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Dolphins Head Coach Tony Sparano
Coach Sparano Answers Questions From The Fans
The fans have a lot on their minds these days as the Dolphins hit the homestretch of their season. In this exclusive column for Dolphin Digest Online, Coach Tony Sparano answers a sampling of the many questions received from Dolphins fans.
Q. Coach, we don't know much about your background as a player. Did you play football, and what kind of player were you?
Marge Rogers
Milwaukee, Wis.
TS: (Long laugh) Yes, I did play football at the University of New Haven. Somebody said I was 5 foot nothing. I was a center, so I had to be a little bit smart, I guess. It was a small school. I enjoyed every single minute of it. Never got any tryouts in the pros. I knew at that point I wasn't genetically gifted enough to play at the next level, so my best chance was to go into coaching.
Q. Coach Sparano, is it hard for a coach not to have double standards these days. In other words, when it comes to discipline, is it hard for you to treat the top one or two players on your roster the same way you would treat the last man on your roster?
Bob Riggins
Houston, Texas
TS: It isn't hard to do that. Sometimes it is not always correct. I learned from Bill Parcells a long time ago that not always is everyone treated the same in some circumstances. You get veteran players who have been in the league 10-12 years and they've really earned your respect. But I've tried since the day I got into coaching to treat everyone the same. My players get fined and disciplined for the same deals, whether it is Jalen Parmele or Vonnie Holliday.
Q. Coach, can you make a case for Chad Pennington getting serious consideration for Most Valuable Player of the NFL?
Larry Schwartz
Miami, Fla.
TS: I can make a case, sure. You are talking about a guy who came in here and had a lot of expectations and pressure put on his shoulders from the very beginning. He knew he had a young team and young coaches around him in some situations. What Chad has done with this offense and this football team and the way they responded to him and his leadership, particularly on offense, I think is remarkable. I know there are a lot of players having great years in this league, but I would be hard-pressed to find a player having a better year.
Q. When a team goes to a four- or five-receiver set as the Patriots did, is it possible to double-team one of the receivers?
Mary Robbins
Coral Gables, Fla.
TS: Yes, it's possible. But you have to pick your poison. The Patriots have so many good players. When you are doubling Randy Moss, then you are leaving someone else like Wes Welker in single coverage and in some of those situations you are putting a linebacker on a skill player and that could be a difficult matchup. You have to be careful there in how you pick your poison and understand what they are trying to do to you.
Q. Coach, we are already in the homestretch of the season. Do the games go by quickly for you, or do the weeks and months in the season seem like an eternity?
Vivian Smith
Miami, Fla.
TS: No, the weeks are starting to fly by for me. You get to the next game a little bit faster. That's nice if you continue to win. We are now in the middle of something that we're still a part of, so it makes it all the more exciting. But, yes, it is going by very fast.
Q. Coach, it frustrates me to no end when teams are continuously penalized for an illegal block on kickoffs. It seems like it happens way too much around the league. Is there a fine line here, or should it never happen?
Geoff Brookings
Orlando, Fla.
TS: I think there is a fine line. You can't say it should never happen. Kick returns are so unpredictable in that the return guy can start one way and take the ball a completely different way, away from the emphasis of your blocks. When that happens, you don't have eyes in the back of your head as a blocker. You just feel this player starting to go in a different direction. That's where the holds and illegal blocks start to happen. Now, poor judgment can come into play on special teams, too, and if that starts to happen over and over again, that's when you need to evaluate the player.
Q. I watch all of your press conferences on the Internet and you always seem refreshingly honest. I know you said you love every part of your job. Is dealing with the media included in that list?
Larry Simmons
Jacksonville, Fla.
TS: Sure it is. It's part of my job. I knew that when I got into this. I enjoy it. I'm honest because I think that's the best way to be. Right now it's OK.
Q. Coach, as a former offensive line coach, how do you define a dominating performance by an offensive line?
Paul Winthrop
East Lansing, Mich.
TS: Well, I think a dominating performance is usually running the ball for maybe 150 yards and usually making sure your quarterback doesn't get touched. That's a pretty dominant performance, especially the way defensive lines are in this league. I mean, defensive lines are too big, too athletic and too strong to really be able to dominate on a consistent basis. If you're able to do that, even in a single game, then that it is very impressive in this day and age.
Q. Coach, Jake Long injures his ankle and is back in the game before you know it. Should we assume every player would have been back in the game, or is there something different about a Jake Long?
Mark Shuman
Miami, Fla.
TS: You shouldn't assume every player would be back in the game. I would hope that every one of my players would want to be back in the game at that situation. It was a big game and a big stage. One of the most important things for Jake Long in that deal was his teammates. They were out there still fighting when Jake got hurt and he wanted to be a part of that. I think, for the most part, most of our players would have reacted the same way.
Q. Coach, you haven't thrown the challenge flag very often this season. Is that because of a reluctance to risk a timeout or because there just haven't been many questionable calls?
Sid Myliski
Tampa, Fla.
TS: Right now there just hasn't been many questionable calls. But you are hesitant to throw it in a close game when you know timeouts are going to be at a premium, especially when you don't have the concrete evidence.
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