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Dolphins Head Coach Tony Sparano
It is a few days before the home opener, a Monday night game against the Indianapolis Colts, and Tony Sparano has his game face firmly in place. He is disappointed over the way the Dolphins performed in the opener at Atlanta and he has stressed that displeasure to his players this week. Sparano takes both a look back and a look ahead in this interview with Dolphin Digest editor Andy Cohen, exclusively for MiamiDolphins.com.
Q. Coach, how do you think your team will respond to the adversity of last week's game?
TS: I'm not sure, to be truthful. I think deep down they will respond favorably. If their work week has anything to do with how they'll play, I think they'll play a lot better.
Q. Were you tough on the players this week as a follow-up to the Atlanta game?
TS: I was pretty much the same this week as any other week. The difference in this week, when you lose a game the way we lost the Atlanta game, there is a more focused approach to some of the details like taking care of the football. Now, we stress this every week, but I think the players are thinking about it a little more after the four turnovers in Atlanta.
Q. Can you think about it too much?
TS: No, I don't think so. You try to drill them. You try to put them in those situations on the field as much as possible. But you can't think about it too much, not when the numbers are so telling when you turn the ball over that much. I think if you're not thinking about it, you are not doing your job.
Q. You sat here a week ago and said, 'If we can stop the run, we have a great chance in this game.' Well, you stopped the run and still lost.
TS: The turnovers changed everything. At halftime, I said to the team: 'Look, we're at minus two turnovers right now. You know what that means?' They know that minus two is a big hole to crawl out of. But we had a half of football left. We were in the ballgame. It was a 10-point game. I had also asked those guys at halftime: 'How many people in this locker room have come back from 10 points down?' I would say that every person and every coach raised their hands. If we stopped the turnovers, we would have had a chance to win the game.
Q. Was there a message this week to the players?
TS: Only that we can't forget what we have done in the past to win games, the formula that worked for us. I'm not concerned about complacency. That is not in the make-up of these players. We just talked a lot about what it takes to win. We put the Atlanta game behind us and we moved on.
Q. Is this one of those weeks where there is no great motivational ploy necessary? You are playing a Monday night against a real good team.
TS: If you have to go in there and get rah-rah, it's probably the wrong message. Monday night football is an exciting night. Coming off a loss, playing the team that we're playing, it should be enough of a motivator.
Q. Don Shula used to tell me that when the Dolphins played on Monday night, he would try to use Monday to get a jump start on the next opponent. Do you do that?
TS: As a coaching staff, we'll do that on Sunday and Monday. We'll go right to work on San Diego, specifically knowing it's a short week and we have to travel. That way the coaches can start Tuesday working on our game plan.
Q. Being an offensive line coach at heart, how do you define success in a game for your offensive line?
TS: No sacks is a way to define it. Certainly the rushing yards is a way. More importantly, it is the individual battles up front that help define success. Watching and getting a chance to see what you coach on tape tells you how the line does.
Q. On the Greg Camarillo play in Atlanta, you threw the red challenge flag at the last possible moment. What went into that?
TS: I initially started arguing about pass interference. I thought there was pushing and shoving going on during the play. Then I thought the officials thought it was a catch. I was waiting to see what the officials ruled as I was trying to get information from upstairs. I kept asking: Is it a catch? Is it a catch? At that point, the replay started. I had three timeouts. Knowing the player who was involved in Camarillo, I just thought we should challenge it.
Q. You've got Joseph Addai of the Colts this week and LaDainian Tomlinson of the Chargers next week. How much do the challenges change depending on the specific skills of the running back?
TS: I think they can change, not so much by the skills of of the running back but more based on what the other team does from an offensive standpoint. Our next two opponents, the Colts and Chargers, approach their running games completely different. One team spreads you out and stretches you and tries to get you running laterally. The other team in San Diego is more of a downhill running team that tries to separate the defense. Two different run games and two totally different runners.
Q. Right now, from what you see of your front seven, how secure do you feel?
TS: I feel secure after one game. They have been practicing well all camp. It was nice to see a few individual players elevate their game. I thought Phillip Merling and Randy Starks had really good games against Atlanta. I was impressed with what Tony McDaniel did in his brief time in the game. These guys stepped up.
Q. The Dolphins have running backs with different skills. Is it hard to give one back enough carries when you have so many talented backs?
TS: Yes, it's hard. You are the mercy at the way the game goes. How long does the other team keep the ball? Do we turn the ball over? If we don't turn the ball over a few times, you have to assume you can run off another nine of 10 snaps. You have to assume that maybe five of those are running plays. See what I mean. That changes the number of carries, and a few more opportunities for Ricky and Ronnie.
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