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Each week throughout the 2006 season, Miami Dolphins Head Coach Nick Saban will share his thoughts through an exclusive column on MiamiDolphins.com as told to Andy Cohen of Dolphin Digest.
In addition, Coach Saban will occasionally answer questions from Dolphins fans in his column on Miamidolphins.com. Please click "Ask the Coach" to submit your questions.
December 22, 2006
Everybody was disappointed in the way we played against Buffalo. But the only way we're going to feel better around here is to follow that up with a winning performance against the Jets.
It's important we all put this in the right perspective. Every game is only one game. The New England game, as good as it made us all feel, was just one game. The Buffalo game, as disappointing as it was, was just one game. We need to build on the good things that we're doing. We need to get the bad things corrected so we can play with more consistency and be a better football team and I don't think there's a player here that doesn't want to do that.
The Jets present a difficult challenge for us. They are right in the playoff hunt, and you know they'll come in here with the right mentality. They have been playing very well lately, especially on defense. Even though they are not highly ranked, that defense has been giving up less than 15 points a game over the last half dozen games. But probably the key to their team has been the play of Chad Pennington. He has done an outstanding job of using all the resources they have to be productive. He runs the no-huddle offense so well, and that will pose another difficult challenge for our team. We've got to be ready to stop that offense and play with the consistency we were lacking against Buffalo.
So much of this game is consistency, and I know I have been preaching that all year. We have shown that we have the ability to play consistently well over a period of time. But it's also important we extend that period of consistency, and that should be one of our main goals over the last two games.
I know this is the holiday season, and I want this football team to play the kind of football that will make everyone feel good during the holidays. The support of our fans has been exceptional this season, and I want to thank them for everything they have done and to help us be a better football team.
Nobody around here is giving up, even though we are out of the playoff race. We want to end this season on a positive note, so can feel good about some the things this team is doing.
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One of the great disappointments this season has been our inability to come up with more big plays on offense. We emphasize this every week, but it seems like we just haven't gotten it done the way all of us had hoped.
We tried to be an effective running team, and that emphasis hasn't changed all season. Sacks were a concern earlier in the year and then when Joey Harrington started to play we put in a quick passing game to minimize some of the negative plays. We continued during the course of the year to try and implement more and more ways to throw the ball down the field, but we just haven't executed it well enough to get it done.
Explosive plays are very important. I want to be aggressive in everything we do, and that includes making big plays on offense. It's always our goal to get a certain amount of explosive plays in every game. We haven't done that as well as we did last year, and that's something we need to continue to work on and improve.
If you look at the history of when we make big plays, they usually lead to points. If you look at our opponents and when they make big plays against us, they also usually lead to points. So explosive plays are critical factors in scoring points and winning games. You obviously have to do well when you get in the red zone and all of that, but when you make the big plays it has so much to do with field position and that always changes the entire complexion of a game.
Normally we have a certain amount of plays in our game plan that take advantage of certain circumstances based on what the defense gives us. We go looking for those situations to attack. Just because we haven't succeeded doesn't mean we shouldn't continue to try and that will remain our focus as we strive to reach the next level as a football team.
You hear me preach all the time about game-defining plays. When you look back at our season, we just haven't had enough of them, certainly not on offense. We are evaluating every part of our team to find the answers because we know how important it is to get this right.
I know there is disappointment in the Dolphins not making the playoffs. We all want to play winning football, and certainly with as many veterans on our team as we have, they understand what winning football means.
But even in times like this, it's also important that pride and performance stays in the mindset of the players. You can't always just concentrate on results and you can't always just look at the standings. It's important to keep getting better and that's what we've tried to emphasize to our players.
COACH SABAN COLUMN ARCHIVES:
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