Hope for Tony Sparano and/or Jeff Ireland?

Despite the last few weeks, there is no doubt that this season has been a dissapointing one for the Miami Dolphins. Having had two straight 7-9 seasons, being 3-8 after 12 weeks is almost like asking to be fired, but is there a chance that Tony Sparano and Jeff Ireland could salvage their jobs? We’ve already heard the rumours and seen Sparano put his house up for sale but maybe there’s still a chance.

The main problem with Sparano comes with his gameday coaching which doesn’t give credit to how good a coach he is during the week. The team has generally seemed clueless in the red zone for the last few years and this has to come down to his coaching. He needs to hammer down specific go-to plays that the players will be able to execute every time they need to. It could be argued, though, that the offensive co-ordinators are the real culprit when it comes to this. This certainly could have been the case with Dan Henning but with a new co-ordinator in Brian Daboll in place, the problems still persist.

Sparano has also failed with his offensive line, an area which he supposedly has the most expertise in. Despite spending two first round picks (including the number one overall pick in 2008) on linemen Sparano has not been able to produce an above average unit since the division win in 2008. Instead, we have seen interior breakdowns and botched snaps in almost every game. Sparano’s constant tinkering with the line has left them with little to no consistency and it has not boded well for the Dolphins running game or their quarterbacks. It could be argued that this season’s injury to Chad Henne and the early ineffectiveness of Reggie Bush were down to poor offensive line play. It must be said, though, that, despite the obvious slip-up against Dallas, Sparano’s unit has gotten it together in recent weeks. Whether or not this will be enough to save Sparano remains to be seen.

One positive Sparano has are his motivational skills. Make no mistake about it – the Dolphins players love playing for Tony Sparano. No matter how much you hate his fist pumps and whatnot, he gets his team fired up to play football. It seems almost every week that we hear at least one Dolphin player tell us that Tony Sparano has not lost the team and the 3 consecutive victories showed that. Even in the post-game locker room celebration videos posted on miamidolphins.com you can see the chemistry between Sparano and his players – in particular with the leaders like Karlos Dansby. Having the support of the locker room is a good way to start with saving his job.

Sparano was also given a contract extension this summer and, though it was said that this was just t make up for Stephen Ross‘ courting of Jim Harbaugh, this could play a key role. There aren’t too many 100% available alternate options out there for the Dolphins. We’ve all heard about Bill Cowher and Jon Gruden but it must be remembered that both are already employed outside of coaching and have expressed no clear intent to return to coaching any time soon. Sparano might actually be the best available option out there when it comes to the season’s end and being under contract already could give him an advantage over the others.

Jeff Ireland‘s survival is not neccesarily handcuffed to Tony Sparano’s. There could definitely be a situation with Jeff Ireland staying and Tony Sparano going, especially if the Dolphins don’t hire a controlling head coach like Bill Cowher. Ireland has been criticised for some of his early personnel moves but a lot of that could be tied down to Bill Parcells who effectively ran away from the situation before last season. This year, Ireland finally had full control of player moves for an entire off-season and it seems that he has hit on every single player. Mike Pouncey has proven himself to be at least as good as his brother, Daniel Thomas has shown promise as a between the tackles runner, Clyde Gates is the speedster we were promised, Charles Clay can do seemingly everything and Jimmy Wilson has been the surprise of the season. When it comes to free agency, Reggie Bush has shown that he can be an every down back and Matt Moore has been ten times better than anyone could ever had predicted. The one miss may be Marc Colombo but it can be argued that he is at least better than John Jerry who could have been starting at guard if Vernon Carey wasn’t moved there to make room for Colombo.

The likely outocme is that Sparano will be fired at the end of the season. For what it’s worth he has been put in a bad situation in Miami and has gotten a worse rep than he has deserved but this is what will probably happen. Jeff Ireland, however, may have saved himself with this year’s moves and has certainly removed most of the blame of this season’s poor record from his own shoulders to Sparano’s. It will probably come down to who Ross’ replacement for Sparano is as to whether or not Ireland will stay but he certainly has a better chance than Sparanao.