Great Win - But Come On Sparano!! | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

Great Win - But Come On Sparano!!

Third Eye

Third Eye

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I am completely baffled at a couple of key decisions made by Sparano during the KC game. The 4th and 1 was ill-advised at best, horrible at worst. After the turnover, it was very important to reward our defense with some points - the D had struggled the entire 2nd quarter and after the fumble recovery (from special teams) the Fins MUST kick that field goal. If they decide to not kick the FG (I can live with going for it, but it was too early in the game to go for it), then put the ball in your playmakers hands. Instead, they decide to throw a fade to....WTF??????
Seriously? You must be joking me. I about threw up all over myself watching that ridiculous play unfold.

Late in the game, the Chiefs are out of timeouts, and here the Fins are inside the KC 10 and instead of pounding Brown inside, they put the ball in Ricky's hands on a play that can easily turn into a sweep which can result in unneccessarily exposing your running back to a hit and a fumble. The fact is, baseball uses tendencies and football coaches should do the same. Ricky has a much higher fumble percentage than Ronnie over his career - give the ball to Ronnie (or heck even Polite or Cobbs) straight ahead into the pile. Then kick the field goal and ice the game. Luckliy, Thigpen and the Chiefs had already given up when they got the ball back.

The decisions by Sparano in these two critical areas really surprised me, and luckliy for the Fins, did not cost them the game. What in God's creation was Sparano thinking? Had his brain frozen?
 
the 4th and 1 to Haynos was maybe the worst call all year for us in the redzone. Especially when you got a guy named Lousaka Polite who is I believe they mentioned 9/9 on the year on 3rd/4th and 1 situations.
 
I agree with you about having Ricky in at the end of the game. Just stupid. He's been known for fumbling his entire career.

Anyway, the best I've tried to explain Henning's playcall on the 4th and 1 was that the Chiefs were expecting a run up the middle. They stacked the box and left 1 on 1 coverage on the WR. It actually set up how we wanted it, but it was just a bad pass coupled with poor footwork by the WR. I, myself, would've run it up the middle though. The odds of getting that fade route compared to a run right up the middle are incomparable.
 
Seriously, that call made me so furious. Lou has been outstanding in that situation, why not go with what you know has worked all year round? Stupid, stupid call.
 
Gonk said:
I agree with you about having Ricky in at the end of the game. Just stupid. He's been known for fumbling his entire career.

Anyway, the best I've tried to explain Henning's playcall on the 4th and 1 was that the Chiefs were expecting a run up the middle. They stacked the box and left 1 on 1 coverage on the WR. It actually set up how we wanted it, but it was just a bad pass coupled with poor footwork by the WR. I, myself, would've run it up the middle though anyway. The odds of getting that fade route compared to a run right up the middle are incomparable.
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There was no WR on the play - it was a tight end. A TE with one catch this year. A TE who had not run the pattern for us this year (perhaps he has never run it except in practice). My God - ridiculous.
 
KuD said:
the 4th and 1 to Haynos was maybe the worst call all year for us in the redzone. Especially when you got a guy named Lousaka Polite who is I believe they mentioned 9/9 on the year on 3rd/4th and 1 situations.
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I don't see it being a bad play. Wouldn't the Chiefs have assumed we'd run the ball in that situation? I mean sure Polite was 9/9 but when you try to mix it up, I think throwing would be a good choice to make. Sure the play didn't work out b/c not all plays are successful.

As far as the Ricky fumble, eh it certainly could've gone either way. It didn't affect the outcome of the game so it can be thrown away as "eh".
 
IMHO I would not say Sparano is at fault, because to go for it was the right call, but the play that they used was really bad, they should use polite to get that one yard, so I thing the OC is the one that screwed up.
 
I am really hating Dan Henning. Im yelling at my phone (had to use mobile web to watch) because of what Im seeing on the gamecenter. Just to let everyone know, I CRACKED MY DAMN PHONE SCREEN... Personally, I wish we would get a different Offensive coordinator, but i don't want to throw everything off in our offense.
 
Third Eye said:
There was no WR on the play - it was a tight end. A TE with one catch this year. A TE who had not run the pattern for us this year (perhaps he has never run it except in practice). My God - ridiculous.
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Well he was lined up as a WR. But I agree with you. Pretty bad playcall-- all I'm saying is that it set up how they wanted it after the call was made. It could've worked had the pass been better and Haynos turned around... I guess. They probably had good success with the play in practice and though it could catch the Chiefs off guard. Unfortunately, it didn't.
 
SpurzN703 said:
I don't see it being a bad play. Wouldn't the Chiefs have assumed we'd run the ball in that situation? I mean sure Polite was 9/9 but when you try to mix it up, I think throwing would be a good choice to make. Sure the play didn't work out b/c not all plays are successful.

As far as the Ricky fumble, eh it certainly could've gone either way. It didn't affect the outcome of the game so it can be thrown away as "eh".
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1. Ok, so KC is expecting the run. Then run a pass play you have 90% confidence in completing. That means a player you can count on. My point is - kick the damn FG. If not, pound the ball. It is effing December - stop getting cute. Henning loves to get cute too often. And Sparano accepted the call.

2. Eh? Would you say eh? if Thigpen had driven down and got the game into OT? It is not "eh" at all - there were 2 minutes left in the game. Stupid call, stupid personnel decision, and stupid outcome.
 
Gonk said:
Well he was lined up as a WR. But I agree with you. Pretty bad playcall-- all I'm saying is that it set up how they wanted it after the call was made. It could've worked had the pass been better and Haynos turned around... I guess. They probably had good success with the play in practice and though it could catch the Chiefs off guard. Unfortunately, it didn't.
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I think Henning has a done a great job. But like I said, he gets cute too often and that I cannot stand. There is a time for cute, and there is a time for hairy balls.
 
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