Cimini: Sparano Isn't Captain Crunch Time----And many other goodiess

[flgreen]

Notes: Sparano isn't Captain Crunch Time

June, 3, 2012

Jun 3

5:00

AM ET

By Rich Cimini | ESPNNewYork.com

Sunday notes and observations on the Jets and the NFL:

1. NOT TWO-MINUTE TONY: Rex Ryan praised Tony Sparano's ability to coordinate a two-minute offense, comparing his organizational skills to those of Bill Belichick. "Nobody has done it better than the Dolphins in the last few years," Ryan said. Actually, just about every team has done it better. During his four seasons as the Dolphins' head coach (2008-2011), Sparano's offense recorded a league-low 11 TDs in the final two minutes of each half, according to ESPN Stats & Information. (The Colts led with 33 TDs.) The Dolphins also produced the third-lowest point total, 146. (The Saints led with 298.) The Dolphins can't chalk it up to a lack of opportunities; they had 145 drives in the final two minutes of each half, ninth-most in the league. Sparano might be an organized, detail-obsessed coach, but those attributes haven't produced winning results in hurry-up situations.

2. MORE 4-3 LOOKS: The decision to draft DE Quinton Coples fueled speculation that the Jets, who employ a 3-4 base defense, will use more 4-3 alignments. Well, it's not speculation anymore; it's true. "It just makes sense to use four true defensive linemen," DC Mike Pettine told ESPNNewYork.com. They've always sprinkled in some 4-3, but it usually involved an OLB (Calvin Pace or Bryan Thomas) lining up in a three-point stance with three linemen. But now the plan in certain situations is to line up Coples and Muhammad Wilkerson on the outside, with Sione Pouha and Mike DeVito inside -- all true linemen. Two reasons: There's uncertainty at Thomas' position (he's returning from Achilles tendon surgery) and it keeps DeVito on the field. Pettine said he wants his best 11.

3. MONEY MATTERS: Obviously, Darrelle Revis isn't happy with his contract. Whether he's willing to go to the mattresses (pardon the "Godfather" reference) remains to be seen. If he does, if he stages his second training-camp holdout in three years, it could get ugly because you get the distinct sense the Jets have absolutely no desire to renegotiate. Interestingly, former Jets coach and ESPN analyst Eric Mangini, in an on-air segment, sided with Revis in the potential dispute.

4. FAULT LINE: The Jets signed two journeymen OTs on the same day, Ray Willis and Stephon Heyer, and many assumed it was to replace beleaguered RT Wayne Hunter. This is how an opposing personnel executive interpreted the moves: "Those moves are insurance and tell me they may not trust their current insurance -- (Vladimir Ducasse)." Not coincidentally, Ducasse has been working at left guard during OTAs. In his career, he has gone from left guard to right tackle to left guard. Next is left out.

5. VEEP EXODUS: The Jets' front office has experienced significant upheaval over the last two years. Three vice presidents left the organization to "pursue other opportunities," as they say in the business -- Matt Higgins (business operations), Thad Sheely (finance/stadium development) and Joey Clinkscales (college scouting). A fourth VP Bob Parente (programming/media production), one of the true gentlemen, is moving to a consulting role after 35 years in the organization. Change is inevitable in any business, but this is a curious amount of turnover.

6. MAGICAL MOMENT: Johan Santana's no-hitter, the first in Mets history, got me to thinking: What would be the Jets' equivalent to Santana's achievement? Curious to get your thoughts.

7. CHECK, PLEASE: Coples recently went out to dinner with the rest of the defensive linemen, and the No. 1 pick thought he'd have to use some of his $4.8 million signing bonus to pay the entire tab. It's an NFL tradition: The rookie pays. "He was getting a little nervous," Pouha said. But the Jets' D-line has its own tradition: The oldest pays. In this case, Pouha. That tradition started in 2005, Pouha's rookie year, when he was saved by elder statesman Shaun Ellis, who grabbed the check. That's what you call paying it forward.

8. HARD (TO BELIEVE) KNOCKS: That the Dolphins agreed to HBO's "Hard Knocks" is stunning because their top football man, GM Jeff Ireland, is a Bill Parcells disciple. If you know anything about Parcells, who hired Ireland in Miami, you know he'd rather watch a re-run loop of the Jets-Broncos '98 AFC Championship Game than have TV cameras invading his inner sanctum. But Parcells is long gone in Miami, and the Dolphins have an owner, Stephen Ross, who needs to fill his stadium and grow his brand. Rookie coach Joe Philbin called it a "football decision," which was laughable.

9. HIS NOSE IS GROWING: Niners coach Jim Harbaugh said he never pursued Peyton Manning in free agency. Oh, really? Next he'll be telling us he and Jim Schwartz are going on a fishing trip together.

10. ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS: The Giants finally took care of Osi Umenyiora, but they did it in a curious way -- money for nothing. They gave him a $3.5 million raise for 2012, but they didn't get anything in return -- no additional years on the contract, according to various reports. He's still a free agent after the season. Strange way of doing business. I guess they got tired of hearing him whine.

[gangreenman]

Wait, wait, wait....

Is Cimini implying the Dolphins didn't have the worlds greatest offense ever??? That adding more linemen will allow us to play more linemen at once??? That Vlad Ducasse isn't the worlds greatest backup OL ever??? That Darelle Revis might hold out??? That some people may actually want to do other things than work for the Jets their whole life??? And that Johan Santana pitched a no-hitter???

Wow. Wow. This guy just never stops breaking news. Best reporter of all time.

[RutgersJetFan]

1. NOT TWO-MINUTE TONY: Rex Ryan praised Tony Sparano's ability to coordinate a two-minute offense, comparing his organizational skills to those of Bill Belichick. "Nobody has done it better than the Dolphins in the last few years," Ryan said. Actually, just about every team has done it better. During his four seasons as the Dolphins' head coach (2008-2011), Sparano's offense recorded a league-low 11 TDs in the final two minutes of each half, according to ESPN Stats & Information. (The Colts led with 33 TDs.) The Dolphins also produced the third-lowest point total, 146. (The Saints led with 298.) The Dolphins can't chalk it up to a lack of opportunities; they had 145 drives in the final two minutes of each half, ninth-most in the league. Sparano might be an organized, detail-obsessed coach, but those attributes haven't produced winning results in hurry-up situations.

This part was actually kind of hilarious.

[Ryno the Jet]

During his four seasons as the Dolphins' head coach (2008-2011), Sparano's offense recorded a league-low 11 TDs in the final two minutes of each half, according to ESPN Stats & Information. (The Colts led with 33 TDs.)

Out of all the wonderful information Cimini provided, I actually thought this one tidbit was very impressive. The Colts led with 33, without one snap from number 18 the entire 2011 season. I seriously doub Painter had very many TDs with two mins or less remaining.

Not that it was a big secret, but there is proof positive that Peyton Manning is the best two minute QB in the history of the game.

[Integrity28]

Wait, wait, wait....

Is Cimini implying the Dolphins didn't have the worlds greatest offense ever??? That adding more linemen will allow us to play more linemen at once??? That Vlad Ducasse isn't the worlds greatest backup OL ever??? That Darelle Revis might hold out??? That some people may actually want to do other things than work for the Jets their whole life??? And that Johan Santana pitched a no-hitter???

Wow. Wow. This guy just never stops breaking news. Best reporter of all time.

He's really quite excellent at recapping the paranoia expressed by fans on websites like this one.

[whodeawhodat]

He's really quite excellent at recapping the paranoia expressed by fans on websites like this one.

strange way to eat crow but then again, i didnt know monkies even ate crow.

[Integrity28]

strange way to eat crow but then again, i didnt know monkies even ate crow.

Not quite sure what this post is even related to... have I ever advocated that Cimini is a good writer? I'd ask you to explain, but I think mostly I don't care.

[dbatesman]

Is Cimini implying the Dolphins didn't have the worlds greatest offense ever???

He's implying that offensive coaching played a major role in the Dolphins' failures, and if you have a problem with that point of view, this probably isn't the message board for you.

[RutgersJetFan]

He's implying that offensive coaching played a major role in the Dolphins' failures, and if you have a problem with that point of view, this probably isn't the message board for you.

I dunno, the two-man Coaching Doesn't Matter Fan Club looks to be fairly open to membership.

[Larz]

10. ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS: The Giants finally took care of Osi Umenyiora, but they did it in a curious way -- money for nothing. They gave him a $3.5 million raise for 2012, but they didn't get anything in return -- no additional years on the contract, according to various reports. He's still a free agent after the season. Strange way of doing business. I guess they got tired of hearing him whine

if the jets did this, they would get killed on every media outlet for being amateurs

what a joke

[kay_gee]

10. ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS: The Giants finally took care of Osi Umenyiora, but they did it in a curious way -- money for nothing. They gave him a $3.5 million raise for 2012, but they didn't get anything in return -- no additional years on the contract, according to various reports. He's still a free agent after the season. Strange way of doing business. I guess they got tired of hearing him whine

if the jets did this, they would get killed on every media outlet for being amateurs

what a joke

I'm pretty sure ESPNNY doesn't let writers say anything negative about the Giants. Ever. I'm pretty sure it's in O'Connor's contract that he MUST dump on the Jets at least once per article, even if the Giants do the exact same thing (read: trash talking).

That said, I'm not really THAT concerned about the 2 minute drill right now. I mean, I hope it improves and all, but execution in the last two minutes has almost as much to do with the capability of the players as it does with the plan. The Dolphins were a 6-10 team last year. In 2009 & 2010, they were 7-9. In 2008, the last year referred to here, was their only good year at 11-5. How good were most of those teams overall, let alone under pressure in the last 2 minutes?

[gangreenman]

He's implying that offensive coaching played a major role in the Dolphins' failures, and if you have a problem with that point of view, this probably isn't the message board for you.

I think everyone with half a brain knows that Sporano wasn't hired based on his exceptional accomplishments and record breaking numbers with the Dolphins. Instead it was that Rex wanted to bring in someone to run the offense in a similar fashion as he runs the defense... A physical detail-oriented, in your face coaching style. Plus he's a ground and pound guy and has shown the ability to be creative (wildcat).

The point I was making was that Cimini decided to cherry pick something Rex said, possibly twist it out of context, and look up useless stats to prove him wrong. We all know the Dolphins weren't an offensive juggernaut under Sparano. Anyone who thinks we will be lighting up the scoreboards under him is either delusional or stupid. He was brought in to instill discipline, accountability, physicality, and to sustain drives and protect the ball.

[flgreen]

I think everyone with half a brain knows that Sporano wasn't hired based on his exceptional accomplishments and record breaking numbers with the Dolphins. Instead it was that Rex wanted to bring in someone to run the offense in a similar fashion as he runs the defense... A physical detail-oriented, in your face coaching style. Plus he's a ground and pound guy and has shown the ability to be creative (wildcat).

The point I was making was that Cimini decided to cherry pick something Rex said, possibly twist it out of context, and look up useless stats to prove him wrong. We all know the Dolphins weren't an offensive juggernaut under Sparano. Anyone who thinks we will be lighting up the scoreboards under him is either delusional or stupid. He was brought in to instill discipline, accountability, physicality, and to sustain drives and protect the ball.

Exactly

Living in South Florida when the Jets signed Sparano I wasn't particularly thrilled. This is a guy who was mocked relentlessly down here for his fist pumping after field goals.

Then I thought about how many 3 and outs, and stupid turnovers the Jets had last year. How many games the defense got the ball back in good field position, then they O goes 3 and out with no points. Or worst yet turn the ball over in their own end, and put the D back on the field.

A lot of Jets fans aren't going to like this, but I think the object is going to be to put together 3 or so more 40-50 yard drives that end in points (field goals) then they did last year.

Plus of course their normal amount of TD's. Air it out deep to Hill, or Schillens (Sp) a few times a game. Beat up the opponents D.

if Sanchez just matures enough to realize he doesn't have to force throws and win games right now, throw the ball away and take the FG, the Jets will have a very nice complimentary offense to their Defense.

[Integrity28]

Exactly

Living in South Florida when the Jets signed Sparano I wasn't particularly thrilled. This is a guy who was mocked relentlessly down here for his fist pumping after field goals.

Then I thought about how many 3 and outs, and stupid turnovers the Jets had last year. How many games the defense got the ball back in good field position, then they O goes 3 and out with no points. Or worst yet turn the ball over in their own end, and put the D back on the field.

A lot of Jets fans aren't going to like this, but I think the object is going to be to put together 3 or so more 40-50 yard drives that end in points (field goals) then they did last year.

Plus of course their normal amount of TD's. Air it out deep to Hill, or Schillens (Sp) a few times a game. Beat up the opponents D.

if Sanchez just matures enough to realize he doesn't have to force throws and win games right now, throw the ball away and take the FG, the Jets will have a very nice complimentary offense to their Defense.

Exactly.

We don't get blown out on def (except vs. new England) when we lose, we just shoot ourselves in the foot a few too many times on offense.

[slats]

Then I thought about how many 3 and outs, and stupid turnovers the Jets had last year. How many games the defense got the ball back in good field position, then they O goes 3 and out with no points. Or worst yet turn the ball over in their own end, and put the D back on the field.

A lot of Jets fans aren't going to like this, but I think the object is going to be to put together 3 or so more 40-50 yard drives that end in points (field goals) then they did last year.

Haha!

Someday Tony Sparano will be run out on a rail for the same crimes his teams committed in Miami, but he definitely has his usefulness for the Jets in the here and now. The Jets need discipline and fundamentals on offense. All the chatter about how crisp the offense is running in these minicamps speaks volumes about how sloppy things must've been under Schotty. That's what these guys need. They don't need the hyper-brilliant multi-option pass route system Schottenheimer thought was so awesome, they simply need to cut down on turnovers and move the sticks.

Mark Sanchez set the team record for TD passes last year. Seriously. If he cuts down on the ints and picks up his comp% a couple points, the Jets will have a good enough offense to go with their improved defense to make some noise in the playoffs again.

[Bleedin Green]

Haha!

Someday Tony Sparano will be run out on a rail for the same crimes his teams committed in Miami, but he definitely has his usefulness for the Jets in the here and now. The Jets need discipline and fundamentals on offense. All the chatter about how crisp the offense is running in these minicamps speaks volumes about how sloppy things must've been under Schotty. That's what these guys need. They don't need the hyper-brilliant multi-option pass route system Schottenheimer thought was so awesome, they simply need to cut down on turnovers and move the sticks.

Mark Sanchez set the team record for TD passes last year. Seriously. If he cuts down on the ints and picks up his comp% a couple points, the Jets will have a good enough offense to go with their improved defense to make some noise in the playoffs again.

Completely agree with this. I think the thing some people need to realize is Sparano isn't being brought here under the idea that he's going to build an unstoppable, high-powered offense that he'll be around and coaching for the next 20 years. His hire has to do with, more than anything, what he brings to the table being what this offense needs right now. If Sanchez gets his crap together or the Jets find themselves a different QB who proves to be that franchise guy, it's very likely the Jets will want to move in a different direction with their offense in a few years time, whether that's based around Sparano adapting his style to the situation or them finding someone who fits in with what they want to do better. In the meantime, the team has seem to go to a pretty clear realization of what their offense is capable of and best suited for at this time, and they brought in someone who they think can properly take advantage of that. Who knows how well it will work out when it's all sad and done, but barring the ability to suddenly acquire an immediate and significant upgrade at QB, it seems like as good of a strategy as any at this point.

[flgreen]

Haha!

Someday Tony Sparano will be run out on a rail for the same crimes his teams committed in Miami, but he definitely has his usefulness for the Jets in the here and now. The Jets need discipline and fundamentals on offense. All the chatter about how crisp the offense is running in these minicamps speaks volumes about how sloppy things must've been under Schotty. That's what these guys need. They don't need the hyper-brilliant multi-option pass route system Schottenheimer thought was so awesome, they simply need to cut down on turnovers and move the sticks.

Mark Sanchez set the team record for TD passes last year. Seriously. If he cuts down on the ints and picks up his comp% a couple points, the Jets will have a good enough offense to go with their improved defense to make some noise in the playoffs again.

Amazing stat isn't it.

Think about how many times the Jets were in a 3rd and 1 or 2, and somebody jumped. Hopefully that won't be happening this year--- hopefully.

Your right, cut down on the turn overs, get up around 60%, hit Hill or Schilens once or twice a game for 30+ yards.

Much different results

[Bleedin Green]

Amazing stat isn't it.

Think about how many times the Jets were in a 3rd and 1 or 2, and somebody jumped. Hopefully that won't be happening this year--- hopefully.

Your right, cut down on the turn overs, get up around 60%, hit Hill or Schilens once or twice a game for 30+ yards.

Much different results

While I have been quite critical of Sanchez's 2011 season, it is kind of crazy to think the guy had 26 passing and another 6 rushing TDs (just as many as Greene) in spite of it all. The truth is he definitely played much better in the red zone last year, but unfortunately the offense wasn't even getting there anywhere near enough, while turning the ball over on the other end of the field way too often.