|
Dolphins Head Coach Tony Sparano
Dolphins Have Become Battle-Tested
Tony Sparano isn't satisfied with just five victories, but he knows his players must be at their best each week to continue to win. In this exclusive column for Dolphin Digest Online, Sparano talks about where his team is and about some the issues foremost on the minds of the fans.
Q. You have talked in recent weeks about the resiliency and character of this team. Give us some specific examples of what you mean?
TS: The way this team has bounced back in the fourth quarter of games, the way they have been able to seize the moment in fourth quarters. The Buffalo game, the Seattle game are great examples of that.
Q. Are these unique traits?
TS: Yes, they are. Not every team has them. I've been on a lot of teams that don't have them, that can't find a way to win in the fourth quarter. If you can start to develop those qualities, it makes you stronger down the stretch run.
Q. You have also said recently that you have learned to trust your players. What exactly does that mean, and how important is it for them to trust you?
TS: It's very important that they trust me. They know I'm steering the ship and it's important they trust the guy who is in charge. At the same time, from my end, it's good that I trust these players. There are a lot of things we ask our players to do on the field, probably more than I've been associated with in a lot of places. This is because they are a smart football team. That being said, we put a lot on their plate. We do that because we trust them.
We trust them that they'll study it and understand what is required on Sundays. The critical situations. The fourth downs. The blitzes when you are ahead and you are trying to hold a lead and it's important to pressure the quarterback. You have to trust the players will do the right things.
Q. When there are mistakes in kick coverage, are they usually mental or physical?
TS: They are usually physical. Although there is a mental part of the kicking game, it is not as taxing as, say, the mental part of the offensive game plan. A lot of it is lane responsibilities or understanding numbers. But, that being said, most of it is physical. It's the tackling. It's the getting on blocks. It's getting off blocks, those types of things. Usually the mental is more correctable than the physical.
This is a phase where you are running down the field, sometimes 40 yards, before you have to make contact. I learned this saying from Bill Parcells a long time ago: "If they don't bite when they're pups, they don't bite." When you are running down the field, either you are going to hit this guy or you are not going to hit him.
Q. How much of your job is psychological: Making your players aware of the pitfalls each week and not taking an opponent lightly?
TS: That's a good portion of my job. That's my responsibility. I hired two coordinators I trust a great deal to oversee the offense and defense. It's my responsibility to make sure the team is focused and they understand what can happen if they look too far ahead or certainly what can happen if they don't understand what's right in front of them.
Q. Is it absurd to you to think that any team in this league would ever take another team lightly?
TS: Yes, it is absurd to me. It's even more crazy for me to think that a team that hasn't had the success in recent years - the success that we are in the middle of right here - would ever take things for granted. I can't imagine that once you get a little taste of it, you don't want a whole lot more.
Q. Are there games, like a week from now against New England, when you don't have to say a word to your team for them to understand the importance of a game?
TS: There are some games like that, but I don't know we are mature enough for that right now. My job is to remind them and make sure they understand, and if I don't do that, maybe then I'm not doing my job.
Q. How do you make sense of the way your offense has performed in the fourth quarter recently? In fact, you go into this week having outscored the opposition 56-29 in the fourth quarter.
TS: There are a bunch of things that come into play with this. I think first and foremost our coaches do an outstanding job of gathering information during the course of the game, so by the time we get to the fourth quarter, we are pretty prepared for what's ahead. There aren't many secrets there.
The conditioning part also has a lot to do with it. My guys get on me: They say, "Coach, we're in the eighth week of the season, the ninth week, the 10th week, and you're still conditioning us." But I tell them there's a reason I do this. I think they are battle-tested right now and battle hard in the fourth quarter of games.
Q. Against Seattle, you break out to a 14-0 lead and it looked so easy. How does it suddenly stop being easy?
TS: Those guys on the other side get paid, too. They are pretty good. Regardless of records in this league, at this point in the season 67 percent of the games have been decided by seven points or less. There is no way anybody in this league should take anybody for granted. Records aside, we are up 14-0 in that game and we throw an interception and, all of a sudden it's 14-7, and that stymies your momentum. It took us a while to get rolling again.
Q. With success comes expectations; can that be dangerous?
TS: Yes, if you look too far ahead. We understand expectations. We understand our team might think that way and our fans might think that way. The problem is, once you start looking too far ahead, you'll learn a lesson the wrong way. That's not what we want. We want to stay in the moment.
Q. Finally, are there players on this team who don't get much publicity, but produce week in and week out?
TS: We all know the names. There are guys who do a great job every week. A player like cornerback Andre' Goodman. He always does a nice job. He gives you a heck of a day's work. I think Ikechuku Ndukwe does a nice job. Not everybody might think that, but I do. Lou Polite is another example. I certainly think Patrick Cobbs is a player like that. Brandon London is a player like that. All of them are important to our success and may not get as much publicity as other players.
|
