Sparano's teams - slow starts a coincidence or a trend?

[oasis]

Two years in a row we've seen Sparano's team start off poorly. If our play against the Jets is any indication, once again a Tony Sparano coached team will rise up to its full potential midseason.

At this point it may just be a coincidence...but it could be a trend.

Do you think the intensity of training camp drains our players just a bit too much? Do you think they wear out just a bit mentally and physically so that preparation and execution in the first several games isn't quite right?

I ask because the other philosophy of a lighter camp (not taking that to Cam Cameron extremes of course) is widely held around the league by many coaches. There's no right way to do it, and every philosophy has its pros and cons.

Obviously, Sparano's intense training camp has the benefits of better conditioning down the stretch. But is the slow start one of its cons? Is this a case of the soup being just a little too hot? What are your thoughts?

 

[LDaniel7]

Starting 0-3 both years I'd say we have a pretty significant trend. The problem is that a lot of those game he won in the stretch [even with such a slow start] were by very narrow margins. Which means you can't take them for granted, especially against improved schedule-talent.

Even against the Jets on Monday Night, there were some big coaching failures. The game never should have been that close, imo. If you get pwned twice in one game on fake punts, that is NOT on the players. Maybe one. But not two.

If the same systemic weaknesses exhibit themselves, again, that is not on the players.

LD

 

[Jersey DolFan]

it can be any combination of things - and we'll see as the season progresses if again we get better toward the end of the year. It could be lack of a lot of contact etc. so we need to get better at tackling and thigns like that as we face more teams..it could be how they do conditioning or practice certain fundamentals - it could be b/c they are creative and it takes time for the players to gel and execute the type of offense etc that we run. either way sparano does seem to always say "as thing thing goes" "as we get through this" etc etc so maybe he knows and maybe he realizes the end is what coutns. def not sure.

 

[NY8123]

I believe it has more to do with the huge turn over of players in both off seasons. Once the core team is set the start of the season record will improve.

 

[oasis]

Starting 0-3 both years I'd say we have a pretty significant trend. The problem is that a lot of those game he won in the stretch [even with such a slow start] were by very narrow margins. Which means you can't take them for granted, especially against improved schedule-talent.

Even against the Jets on Monday Night, there were some big coaching failures. The game never should have been that close, imo. If you get pwned twice in one game on fake punts, that is NOT on the players. Maybe one. But not two.

If the same systemic weaknesses exhibit themselves, again, that is not on the players.

LD

Ok, so the second part of my thought train was - if you do believe it's a trend, do you think it has anything to do with the tougher than average training camp?

Sounds like you're leaning towards more of a prep / in-game coaching issue.

 

[Dolphins7273]

Just a coincidence. If Chad doesn't throw an INT in the endzone, or if Brett Favre's lame duck pass doesn't get caught for a TD, they start last year 1-0.

 

[sharp]

Last season we were getting things together so thats why we were 0-2, this season we played bad offense against an ELITE ATL team at home.

We SHOULD have beaten probably the best team in he NFL. Have u watched them play? They crush everyone, we just didn't have an answer for Clark, but most do not.

If penny didnt get hurt or Henne had started the game or ronnie doesn't fumble on the opening drive, we win in SD.

Bad Luck, overall intensity, and the backs against the wall effect probably plays a role in getting on a roll after a couple games. I wish we only had 2 losses though because that means a lot if we can play well for the rest of the season.

 

[oasis]

Just a coincidence. If Chad doesn't throw an INT in the endzone, or if Brett Favre's lame duck pass doesn't get caught for a TD, they start last year 1-0.

For sure some of the games could have gone either way at the start of both seasons and then we wouldn't be having this conversation.

 

[Pinkboy]

Parcells built teams have always played better later in the season.

 

[Dolphins7273]

Let's also not forget we've had some key injuries with Joey Porter and Matt Roth apparently being too lazy to leave his house.

 

[LDaniel7]

Ok, so the second part of my thought train was - if you do believe it's a trend, do you think it has anything to do with the tougher than average training camp?

Sounds like you're leaning towards more of a prep / in-game coaching issue.

I think it's both. Without question.

One thing I've noticed is that with the skill players, the off-season program takes a level of quickness away from them. The off-season program seems, on the results, to be very oriented to bulk and conditioning vs. quickness and speed. All the Phins players are bigger, but the skill guys are slow or slower, in many respects. Ginn has even lost a half step, and that should never ever happen in NFL level training, unless the system is so focused on bulk and conditioning that it loses sight of speed and quick-twitch training, and muscle rest -- very, very important [which is why so many coaches emphasize that rest/recup part of training camp and regime]. Sparano and Parcells seem to really devalue this part of training camp/regimine. It's like 90s weight training on steroids without any awareness of the phenomenal findings of the last decade or so, regarding regimine.

That is a logistical thing. Then there is the in game/prep side of the issue. Sparano is not stellar at this, yet. He's made some huge mistakes in this area that haven't gotten a lot of press. He's also made some HUGE personnell mistakes that should never have been made, simply because he had lots of NFL game film on the ppl chosen... and still blew it. That should never happen, or at least not to the degree that it has happened. There's some hubris there. Some blind spots.

He'll learn, though. At least I hope.

LD

 

[tay0365]

Two years in a row we've seen Sparano's team start off poorly. If our play against the Jets is any indication, once again a Tony Sparano coached team will rise up to its full potential midseason.

At this point it may just be a coincidence...but it could be a trend.

Do you think the intensity of training camp drains our players just a bit too much? Do you think they wear out just a bit mentally and physically so that preparation and execution in the first several games isn't quite right?

I ask because the other philosophy of a lighter camp (not taking that to Cam Cameron extremes of course) is widely held around the league by many coaches. There's no right way to do it, and every philosophy has its pros and cons.

Obviously, Sparano's intense training camp has the benefits of better conditioning down the stretch. But is the slow start one of its cons? Is this a case of the soup being just a little too hot? What are your thoughts?

No, Miami should have won against the Colts, time management is something they need to work on better, and the Chargers game, Maimi should have been leading at the half, if not for the VERY rare fumble of Ronnie Brown at the 1yard line, and losing Penny in the 2nd half forced us to bring in Henne who was not ready against SD in SD, and that sealed our chances in that game....some bad luck, and mistakes hurt us, not conditioning.

 

[NY8123]

No, Miami should have won against the Colts, time management is something they need to work on better, and the Chargers game, Maimi should have been leading at the half, if not for the VERY rare fumble of Ronnie Brown at the 1yard line, and losing Penny in the 2nd half forced us to bring in Henne who was not ready against SD in SD, and that sealed our chances in that game....some bad luck, and mistakes hurt us, not conditioning.

I agree with most everything but the time management thing. How do you impove your time managment when your average time of possession is over 30 minutes a game?

 

[oasis]

I'm not really talking about wins and losses though. I get what a lot of you guys are saying about specific plays that cost us games. You're right - most games can come down to a play or few coaching decisions any way you slice it.

But I'm talking about whether those games needed to be so close anyways. The mental lapses, the poor ball protection, missed assignments, etc. These things seemed to taint our first several games both last year and this year. Then all of a sudden, bam, the players are focused, barely make many mental errors, etc. I mean c'mon - zero turnovers against the Jets?? That is some focus - the same focus the Phins had for most of last year. But it's been absent at the starts of both seasons.

 

[tay0365]

I agree with most everything but the time management thing. How do you impove your time managment when your average time of possession is over 30 minutes a game?

I should have said at the end, against the Colts we had over 3 Min to score, and lost because we ran out of time, and this last game we had I believe 2 1/2 min, and used up all the time, if we do not score with Ronnie, we have no TOs, and we can't kick the FG to tie.