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Dolphins Head Coach Tony Sparano
Tony Sparano has not lost any confidence in his football team. He believes that the mistakes of the first three games can be corrected and that the pieces remain in place to have a successful season. With a new starting quarterback in Chad Henne, Sparano knows there are important challenges ahead and the first of those is to play well Sunday against the Buffalo Bills. Sparano takes a look at that game as well as other topics in this exclusive interview with Dolphin Digest editor Andy Cohen for MiamiDolphins.com
Q. Coach, can you put into words the importance of your team getting a victory this week against Buffalo?
TS: It's very important for a lot of reasons. From our end, it's no different than a year ago. As soon as you get a win, it lends creditability to everything you've been saying. In practicing. In preaching. More importantly, it's so important for this team to get that first win because of the way it has worked. This team has worked extremely hard through camp and the first few weeks of the season and hasn't seen the fruits of their labor. We need a win for a lot of reasons.
Q. Can you tell the fans what Chad Pennington meant to you as the head coach and to this team in general?
TS: To this team, Chad was a tremendous leader from the first day he walked into this building. I think he was a heck of a teammate, a guy that everyone was fortunate to know. I was fortunate to get to know him as well. He is an excellent player and a guy everyone wants to be around. He's infectious that way. If he wants to be, he's a coach. Chad and I talk about that a lot on the side because his dad was a coach. I think he would make a tremendous coach somewhere, I really do. He has all the qualities you want in a coach except he might be too smart to be one (laugh).
Q. What should be the realistic expectations for Chad Henne in his first start for the Dolphins?
TS: I hope his expectations are to win the game. I would hope from Chad Henne's standpoint he doesn't think he has to do everything. He just needs to do his job and trust his supporting cast and trust the ability that he has.
Q. What types of things do you expect a defense to do to get into the head of a quarterback starting his first game?
TS: I can en vision that they would try to bait him a little bit, walk people up at times and drop them and to blitz him from depth at times. I think you'll see an awful lot of movement by the defense. I don't think you'll see them line up out there and say here we are.
Q. What sticks out in the tape when you watch the Buffalo Bills?
TS: Team defense. They play very good team defense. Individually, there are some very good players. They are stingy, stout and they rush the passer very well. On offense, the number of weapons they have when you watch them. With Terrell Owens, with Lee Evans, with Josh Reed, they can come at you so many different ways. They have a bunch of weapons for us to deal with. Evans has had tremendous games against us in the past. Of course, I know Terrell and his ability from Dallas and I know you don't want to let a guy like that beat you. With that offense, you just can't key on one thing.
Q. Do you expect defenses to start stacking up against the run since the Dolphins have been successful in that area?
TS: I would think so. I would think most teams would say, they are not going to let us run the ball the way we've been running. I think they're going to say, 'let's see if this young quarterback can beat us throwing the ball.' Now, that being said, we haven't won any games running the ball. In other words, as well as we've been running it, some teams might think it's better to let us go 90 yards in 18 plays instead of seeing if we can go 80 yards in three or four plays.
Q. Let's talk about the two rookie corners. How have you been utilizing them and what have you seen?
TS: We've been trying to alternate them every two series. We'll probably do something a little different against the Bills in the rotation. I've seen very good confidence out of both of them. I've seen a very good game day look. I've seen production, not in the way of interceptions but in the way of balls thrown at them and how they have handled some of those things. I haven't seen any mental problems, and that's a positive sign. In my opinion, these two guys will get better and better. Now, there will be some growing pains along the way, but I think they will get better if they just keep their heads level.
Q. Is it possible that Vontae Davis might be suited to play safety as well.
TS: I don't know about that. I think he's a pretty good corner. Great feet. Great instincts. A real competitor. When you get those kind of qualities, they are hard to find.
Q. When you look at players in general, do you ever project them at other positions?
TS: It depends if the player is an in between position guy, then you try to project him. But mostly when you are evaluating a player, you have a pretty good idea of what they are.
Q. How important has Will Allen been in the training of these two young corners?
TS: He's been very important. He's a tremendous professional. He studies the game very, very hard, almost to a fault. In other words, he studies it so well in practice if you don't get the look you're supposed to get, he'll get aggravated over that. I say to a fault because it frustrates him, but as a coach you love it because you know this guy is prepared and he's done his homework. He's been helpful in that way to these young players. The other thing with Will Allen, he just doesn't miss. He goes out there every day and practices hard every day. To these young players, that's a great example.
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