. They've won four games, whooptee doo. I don't think the Dolphins have had anywhere near the injuries we have either.

And earlier you said they have a very good chance at the playoffs? Based on what? Your crystal ball?

 

[superpunk]

It isn't much of a milestone against their competition.
Before we lavish praise on Miami perhaps we ought to see if they can beat any real teams.

They are 4-4 and haven't played a team with more than the 5 wins this oh so bad Cowboys team has.

BTW... they are IN LAST PLACE IN THEIR DIVISION.

And with Sparano here our OL struggled which is why we signed Leonard Davis to a huge contract and drafted OL day 1 three years in a row.

If you were to graph the organizational path of the Cowboys and Dolphins once Sparano left what would your graph look like?