Sparano: Is he a good coach?

[burmafrd]

Did he ever have a rep of being a good line coach? I am more and more of the opinion that we have the talent on the line to be better then the level of play has shown. I am thinking we need to look real hard at the O line coach.

 

[AbeBeta]

Hard for us to judge - we do know that Payton wanted him to come to NO and Bill promoted Tony to keep him here.

Honestly, I don't think we've got great talent on the line. Columbo is a reclaimation project, Gurode a chronic underacheiver, and Kosier guy who isn't particularly physically gifted. Flo and Rivera are vets -- neither needs much coaching but both are nearing the end of their careers. Add two rookies at TE and another TE who isn't so enthusiastic about blocking. That really isn't a great group to be working with. That he gets good games out of some of these guys is impressive. That the group struggles against good defenses isn't surprising.

We don't know what's on the coaches and what's on the players. For example, on that safety, was it that the coaching failed, the center made the wrong call on the blitz, or the guard blew his assignment? On other plays, like the Strahan sacks, it less about coaching and more about a great player showing why he's among the best ever.

 

[burmafrd]

Does not explain the lack of recognition of blitzes. Does not explain the look of a group that just does not know what they are doing. To me that means take a hard look at the coach.

 

[chinch]

our OL hasn't panned out and without an Grade A+ mobile QB they look that much worse

many posting/venting here would gladly trade Payton for Tuna and he wanted him as posted above...

 

[noshame]

I think Payton may have wanted him as a TE coach.

OL is not his strength. There are only a handful of really good OL coaches in the NFL. However, some are a good bit better than others.

 

[Yeagermeister]

IMHO no....he makes a much better gangster

 

[CrazyCowboy]

If you look at his production......hard to brag on him

 

[cowboyjoe]

Hard for us to judge - we do know that Payton wanted him to come to NO and Bill promoted Tony to keep him here.

Honestly, I don't think we've got great talent on the line. Columbo is a reclaimation project, Gurode a chronic underacheiver, and Kosier guy who isn't particularly physically gifted. Flo and Rivera are vets -- neither needs much coaching but both are nearing the end of their careers. Add two rookies at TE and another TE who isn't so enthusiastic about blocking. That really isn't a great group to be working with. That he gets good games out of some of these guys is impressive. That the group struggles against good defenses isn't surprising.

We don't know what's on the coaches and what's on the players. For example, on that safety, was it that the coaching failed, the center made the wrong call on the blitz, or the guard blew his assignment? On other plays, like the Strahan sacks, it less about coaching and more about a great player showing why he's among the best ever.

Some of it is desire, like Kosier said the other day, he has to shout at Flozell for him to hear with his hearing problem, the cowboys have asked flozell to get hearing aid installed and he has refused.

Next, by and large is Parcells ideals on offensive linemen I think. He likes guys to be versatile, play guards, tackles and centers position, but not really excel at one position, like a dominant Larry Allen in his prime.

Next, has to do with the spending of the cowboys for offensive linemen and drafting.

Remember we had a chance to get the younger guard that the Panthers got, but we spent cheaper money on Riveria. Kinda like the kicker situation with Vandy, we had a chance to get Venterai great kicker with New england, but we spent less money on Vandy.

Like the linebacker with Cardinals, that was killing bears qb monday night a week ago, we had a chance to get him, he visited us, but arizona got him for half a million more or so. Just like Jake Delhome, we had a chance to get him for a half a million more, but refused, so he went to carolina. Just like this year with Keyshawn Johnson, we had a chance to get him, Cowboys even called him 3 times, but he spent about a half a million more in carolina.

Its priorities.

 

[Maikeru-sama]

Does not explain the lack of recognition of blitzes. Does not explain the look of a group that just does not know what they are doing. To me that means take a hard look at the coach.

Yeah, I like his body of work with the Tight Ends, but the Offensive Line just looks lost, but to be fair, they looked lost before he was promoted as OL Coach in 2005.

I think it is a mixture of not having alot to work with, guys being past their prime and the Coach not getting through to their players.

I was watching Ron Jaworski and Mark Schlereth breaking down some of the Cowboys plays and players and they pointed out some of Marc Columbo's plays and talked about how his technique was just horrible. Also pointing out that alot of the blitzes the Giants were doing (on the right side between Rivera and Columbo) were basic blitzes.

Mark Schlereth also said, on that Safety, it was all on the play caller He and Jaws felt the RB should have been closer to the Right Side where the Blitz was obviously coming Or the RB should not have been as deep as he was (different formation should have been used).

And that play where Future Hall of Famer Michael Strahan came scott free was not a great play, he had a free shot at the Quarterback, any Rush End would make that play. The Tight End went out on a route and Columbo for whatever reason blocked down allowing Strahan (from Texas by the way) come in clean.

I was watching that play last night, and judging from Mike S's body language, I think he was so shocked he was unblocked on that play.

That is the worst game I have seen the Offensive Line play since Parcells has been here.

- Mike G.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

He really hasn't impressed me. I could deal with O-Lineman getting physically beat. That's on the head coach and the scouts for not scouting personnel correctly. However, the O-Line is still getting fooled by the same type of blitzes by making the same mental mistakes. This *should* be corrected. But it hasn't really been.


YAKUZA

 

[Chocolate Lab]

From the DMN Blog:

High school coach rips Parcells

I spent halftime talking to a local high school football coach. He couldn't believe that the Cowboys and Parcells didn't max protect on the play from their own 1-yard line that resulted in a safety.

"He releases the tight end [Jason Witten] and leaves his running back [Julius Jones] alone on the blitzing linebacker," the coach said. "That got us a safety."

Posted by Todd Wills at 9:42 PM (E-mail this entry) | Comments (2)

 

[Yakuza Rich]

From the DMN Blog:

High school coach rips Parcells

I spent halftime talking to a local high school football coach. He couldn't believe that the Cowboys and Parcells didn't max protect on the play from their own 1-yard line that resulted in a safety.

"He releases the tight end [Jason Witten] and leaves his running back [Julius Jones] alone on the blitzing linebacker," the coach said. "That got us a safety."

Posted by Todd Wills at 9:42 PM (E-mail this entry) | Comments (2)

Colombo was supposed to block down. Still would've left Julius on Strahan, but a quick hot read should get the ball off. I agree, I didn't like the playcall, but this wasn't a case of Arrington overpowering Julius. Julius would have had to made an incredible flying leap just to impede Arrington.


YAKUZA

 

[SultanOfSix]

From the DMN Blog:

High school coach rips Parcells

Posted by Todd Wills at 9:42 PM (E-mail this entry) | Comments (2)

LOL. Good to see such a guy ripping a future HOFamer.

 

[AMERICAS_FAN]

Did he ever have a rep of being a good line coach? I am more and more of the opinion that we have the talent on the line to be better then the level of play has shown. I am thinking we need to look real hard at the O line coach.

From the outside looking in I wuold say he is NOT a good coach. He did horroble last year with the blocking schemes. Yes we had injuries and "green" players playing but the solution to that was to keep TEs in to block. Sporano also has TE-coaching expereince and he even failed us with the TE blocking schemes. With Witten and Campbell last year there was no excuse for them to whiff as much as they did. And it's continuing this year with Witten. Sporano was also the one telling us this offseason (paraphrasing) "you'll see - the OL moves we've made will lead to a greatly improved OL". Well he was WRONG at that. He has clearly MIS-JUDGED the talent he has. And if he can't even recognize talent-level, how can he coach it well enough to be considered a good OL coach?

**

 

[CowboyManDan]

The two coaches I question are Sparano and Zimmer.

I think Sparano needs to simplify the blocking schemes to the popint where they can get good at a smaller number of things.

I think Zimmer just needs to call a more aggressive defensive game plan. We need to attack more and better disguise our blitzes.

 

[AMERICAS_FAN]

The two coaches I question are Sparano and Zimmer.

I think Sparano needs to simplify the blocking schemes to the popint where they can get good at a smaller number of things.

I think Zimmer just needs to call a more aggressive defensive game plan. We need to attack more and better disguise our blitzes.

I can't fault the defense. Zimmer can't be more agrressive because Parcells won't let him. Zimmer was more aggressive when he mammed the 4-3 defense when Parcells first arrived. He had nowhere near the D-linemen we have now, yey he managed to coacxh around that and produce a #1 defense. Parcells has given him better talent since but has changed the scheme on him and has handcuffed his aggressivenes. Also, the D is still fairing well. What they showed in the last game was fatigue for being on the field too long - and that's the fault of our offense for not being on the field enough.

Sparano is just a waste of coaching space. If Parcells ever wanted to admit his coaching failures he could start by churning the bottom of his coaching roster, and he SHOULD start with Sporano.

 

[dfense]

Did he ever have a rep of being a good line coach? I am more and more of the opinion that we have the talent on the line to be better then the level of play has shown. I am thinking we need to look real hard at the O line coach.

He's a career TE coach. And now Witten has disappeared in this offense. I see as a scheme problem. Gurode loks around and calls out a scheme. Then Rivera turns and doubles the tackle and ignores whoever is standing in front of him. I can't understand it. But that guy has done ZERO in two years to justify why he's still the line coach.

 

[Marktui]

From the DMN Blog:

High school coach rips Parcells

I spent halftime talking to a local high school football coach. He couldn't believe that the Cowboys and Parcells didn't max protect on the play from their own 1-yard line that resulted in a safety.

"He releases the tight end [Jason Witten] and leaves his running back [Julius Jones] alone on the blitzing linebacker," the coach said. "That got us a safety."

Posted by Todd Wills at 9:42 PM (E-mail this entry) | Comments (2)

On that particluar play, I don't think he needed to max protect on the goal line. I believe that a call was made to slide the protection to the center in order to keep DB from getting pressure up the middle. Thats why Marco slid down to double the DT, Colombo should have taken Arrington and Julius could have blocked Strahan from his tailback position. But Colombo took Strahan and Julius had to take Arrington, which is a tough block to make for him being behind Bledsoe.

 

[AbeBeta]

I think Payton may have wanted him as a TE coach.

Yeah. He's going to leave for a lesser position. That makes no sense.

 

[AbeBeta]

Does not explain the lack of recognition of blitzes. Does not explain the look of a group that just does not know what they are doing. To me that means take a hard look at the coach.

Or a hard look at the player who has been known to consistently have problems with recognition dating back to before either Bill or Sparano were here.....