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.
September 29, 2006
Every game so far this season, we have determined the outcome. Not the other team, but us. The mistakes we made. The blitzes we didn't pick up. The big plays we left on the field. Not that you're ever going to play a perfect game, but you want to eliminate as many errors as you can.
The challenge this week against Houston is to keep improving, take the things that haven't gone well and make them right and take the things that have gone well and make them even better. We need to play with more consistency.
I do know that Houston has enough good players, if they put it together, they are going to be a very good team. Just like Tennessee. You know, Tennessee played by far its best game of the season against us. Don't ask my why, but they did. They made more plays against us than anybody else. We have to be ready for that every week.
We competed well in the victory over Tennessee. We played hard. That's the reason we won the game. I don't think people should minimize the importance of that. We always read about all the things that we didn't do. That takes the game away from the players, and I think that's sad.
I told the players before the Tennessee game, "Look guys, I want you to close your eyes and think about playing for your hometown high school in your senior season, playing against whoever your big cross town rival was. What we're you thinking of back then? Did you just want to kick someone's butt? Did that guy steal your girlfriend? Was their bad blood between the two schools?
"Remember when football was fun back then? You enjoyed it, and you played the game that way. You all had it in you and you and that's the way you approached things. So when you get to this level, don't let anyone take that spirit away from you. Don't let the media take it away with criticism. Don't get frustrated by your performance. Don't let contracts or league rules frustrate you. Don't let anybody take that away and play a great game."
I was pleased and proud that the players went out and did that and that's why we won the game. You can point out the things that we didn't do, but that's something we did do.
Now, we face three straight games on the road. It starts with Sunday in Houston. The big thing when you play on the road is that you have to stay focused on every part of the game. You have to concentrate on the guy who is right across from you. You've got to understand if you play the right way, you're going to minimize their opportunities to have momentum.
Woody Hayes once told me that when you play on the road, you've got to make the crowd sit on their hands. I never forgot that because he was right. A road stadium is only a tough place to play if you make it a tough place to play. If you make one bad mistake and lose momentum, suddenly that road stadium becomes a more difficult place to play. We control that, and the players need to understand that to be successful.
It's a tough challenge playing three straight on the road, but if we come in with the right attitude, we can turn that into a positive. That's our goal this week and every week we play on the road.
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Ronnie Brown is a special player. He has really developed nicely since he came in last season. You know, it's unfortunate that sometimes a running back has to go 60 yards on a play in order to really get noticed. But sometimes there is more talent exhibited on a 5-yard play and nobody seems to be aware of that.
One thing about Ronnie, when he came here because of the kind of person he is and the kind of maturity he has and the way he handled being drafted so high, it didn't affect him a lot. He was probably more mature about being ready to play than most young guys are.
I would hope that most fans would see that Ronnie is really a good competitor. He plays smart. He's tough. He doesn't make a lot of mental errors. He's not a selfish player. I know as football players, sometimes because these guys wear a helmet, they are a little bit like a gladiator and you can only make character judgments based on how they play.
But I would think that everybody would make a pretty positive judgment based on how Ronnie plays and if they knew him they would be even more impressed with the kind of person he is.
Even though his production has not been outstanding in the eyes of some people, he has taken tremendous advantage of his opportunities. He has gotten pretty much what is always there in the running game.
Ronnie is the kind of back that the more he runs, the better he gets. But at the same time, the season is more of a marathon than it is a sprint. Once we get over 20 carries in a game, there is a concern whether this guy is going to make it over the long haul. That's just my experience in managing backs. If you beat them up, it affects their performance long term. I've never seen that happen with Ronnie, but I'm very aware of the possibility.
Ronnie isn't like some players who wanted to come into this league and draw attention to themselves. He's not a big ego guy. He doesn't complain; he doesn't ask for much. He wants to do whatever he can do to help the team be successful.
He has a very good work ethic. Young players who come into this league have to learn the importance of practicing and practicing fast and Ronnie came in with that already in place, which was a big advantage for us.
What does Ronnie need to do to take his career to the next level? I think if he just continues over time to improve in subtle ways and continues to perform at a level of consistency, he's going to make yards and get noticed. But I can tell you with all honesty that at this point in his career, he is every bit the back that we had hoped he would be.
