Sparano: OL 'not good enough'

The Dolphins lost to the Tampa Bay Bucs Saturday night. Not a big deal.

The Miami offensive line was terrible. That is a big deal.

The line was equally stinky at run-blocking and pass protecting, if results are the measure. The Dolphins rushed 17 times for 22 yards -- a 1.3 yard per rush average. The Dolphins did not pick up even one first down rushing. Not one.

Pass blocking? Chad Henne, working behind the first-team offensive line, was sacked three times. He was pressure on several of his 13 attempts. Right tackle Marc Colombo yielded a sack to Dakota Watson and another to Michael Bennett.

Dolphins coach Tony Sparano called the performance, "not good enough."

Sparano was very complimentary of quarterback Chad Henne. I write in my column that Henne has improved to the point he is not the biggest worry on Miami's radar right now. Amazingly.

What follows is the rest of his post-game press conference.

Comments

[Cuban Menace]

Getting Windy and Rainy, Gotta go back to work, Keep up the faith fin nation...

[redsky]

As I said yesterday, Irene will be a small storm, by the time it gets to NYC, chill out dolfans! The wind speed will go gown, beyond the current 75mph!

[redsky]

Sorry

[redsky]

Sorry I meant down! Not gown...,

[redsky]

Goodnight all! Irene will become just a nasty storm by the time you wake up, as I predicted!

[Cuban Menace]

Guys, Reporting live on my I-Phone from the city so great they named it twice, Raining and getting wendy, Heard Irene around 100 miles away, I'll keep you updated Seeing how I'Am Stuck in a car just making sure no Looting accurres......

[Cuban Menace]

The Rain is welcomed, A lot of Dirt on in the city...

[FB]

Cuban, you should be in Miami. Wtf are u doing up in NY brother? Come down to the amigos here. Anyway good luck brother. Stay safe.

[dm1dolphan]

daryl,
when you watch henne's performance in this game you're going to be very impressed. someone commented that henne played good but not great. nothing could be further from the truth. henne didn't play good. he played great. when you see the amount of pressure he was under all night you're going to see what i mean. he stayed calm in the pocket and delivered strikes regardless of the fact that the bucs defense was constantly in his face. and, there were some throws he made that drew penalties on the defense that were also impressive. one throw, in particular, was a pass to the left inside the five to marshall that allowed marshall to draw an interference penalty. perfectly done. there was another throw down the right sideline that drew a penalty. he placed it perfectly and, if the defender had not grabbed marshall, he may have been off the the races. marshall, despite the fumble, also had a really good game. when he wasn't catching the ball he was making plays by drawing penalties. however, henne is the topic of conversation here. very impressive placement of the ball last night and, like i said, handled the pressure from the defense very well. showed a lot of maturity. everytime the defense got in his face i was afraid there would be a mistake, he would take the sack or throw the ball away. i was wrong. he avoided the pressure and made the play. you'll see what i mean tonight. awesoe job.

[ltcdolphin]

Cuban menace. Stay safe. We are on the backside of this thing in Delaware. It's a big storm. Will be around for quite awhile.

[Sam]

Armando, this is mostly in response to your main herald article, because I don't want to use disqus, I hate it.

But anyway, you talked about Henne. I was tremendously encouraged with the quarterback play. You couldn't have asked for anything more. We can win with this qb. Unfortunately, as you said, the O line is like swiss cheese. And did you see the faces on those guys last night? They are terrified this is what they have to look forward to the rest of the year - getting beat up.

We are still reeling from the effects of our "win now" mentality from year one of the Parcells era, when we inflated our running stats with the wildcat. (I still believe that also hampered Henne's development). But more importantly, the wildcat prevented this team from establishing a solid base running game. I feel like we're starting over now, with a shifting line, another 1st round rookie on the line, and a new rb. Unfortunately we're still a team without a strong TE or complementary WR to Marshal. We will lose games because of that, even if our O line straightens out. But I'm optimistic. I think we definitely need to bring in a veteran. Then we can move Carey back to RT. Columbo has been a disaster.

[Michael]

Hypnotoad, do you really know football at all. Henne was 10-12, 175, 1 TD. Could you tell me where he was inconsistent. Oh the 2 passes he missed. That was a spectacular performance.

[zonk-39]

Our Head Coach was a Former O-Line Coach and after 4 Years we still have NUTHIN for a O-line???
3 games now and Donald Thomas Looks like a BUST...
This was the third game in Pre-Season the one they game plan for??....Didn`t see much hope for the Season with this RB`s and O-line????

[oscar canosa]

I am going to try to delude myself and think that it was an off-night for the Team.

[oscar canosa]

It is very hard, very hard...

[DC3GURU]

Tony, this economy is fixable too! What is your plan to fix the O-Line! Talk is talk, provide a definitive action plan!

[tiredfinfan]

Go ahead and keep making excuses, and keep dreaming. Henne has improved but I'm still not convinced. No running game, worst than Ronnie and Ricky. And the O-line, what an embarrassment, what a failure, what a joke. And you can mainly blame one person for all this-Jeff Ireland! Their 2nd team offense moved the ball fairly easily against our 1st team defense. We could've had an amazing O-line with all the free agency talent that was available but now what? Oh yes, last thing, can anyone please tell Sporano that he looks like an old fart chewing gum on the sideline. The guy has no class.

[dusty bottoms]

awful game. the olnie is horrible. just pathetic. couple that with a garbage qb and this offense will be awful

[cocoajoe]

I also was not able to watch the game. Over in Lakeland visiting friends and not even on at the sports bars. Amazing since it's like 30 mi from Tampa.

Anyway, glad to hear Henne seems to have turned the corner. The O-line? All to predictable for some of us. I think a lot of knew Columbo was another bad choice before he took the 1st snap with the Dolphins.

Carey? To all that suggested moving him over to guard last year: I told you so. Guards have to be quicker on their feet, more athletic than tackles. Carey was barely competent at RG last year and Sparano moved him to guard? WTF?

[zonk-39]

Any-body ever think to use L.Polite at the 1 yard line???????
Huh????

[dusty bottoms]

zonk why would it matter, our oline is a punch of pansys. this offense may break records for being the worst offense ever

[Fire Sparano Why Wait?]

Ugliest game I've seen since Cleveland, Buffalo, Detroit. Henne looked better than normal but the rest of the team looked horrible. Boring awful game. Marshall the fumbler continue to makes bonehead game changing mistakes. Nobody on the team has good hands, nobody.

[BoulderFinFan]

The great news is henne is coming around. But the o-line was terrible. colombo should get cut. We need to go out and spend some money or trade for a right tackle. Trade merling for a tackle and let them fight it out with murtha in the right tackle.

[Jason]

I've noticed something unusual about Daniel Thomas' running ...Thomas puts too much weight leaning forward when he hits a hole. It makes his lower body unstable when taking any sort of hit that is not directly in front of him. If Thomas kept his legs slightly more underneath him he'd get more burst through the hole, and be more stable while taking lateral hits.

[DAC]

Thomas looks tentative, scared. The big league is too much for him.

We traded up for a bust.

[Phin4Life]

Every year since Sparano came here the O-line has been torn apart and rebuilt. High draft picks and most of the high free agents pick ups have been for the o-line. Look in the mirror Sparano it's you, you are the problem. Go back to high school football where you came from.

[oscar canosa]

Thinking about it, how can NE destroy TB and last night lose to Detroit? I remember the Dolphin's 2nd SB winning Team lost all 4 of it's pre-Season games. Without seriously deluding myself and in general, you cannot put too much stock in pre-Season game results.(although winning is always healthy, specially for a young Team).

[phinsman]

Is it me or does Soprano's tone sound like ever word spoken to him is a waist of his time???
He's kind of a douch!!

" last week you thought we were juggernauts "

[DAC]

Reggie 5.5 Million Dollar Bush - 22 rushing yards on 17 carries in Saturday’s 17-13 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

[oscar canosa]

Man, do I hate to lose!

[BoulderFinFan]

sparano needs to kick some butt the next couple of days with offensive line. either get it or get out and let someone else come in.

[oscar canosa]

"you can see he's not trusting the hole". What hole?

[DAC]

Thinking about it, how can NE destroy TB and last night lose to Detroit? I remember the Dolphin's 2nd SB winning Team lost all 4 of it's pre-Season games. Without seriously deluding myself and in general, you cannot put too much stock in pre-Season game results.

Posted by: oscar canosa | August 28, 2011 at 09:47 AM

This is true win or lose. But guess what, Detroit is a much better team than it was 2 years ago. They have a GREAT QB and SUH is a monster. Their rebuild plan has been going well.

[oscar canosa]

Cool it, oscar, cool it.

[odinseye]

I don't want to say to much before I check the tape, but Henne has got me cautiously optimistic.

BTW, I think Henne's 3 incompletions were all drops. Keep working OFFENSE.

The defenses overall play doesn't have me too worried. Definitely an off night, but that's what pre seasons all about. The drops by our DB's are maddening and my main concern.

On the one hand the O-line looked horrible, on the other hand, it shouldn't be hard to still upgrade Carey and Colombo's spots. I know, I know, ever the optimist.

Worst case scenario, get us AT LEAST a guard and/or tackle and play Carey in the other spot. Best case scenario, get ANYBODY off the waiver wire, they WILL be better than these two. Heck, sign a couple from the CFL if you have to Jeffy, just get us SOMEBODY.

Hope all of you in the North East survive the storm. Well, I mean all of you except the wetspots personel.

I'm heading back out onto Lake Superior. Trying to get some Walleye before the Salmon start and Geese hunting season opens.

See you all tonight!

ValHalla!!!!

[BoulderFinFan]

DAC, when you pick in the top 5 for 10 years you're gonna get better.

[oscar canosa]

Please, DAC, don't leave out anything of what I write.

[DAC]

DAC, when you pick in the top 5 for 10 years you're gonna get better.

Posted by: BoulderFinFan | August 28, 2011 at 09:55 AM

And so what is your point? My point is they are no longer the 0-16 team they used to be. They will beat some good teams.

[DAC]

Please, DAC, don't leave out anything of what I write.

Posted by: oscar canosa | August 28, 2011 at 09:58 AM

Some of your stuff is too stupid to repeat.

[dusty bottoms]

why shocked. look fellas we knew this offense is most likely the worst in the nfl. how many times do we have to say it, its gonna be a long awful year. but least this will finally rid us of the cancers of our staff and qb

[odinseye]

I have to admit Thomas hasn't shown much of anything.

However, in all fairness, I'm going to hold out hope and give him just a bit of a longer look.

Running behind this line isn't the best scenario for showcasing your skills. Other than maybe two running plays that were basically all Bush, nobody has shown anything in the run game.

The only running we've done thus far was Henne running for his life.

Trade Merling, trade somebody, get out the check book and get us some lineman. This team could look really good in a short period of time.

JEFFY! Get us AT LEAST two more LINEMAN, PRONTO!!!!

[BoulderFinFan]

I agree I think detroit is gonna be better than chicago this year but I still think GB will win that division.

[oscar canosa]

Keep on writing, DAC.

[dusty bottoms]

detroit will always fail because there entire offense always gets hurt

[Mr.Smith]

"Not good enough" no S#%& Tony, every year is the samething, the grand Guru of the OL can't keep his big hands off it, he is just like my son when he found his wiwi for the first time, moving players around like a f##$% dance hall. I know the problem is at RG well just put Garner in there and that's it leave your wiwi alone.

[scott from delaware]

Well I did not get to see the game I am glad that Henne is playing well, maybe we will have a chance this year after all, WHY CAN'T THEY PUT TOGETHER A GOOD O LINE?

[Jimmy Jam]

Larry Johnson: 2 for 7. Best average on the team.

Hahaha!

[dusty bottoms]

worst offense in nfl, hands down. cant wait till january to fire all these clowns

[DAC]

Trade Marshall and Merling for RG and RT. Find a real RB too.

[#1 Dolphin Fan in Montreal]

Ireland is so clueless. There's a reason why Jerry Jones got rid of Colombo. Carey has been average for a while now, on top of his out of shape issues. Shaun O'Hara is a former Pro Bowler and available. Teams are hesitant to sign him because he was injured last year. So what? What does Miami have to lose?? Sign him, put him at RG and stick Nate Garner at RT. He did get a penalty last night but I mean the guy missed all of 2010, he just needs to play more. O'Hara and Garner can't be much worse than Carey and Colombo. Tony Sparano is a former offensive line coach. Haha, what a joke. Henne is playing better, that's good news. We need to see it during the regular season, but at least the improvement is positive. The o-line is a mess. Major question mark at the RB position, why didn't we make a run at McGahee??? Defense is good, but far from great. Tight ends are still killing us, Wake needs major improving in pass coverage and Sean Smith is a pu**y. Free Safety is also a concern. We're a .500 team at best.

[DAC]

How long did it take these guru's to realize Jerry was a bust?

[Pete G]

Scenario: Our right tackle is doing an average job last year so understandably we look for improvement.

Action: Bring in Columbo who was on a very poor Dallas team last year who individually struggled on that team?

This continues to be a theme. Regardless of how pathetic a player does during real games, this regime brings them in due too familiarity. Not due to their play like they should.

This is easily this regimes' most obvious and repeated downfall.

[Chris in the 623]

Didn't get a chance to watch the game but looked at the stats. Great to see Henne had a nearly perfect game! But if we were able to throw successfully how did we only manage 10 first downs and 247 total yards? I am thinking the defense must have given up a number of long drives.

[Sammydolfan]

Oline play was a disaster, its true. We def have to be looking for anyone servicable and inserting Garner is worth a try. To blame Henne for the sacks is madness, previous poster did so in the early am.

Henne has impressed and ill be optimistic but if constantly preassured, what can we expect? Even Brady cant be great when constantly preasured, evident vs Lions.

Love the fact we are taking shots down field but we need the
connections with Gates to start happening and keep feeding M.
Moore! Running game needs lots of help/improvement, yes. DB's good but have to start catching the ints.

Que so called phans to begin the bashing on observations....

CM, stay safe out there and please give any looters the business end!

[jrljr2]

You know what they say about history right? It always tends to repeat itself. Well once again, the moron sparano will go a whole training camp with this horrendous oline and then cut half the guys that shouldnt have been here anyway and sign other teams castoffs before the first game and make them starters. Sound familiar? that's exactly what will happen. He will go to the very end of camp then cut 3 guys that shouldn't even be here in the first place for waiver wire guys. Is it that big a surprise that the line sucks? Ohara and McKinney should've been signed 3 weeks ago. They have the money. Sickening. On the bright side, I must say Hennepin looked better. Maybe it was Henning and the oline last year.

[oscar canosa]

Hate is the primary indicator of a deep-rooted Fear in Man.

[NHFINFAN]

for a coach who made his career on the O-line he sure sucks at building one.
Short of Long and maybe Pouncey...everyone else is average at best.
This is why Ronnie & Ricky sucked last year and why Reggie & Daniel will as well....our O-Line STINKS!

[Bill]

All the negative comments, all the time, back in 1843 in New York there was a political party named no nothing party, when ask about there activities they would say " I know nothing " sounds like all the negative comments on this blog, could they be the new no nothing fans from New York. We need to understand they are not Dolphin fans, just lost souls looking for a home, I say go back to your no nothing home of New York. Bill

[Mr.Smith]

Back in August 28 2011 at 12:06 PM THERE WAS A MORON NAME BILL

[CANESFINSWIN]

Trade a backup DE like Merling and a 6th rounder in next draft for a good RT and make Columbo the backup RT, keep Murtha as backup LT and keep Carey at RG, he will probably improve in next few weeks. Is he going to go to the PRobowl? NO, but he will be good enough. No need to panic just work harder boys and get better every week. With an improved D and improved QB play a cetainty at this point BUT only average O line, expect an 8-8 season, dolfans.