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Dolphins Head Coach Tony Sparano
Consistency is key when it comes to discipline
Coach Tony Sparano has a lot on his mind these days. In this exclusive Q&A with Dolphin Digest Extra, Sparano hits on a variety of topics ranging from his views on player discipline, to the performance of Joey Porter, to the challenge of playing three straight home games.
Q. So much has been made about the confrontation between Mike Singletary and Vernon Davis in San Francisco where he banished him from the sideline. Do you have a basic philosophy as far as disciplining players?
TS: My philosophy is consistency, and that's really it. We have rules that we put in place here and we try to be as consistent as we can with the rules. I don't really sway one way or another, so our players know where I'm coming from. When they step outside the box, they get penalized.
Q. Do you set guidelines with your players in training camp?
TS: Yes, we do. They are written in their handbook. We go over it in training camp. They understand it all. It doesn't matter who the player is. Consistency is the key. When you have rules like that, there is no gray area.
Q. Do you revisit issues during the course of the year?
TS: I will revisit it at times to see whether or not I've been consistent and whether my judgment has been good. I want to make sure I do everything I can to keep these rules in place.
Q. What are your expectations of players off the field?
TS: It is important that the players realize they are part of something that is a lot bigger than they are, and that's the Miami Dolphins. As long as they understand that, I would expect they are outstanding in the community and great family people, and that's all important.
Q. When you know you have a player who has had problems in the past, do you treat him differently. Do you try to surround him with role models?
TS: You try to surround them with as many positive people as you can. More importantly, if you know the player has been involved in some not-so-positive situations, you try to figure out which way you can help him. We have people here in place who are willing to help. That's something they can take advantage of. Once you do that several times and the player is not reachable, then we have to go to the next step in the process; maybe that step is moving on.
Q. Isn't it all about making right choices?
TS: Yeah, it sure is. Players make choices every day. That's the one thing we know we have control over, the choices we make. You are responsible for those choices. If there are issues around the league that need to be brought forward, I will do that. I'm talking both positives and negatives.
Q. Let's turn our thoughts to football. You have one big road win this season in New England. Was there a specific mentality that your team had going into that game that proved successful?
TS: We were very hungry at the time, coming off a couple of losses. Very focused. Not allowing the elements, the crowd and the history to affect us. That was the key. How do you we duplicate that hunger now? One thing we have learned: It takes consistency this time of year. In my mind, a team teaches itself what it is this time of year. We've won two games and we've lost two games. We've got to start winning consistently.
Q. What are the challenges in playing Denver?
TS: All the elements. Going to Denver. Understanding they do a great job coming off a bye week. The crowd is something you have to try to take out of the mix. We need to stop the run this week. Denver's running game will be a lot like Houston's run game. And, of course, we need to be able to run the football this week. Those are probably the keys in my mind.
Q. Your team was down 16-7 to Buffalo and had just given up a long drive where the Bills ran right through the defense. As you look back, what happened at that precise time to bring the game back to the Dolphins?
TS: What happened at that moment was interesting. We had just spent a lot of time at halftime discussing the fact they had the ball coming out and we needed it back. Then they take the ball down the field and kind of blacken our eye a little bit. What happened then is that our offense took the ball and went down the field. We had a big play to Ted Ginn. We didn't score a touchdown, but we answered very quickly with a field goal and I think at that point our defense looked around and said, you know what, this is as bad as it gets and we're still in this game. Then we forced four turnovers in the fourth quarter. That was huge.
Q. You know Joey Porter with 10 1/2 sacks is going to have a bull's-eye around him. How can you make him effective despite double and triple teams?
TS: Joey has to draw on his experiences. He knows right now that he has a bull's-eye on him. He knows people are going to slide their protection his way, they are going to chip him, they are going to do a lot of different things. The one thing that Joey has in his favor is he has a tremendous motor and a tremendous passion to get to the quarterback. In the offensive line, it is very hard to teach guys to finish blocks. They have a clock in their head that isn't the same as the clock in the quarterback's head. When the play starts to break down, Joey's motor allows him to still be able to make some plays. He just has to be relentless in his effort.
Q. You come back after Denver and have three straight home games. Isn't this a crucial time of the season, given how many road games you are going to have later in the year?
TS: Yes, it is. November for me is a crucial time. We've been able to put a few wins in the bank. But in November and December is when your team really teaches itself what it is. We have to cross the line here and decide what it is we want to be. We are one of many teams in this league with three or four wins. We have to try to separate ourselves from the rest of those teams. This next stretch of games will be very telling for us.
Q. You are at plus-7 in turnover/takeaway differential. That's second in the league. Can you elaborate on how important a stat this is?
TS: It's tremendously important. If we weren't that good at it, we might be sitting here now with one win. With that number being what it is, we've given ourselves a chance to win five games. The fact we don't turn it over very much and have forced turnovers is so often the deciding factor in this league. The game against Buffalo was statistically very even last week. But at the end of the day we had one turnover and they had four. That makes all the difference.
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