Exclusive Tony Sparano Column
September 25, 2009-Tony Sparano didn't expect to be sitting here with an 0-2 record. It has been a tough week for the second-year coach after the way the Dolphins lost to the Colts on Monday night. With a short turnaround heading into Sunday's game at...
Facing A 3-4 Defense In San Diego Nothing New For Dolphins; Other Notes
September 24, 2009-After facing two 4-3 defensive alignments in the first two weeks of the season the Dolphins are looking forward to going against San Diego's 3-4 this Sunday at Qualcomm Stadium, if for no other reason than sheer familiarity....
The Dolphins overcame an early 14-point deficit to keep their playoff prospects alive.
The Patriots’ road woes sent Tom Brady to his knees Sunday. When his final desperation pass was intercepted, he stooped over and buried his face in the turf, as if trying to hide or at least hide his tears.
So there I was in Miami at Landshark Stadium asking myself “why did I come down here? Why don’t they put Pat White in?” Henne looked terrible. Luckily for The Dolphins, I’m not the coach. When it was all said and done, Chad Henne threw for a career-high 335 yards. He went 29 for 52 with 1 interception. It was the most passes thrown by the Dolphins in a single game since 2006. Henne also directed a 51-yard drive for the winning field goal with 1:02 left in the game. Ricky Williams rushed for 75 yards and Devone Bess caught 10 passes for 117 yards and 1 TD.
The now 6-6 Dolphins beat the Patriots 22-21.
Next Game - in Jacksonville this Sunday - pre-game starts 11:30a kickoff at 1p on Sunny 105.9
It was not a happy weekend in Buffalo. The 5 and 6 Dolphins went into Buffalo to take on the struggling Bills who came into the game with a 3 and 7 record.
One would believe that the Dolphins would have the upper hand even on the road in Buffalo. Joey Porter and the Dolphins Defense produced 6 sacks. Ricky Williams rushed for 115 yards. Normally those 2 stats would add up to a victory in themselves but they weren’t enough for the Dolphins to pull out a win in Buffalo. Once again, the Dolphins didn’t produce in the 4th quarter.
It was 7-7 at halftime, 14-7 Dolphins at the end of 3 quarters. The Bills scored 24 unanswered points in the 4th quarter. Buffalo Bills wide receiver Terrell Owens broke open Sunday’s game when he caught a 51-yard touchdown pass late in the 31-14 victory over the Dolphins.
The reception with 2:23 left gave Buffalo a 24-14 lead and victimized Dolphins rookie cornerback Vontae Davis. Davis wasn’t impressed by Owens’ play. In fact, Davis said Owens grabbed him and pushed off, and would have been flagged if officials didn’t give Owens special consideration afforded elite receivers. “There was nothing else I can do about that,” Davis said. “I can do nothing about that. Wow. “That’s all I can say is wow.”
That’s great, more whining. Just play the game and make plays. I’m not saying Davis is incorrect. I’m just saying no one cares if TO gets special treatment. The only thing that matters is the score at the end of the game. If you have to smack him the mouth, then smack him in the mouth. The receiver, not the ref. We hear you and we feel your pain but all the whining and crying in the world doesn’t change the ending score so keep it to yourself or at least in the locker-room.
Next game, this Sunday against The Patriots at Landshark Stadium. Pre-game starts at 11:30 Sunday morning, kickoff at 1p on The All New Sunny 105.9
Sunday’s game against the Saints started out great!The Dolphins were up 24-3 with just seconds left in the first half.With just 4 seconds to go in the second quarter the Dolphins stopped the Saints at the goal line.The call was questionable so the referees stopped the action to review the call and found that the Saints did not score a touchdown.The Saints lined up to kick a field goal but the Dolphins called timeout.That gave the Saints, who were out of timeouts, the opportunity to regroup and score a touchdown.
The momentum of the game changed and the Dolphins could only protect their lead through the 3rd quarter.At the end of 3 it was the Dolphins 34 and the Saints 24.
The Saints scored 22 in the 4th quarter.The Saints beat the Dolphins 46-34.
The Dolphins are now 2-4 as they travel north to New Jersey to take on the Jets this Sunday afternoon.Dolphins beat the Jets 31-27 in Miami on October 12th.
Pre-game starts at 11:30 this Sunday morning and kickoff is at 1p on The All New Sunny 105.9
What a game in Miami last night.Monday Night Football didn’t disappoint.When the Jets come to town it’s always exciting.For the most part, the Dolphins played well all night and in the end defeated the Jets 31-27.
The wildcat delivered a big play for the Miami Dolphins and coach Tony Sparano skipped along the sideline with glee, reached back and threw a roundhouse punch.That was just in the first quarter. The knockout came much later, again with the wildcat.
Newcomer Braylon Edwards provided a big boost for the Jets, and two fake punts fooled the Dolphins. But Miami gained 110 yards with the wildcat, which was instrumental in 3 touchdown drives, including the last one.
In only his second NFL start, Henne completed 20 of 26 for 241 yards and two touchdowns. He threw deep to Ted Ginn Jr. for a 53-yard score to give Miami a 24-20 lead with 10:10 left.Then the Dolphins started from their own 30-yard line with 5:05 left, trailing 27-24, and mounted a 13-play drive for the winning score. The march included four wildcat plays for 25 yards, the last on third down at the 2.Running back Ronnie Brown took the snap with 10 seconds left and scored on a 2-yard keeper for the fifth lead change of the final period, giving Miami a wild 31-27 victory over the New York Jets.
Brown said, “We were in the huddle and said, `We’ve got to score a touchdown. No settling for field goals. We’ve got to finish the game.”
Dolphins are off this week as they prepare for the Saints on Sunday the 25th before traveling north to take on the Jets again November 1st.The 4-0 Saints take on the 5-0 Giants this Sunday at 1.Pre-game on the 25th starts at 2:30 with kickoff at 4:15 on The All New Sunny 105.9
You knew the Dolphins had talent. It was just a matter of time before what we saw in the pre-season to show up and shine in the regular season. After a couple of tough losses, the Dolphins put it all together in front of 65,523 at Land Shark Stadium in Miami and beat the Bills 38-10.
That was the largest margin of victory since September 8, 2002 when the Dolphins defeated the Detroit Lions 49-21 in the season opener.
Dolphins rookies, cornerback Vontae Davis and wide receiver Brian Hartline each scored their first career touchdowns on Sunday against the Bills. Chad Henne completed his first career touchdown pass, a five-yard score to rookie WR Brian Hartline.
Ronnie Brown had 115 yards rushing on 20 carries against Buffalo. It was Brown’s 15th career 100-yard rushing game. He now has 3,802 yards rushing in his career. He needs 75 rushing yards to tie Mercury Morris (3,877) for 3rd place in team history.
With 85 rushing yards, Ricky Williams went over 8,000 career rushing yards. He now has 8,019 rushing yards in his career.
Dolphins only gave up 46 yards on the ground. Jason Taylor recorded 2 sacks against the Bills. That’s the 23rd time Taylor has had 2 or more sacks in a single game. Taylor moved to 12th place on the all-time sack list, passing Simeon Rice (122.0 sacks).
Now the Dolphins host the 3-1 Jets Monday night (the 12th). Always an exciting game in Miami against the Jets. The Jets are coming off a 24-10 loss to the Saints. Pre-game starts at 7 and Kick-off at 8:30 Monday Night on The All New Sunny 105.9
Win tickets to the game at sunny1059.com keyword: Dolphins
Not the start we were looking for but at least the Dolphins have Pro Players and should be able to get on track soon. Hopefully this Sunday against the Bills.
The Miami Dolphins have acquired quarterback Tyler Thigpen from the Kansas City Chiefs in exchange for an 2010 undisclosed draft choice. To make room on the roster for Thigpen, the Dolphins placed quarterback Chad Pennington on Reserve/Injured list with a shoulder injury.
The 6-1, 224-pound Thigpen was originally a seventh round pick (217th overall) of the Minnesota Vikings in the 2007 NFL Draft. Thigpen was claimed off waivers by the Chiefs on September 2, 2007 and is in his third season NFL season having seen action in 15 contests with 11 starts. The 25-year-old has served as the third quarterback for two of Kansas City’s first three games this season after serving as the Chiefs starting quarterback in 2008. During his career Thigpen has completed 232 of 426 passes for 2,649 yards, 18 touchdowns and 13 interceptions for a passer rating of 74.7.
Against the Dolphins on December 21, 2009, Thigpen was 20-of-41 for 320 yards and two touchdowns and also rushed the ball six times for 57 yards, including an eight-yard touchdown run. He led a Chifs offense that day that racked up 492 total yards of offense in the 38-31 loss.
The Dolphins take on the Buffalo Bills this Sunday afternoon in Miami at Land Shark Stadium. Pre-game starts at 2:30 and kick off is at 4:05 on The All New Sunny 105.9
Despite the 27-23 loss to the Colts last night, I think last night’s game was a very exciting Monday Night Football game.
The Colts came out fast with a game opening TD pass. The Dolphins woke up after that smack in the face and answered with their own Offensive drive that lead to a Touchdown. The game was tied 7-7 at the end of the first period. 13-13 at halftime. Neither team scored in the third and the Colts outscored the Dolphins in the 4th 14-10.
Ronnie Brown ran the WildCat Offense to perfection for 136 yards and 2 TD’s. Ricky ran hard for 69 yards, Chad Pennington was 22 for 33 for 183 yards and the plus $150 Million Offensive line was 10 times better than last week.
The Dolphins basically kept the Colts Offense off the field. The Colts only had 3 posessions in the 2nd half and only played 15 minutes of football last night. I swear I saw Peyton Manning playing Madden 2010 on the sideline. But that didn’t stop him from racking up 303 yards in the air and 2 TD’s.
Bottom line is that when Peyton Manning takes the field, he controls the game and directs the line of scrimmage. Chad Pennington looked like a rookie in the last 3 minutes of the game. He lost over 30 seconds in the last 3 minutes and had to take a time out with 2:26 left to play. Then he was only able to get 1 play off in the last 26 seconds before the 2 minute warning. Apopka High runs a better 2 minute offense than the Dolphins did last night & I blame the coaching. That should be drilled into the Offense over the summer. The 2 minute drill should be the number 1 rehearsed thing before the season ever starts.
Now the Dolphins prepare to travel to San Diego to take on the 1-1 Charges this Sunday afternoon at 4:15 on The All New Sunny 105.9
Sunday didn’t turn out the way we expected or hoped it would.Defense looked pretty good for the most part.Atlanta averaged over 150 yards a game last year and The Dolphins held them to less than 70.
The main problem or should I say 3 problems were that the Dolphins turned the ball over 4 times
(3 Fumbles and 1 interception) couldn’t get open down field and couldn’t contain the Falcons’ passing game.
“When you turn the ball over four times in this league your percentage of winning is about 10 percent. You can’t overcome those things in this league,” Dolphins Head Coach Tony Sparano said. “I can’t tell you what went wrong, but we don’t think turning the ball over is a good thing, that’s for sure, and we do pride ourselves on it. But we didn’t do it today and we’ll work hard at it and get better at it, that’s for sure.”
The Dolphins didn’t score until the closing minutes of the game when Chad Pennington hit Ricky Williams with a 9-yard touchdown pass to cap off a 12-play, 76-yard drive.
The Dolphins need to put this 19-7 loss behind them and prepare for the Colts next Monday night.That’s right, Monday night football from Miami on The All New Sunny 105.9.
Tony Sparano starts his second season as the head coach of the Miami Dolphins this Sunday in Atlanta against the Falcons and it’s apparent that Tony was the right man for the job.Chad, Chad, Ricky, Ronnie, Jason Taylor and the Boys are ready to go to work.
I keep racking my brain to remember when the Dolphins had such depth on their roster and I just can’t remember ever having 3 quality QB’s (Chad, Chad & Pat), 3 quality RB’s (Ronnie, Ricky and now Patrick Cobbs).It could actually be 4 if you add in Lex Hilliard who I believe is an exceptional running back.
Both the Dolphins and the Falcons have tougher schedules this season and both went 11-5 last year.Though it’s a home game for Atlanta, the experts and I give the advantage to the Dolphins.
Pre-game is at 11:30 and kickoff is at 1 this Sunday afternoon on The All New Sunny 105.9.
It’s that time again.Chad Pennington, Chad Henney, Ted Ginn, Jr., Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams are ready to do it again.In fact, Ricky just signed a $4 million deal for another year.I’m glad to see #99, Jason Taylor back with the Dolphins.
So far, the Dolphins are 3-0 in the pre-season and ready to take on the Saints in New Orleans Thursday night, September 3rd.Pre-game starts at 6:30 and kickoff is at 8pm on The All New Sunny 105.9.
Don’t forget that it won’t be on television. The Dolphins have scheduled a special re-broadcast at midnight. So there is a chance that we can watch the game in its entirety at midnight. That’s cool if you’re working and can’t listen to Sunny at work. For the most part, I say listen to the game on Sunny 105.9 and catch some visual highlights on ESPN.
