Sparano protecting players an asset or liability?

I cringed yesterday when I heard coach Tony Sparano say that against the New York Jets the Dolphins receivers as a group, "played well. Not great. Well."

You decide based on what you saw if the group played well.

My point is if you ever expect Sparano to tell you exactly how awful a certain player is, you will be sorely disappointed. He will NEVER openly criticize any player because he doesn't think it is beneficial to the player or the team.

If you read the question and answer column I did over the weekend after a sit-down with Sparano, you would know that when it comes to criticizing players Sparano believes he doesn't need to do that in public.

The intriguing thing is he doesn't mind calling out groups of players -- such as the offensive line or defensive backs or receivers -- as long as he doesn't single anyone out. That makes his defense of the receivers even more curious.

So this is what I am wondering:

Do you agree with the coach that receivers as a whole played, "well?"

Do you now lose some trust in what the coach says about his players because you know he's never going to rip a player no matter what?

And do you wish Sparano was more like his mentor Bill Parcells who apparently had no issues with publicly expressing his dissatisfaction with players? By the way if you don't remember, Parcells once referred to Terry Glenn as a "she" and talked about Terrell Owens' injuries that forced him to the workout bike without ever actually calling Owens by name.

Discuss...

Comments

[KRL]

Never publicly out a player, chew his ass in the locker/film room. That doesn't mean you say everything is peachy with the group as a whole either.

[AlA]

if you include the tight ends as part of the receiving corp then they did play well. Chad even said they were doing some double teams on the receivers that he had no choice than to go to TE's. I'd say for a first game they did play well.
The jets got lucky that game and if we had one no one would be having this conversation or written this blog.

[morphin]

This is what rebuilding from the ground up looks like in the first year.You start with the infrastucture , OL & DL and most of those units are very young. For the most part they were more physical and agressive than past years. They know that WR & DB need to be retooled. Some if not most of the blame needs to be placed on management profit first bottom line. Forcing coachs & GMs to sign overrated free agent bandaids ( Wanny) and hiring clueless colledge coachs to sell season tickets (Satan).Hiring the new regime is the smartest thing Wayne H. has done.

[MartinK]

Armando,
I'm beginning to think that Jay Feely was your "source" because other places have been beating you to breaking 'fins news (or just reporting it period) over the past few weeks. Oh, and it seemed that players under Parcells loved playing for him recently... just ask the player formerly known as "the player." Armando, would you prefer that Parcells was the coach?

[Armando Salguero's brother]

Armando you continue to kick every media outlet's ass on Dolphins news. You go big boy! I love the blog.

[finheavenblows!]

As a surfer of most websites that bring Dolphins news to light, I would have to say Armando Salguero continues to be at the forefront of Dolphins news and analysis. MartinK what are you talking about? Jay Feely? Yeah, Mando broke that story. But that was like three/four scoops ago.