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I normally eschew the talk
radio scene. It’s mostly loud, irrational, agenda-driven, and rife with
misinformation. I’ve also learned over the years to avoid certain media
personalities who do not wish the Dolphins well. It’s not a matter of
objectiveness, but rather a matter of maliciousness for the sake of selling
papers or raising viewership.
I believe in fair and
objective commentary as a top priority, as well as accountability. And you
should know that I write this column mostly as a labor of love, which
transcends one game or one season.
This is why it bothers me to
see this flurry of misconception, misperception, and misunderstanding flying
about the 2010 Miami Dolphins. Those of you who have read my stuff know that I
am not a Dolphin shill, be it Don Shula or Tony Sparano driving the ship. Yet I
do think it is important that we all understand fact from fiction.
So if you only remember one
thing about this column a minute after reading it, remember that this regime
is summed up by a quote that General Manager Jeff Ireland gave me in his first
season with the team.
“We try to get ‘make up’
players. We want smart, tough, and discipline players. We want players with
intangibles like character, integrity, toughness, intelligence, work ethic,
accountability, dependability, and, most importantly, passion.”
At the end of the day, every
decision made within the walls of the
This is why certain suggestions
that Sparano has become “desperate”, or “afraid of losing his job”, are pure
nonsense.
First, no one does a better
job of holding his players and coaches accountable for their work than Tony
Sparano does. It really doesn’t matter if it’s the 53rd man on the
roster or QB Chad Henne. If a guy isn’t getting the job done, there’s always a
limit as to how long that player has to improve. If that improvement isn’t
forthcoming, and the next guy on the depth chart is delivering the goods,
Sparano will not hesitate to make a change.
This is what a good and
responsible head coach should do. It’s why it is silly to think that Henne was
benched because Sparano was desperate to win games to save the season and his
job.
Plain and simple, Chad Henne
was benched on merit. He had 21 games to show what he could do. He didn’t
deliver the goods on a consistent basis and he was costing the team wins with
his below par play.
That’s not my opinion;
that’s a statement of fact based on his numbers. It is indisputable.
What is also a fact is that
Sparano was going to hold Henne accountable, just as he would any other player.
Yes, Henne had a longer leash because they were trying to develop him as part
of the future of this team. And yes, Henne will get another chance to prove his
worth. But when the team is expecting improvement on a lackluster season, and
gets a three pick no touchdown game in response, there must be consequences.
In short, there comes a
point where the good of the whole outweighs the good of the one, and that point
was reached after the Ravens game. It wasn’t fair to the other 52 guys, or you
the fan, to keep a veteran winner like Chad Pennington on the bench any longer.
It was simply unjustifiable.
It’s not an act of
desperation and it doesn’t make the rest of the season “pointless”, as one
writer mused. Rather, it’s a well-reasoned and measured decision based on
“accountability” and “dependability”.
The same goes for CB Jason
Allen, now a member of the Houston Texans. Lord knows, Sparano and Parcells
tried like hell to get the guy to come around. And for a decent stretch this
season, it looked like they had succeeded. Allen was outplaying Sean Smith,
leading the NFL in picks at one point, and we were all impressed. But then
Allen started reverting back to his old, flawed techniques and the sun went
down. So Sparano did what he always does, hold his player accountable. And
Allen didn’t take that well, failing to step up his game even as Smith started
to reemerge.
Again, a limit was reached,
and Sparano acted.
The same goes for his
coaches.
We all know what happened to
former special teams coach John Bonamego. If there is a fair criticism of
Sparano on the topic of accountability, it’s that he was too generous with
Bonamego.
Some would argue that the
same criticism applies to offensive coordinator Dan Henning?
I don’t.
It’s true, Henning isn’t
perfect. But what offensive coordinator is? And yes, talent matters.
What the critics who call
Henning “conservative” fail to understand here is that Henning is one of the
great innovative minds in football today. With the Dolphins, he gets credit for
co-implementing the Wildcat in
The critics also fail to
understand that the so-called “vanilla” game plans are reflective of what the
quarterback is comfortable with doing, and what the coaches believe he can be
successful with. The results are mostly a reflection of the execution of that
game plan.
I’ve got a hunch that
Henning will look a lot smarter with a productive QB. Hopefully that QB is
Tyler Thigpen. It will take a few games before we’ll know about that.
So relax and enjoy the ride.
Yes, mistakes have been made on the field and in the front office. It happens
and will continue to happen. But the arrow is still pointing in the right
direction.