Bill Parcells on Tony Sparano

by John B on Jan 14, 2012 10:29 AM EST

Tony Sparano worked under Bill Parcells for four years when Parcells was the head coach in Dallas. Parcells hired Sparano as head coach in Miami in 2008. There is a clear connection here since Parcells was the one who brought Mike Tannenbaum to the Jets and is reportedly still close with the general manager. The Big Tuna shared some insight on Sparano with Cimini.

Parcells didn't want to comment on Sparano's fit with the Jets, but he did say this about his football philosophy: "He wants to be sound on protection. He wants to protect the quarterback. That's very important. That will be an emphasis there, and that's a good thing. Quarterbacks take comfort in that and become efficient because of that."

I remember Sparano's Miami teams left a ton of extra blockers in and moved pockets for his quarterback, almost to a fault. This is probably something that helped Chad Henne have a couple of big games against the blitz happy Jets. Such a philosophy has its strengths and drawbacks. Extra help for the quarterback keeps him standing, but it also leaves less options at receiver. It puts extra pressure on the guy who do go out on patterns to get open because there are less secondary targets.

I think such an approach is probably beneficial to Mark Sanchez. The Jets pretty much have to start back at square one with Sanchez after the way he melted down this year. He really struggled with pressure late in the year so making a point to protect him is a good thing. He also struggled with reads so a simplified offense at least at the start is probably a good idea. He can slowly master things and then be given more of the playbook once it does.

I also think this is a good fit with Rex Ryan, more than the Brian Schottenheimer playbook. I have heard one reason Buddy Ryan, Rex's dad, became known for such a blitz happy defense had to do with his time as a defensive assistant with the Jets. Weeb Ewbank, head coach at the time, put an emphasis on all else about protecting Joe Namath. Ryan figured that if keeping the quarterback on offense clean was the most important thing, the most effective defense would get to the quarterback. Buddy Ryan passed down his philosophy to his sons.

Tweet Comment 46 comments | 1 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

I'm not sure if Wayne Hunter will be a Jet in 2012

RT need pass protection help in this league, you can’t go up against premier pass rushers one on one and expect success Hunter was a scape goat for bad coaching.. Sanchez was pummeled, protection is paramount.

by JetOrange on Jan 14, 2012 10:50 AM EST reply actions

I think Hunter will be back but I don't expect him to start

Love with a LEO is like a drug.. One taste and your addicted!

by MDGeekyGrl on Jan 14, 2012 10:51 AM EST up reply actions

yea id love to have hunter as a backup

But if hes starting we have a problem

by ncquake24 on Jan 14, 2012 11:36 AM EST via iPhone app up reply actions

Wayne is gonna have to give back some money

IMO you start Ducasse, gives you strong blocking in the run game, protections schemes have to help him survive the passing game, Hunter will make 2.5 in 2012 needs to give back a million to survive. Will provide a good blocking TE and depth at tackle. Very difficult to draft a tackle that can have an immediate effect in the first two rounds

by JetOrange on Jan 14, 2012 12:18 PM EST up reply actions

Cutting Hunter costs nothing

The way his contract is structured, if he is cut we lose nothing against the cap, no dead money so he could be very easy to cut.

If we draft a RT in the first 3 rounds, I think Hunter is a gonner.

by kernowjet on Jan 14, 2012 12:57 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs

RT...

… with T. Sporano we can expect to field a good O-Line as that is where he will build the offense around. After last year several players can expect “The Baum” to restructure some contracts and Hunter is sure to be among them. Players that are open to that will most likely be retained. With different coaches some players could reach higher levels of play. W. Hunter is not the worst starting RT in the league, and did have some good games. I would hope he is retained for depth if nothing else, provided his contract is reworked. Competition at every position is a good thing, It keeps the starters on their toes and provides insurance in case of injuries.

by BachsOfRain on Jan 15, 2012 12:35 AM EST up reply actions

I think Sanchez has taken an unfair rap for his “decline” this year. He took a freaking beating because of the O line this year. For all the struggles he had, it always amazed me that after getting absolutely flattened, or running off the field with an obvious injury, he was right out there for the next series. All the unnamed players criticizing him should only have his toughness. Yes, he needs to make better decisions, but if he had the time to throw that some of these “superstar” QB’s have, you not only would have a much better, confident QB, but you’d also be able to fairly judge him and his progress.

Proud owner of over 20,000 comments. (most of them in the wrong place) Oh yeah, and Buster Posey

by rxmeister on Jan 14, 2012 11:00 AM EST reply actions

He was less accurate with his throws

And threw a lot of bad interceptions which doesn’t include the ridiculous amount of interceptions that could have been made when opposing teams simply dropped the ball even though he threw it right at them. He threw 2 interceptions to the D-Line in the Miami game. That’s pathetic.

"I just build our guys up. If it's trash talking that I believe in our football team, then, yes, I agree with that statement. I'm the biggest trash talker there is." Rex Ryan

by OldJetsFanatic on Jan 14, 2012 11:24 AM EST up reply actions

This

I’d like to see Tom prettyboy take the kinds of hits that Mark does basically every week…seriously, you can’t deny Mark’s toughness

by darshv3 on Jan 14, 2012 12:06 PM EST up reply actions

Pretty boy Tom didn’t get as much bc he’s not a retard in the pocket. Tom simply steps up or slides a step to his left/right. He doesn’t panic and bail out of the pocket, and he doesn’t do a sissy back-pedal.

Tom mans up and steps into his throws. And if Tom is a pretty boy, then Mark is a woman.

by Crackback on Jan 14, 2012 12:21 PM EST via mobile up reply actions

ummm

which team are you a fan of? lol, i was just making a little joke

by darshv3 on Jan 14, 2012 12:38 PM EST up reply actions

Know what u call a guy that constantly runs off the field injured on one play only to return totally fine the next? Faker.

by Crackback on Jan 14, 2012 12:24 PM EST via mobile up reply actions

Nonsense

He plays hurt, and you can be sure that negatively affects his stats. Was anybody criticizing him last year when the Jets and Sanchez easily beat Brady in the playoffs? No doubt he had a bad year, but what QB can you name that took a beating back there from a poor O line put up great numbers this year? Even Peyton and Brady have bad games on the rare occasions their lines don’t protect them? All the Giants have talked about this week is “hitting Aaron Rodgers in the mouth,” to keep him from picking them apart, yet Sanchez got hit in the mouth all year and people are wondering why he had a bad year.

Proud owner of over 20,000 comments. (most of them in the wrong place) Oh yeah, and Buster Posey

by rxmeister on Jan 14, 2012 1:48 PM EST up reply actions

His offenses sucked

sparano can talk all he wants but the bottom line is his offenses in Miami sucked. He ran consistently conservative offenses that led to lots of field goals and not neaqrly enough points. We are the only team that would hire this clown to run an offense.

Rex has proven to be just like his father; great defensive coordinators who dont believe in offense. They both believe that the defense should win the games and that the offense should just stay out of the way. if you think our offense was conservative under Schotty just wait till you watch the Sparano version. Clearly rex wants to run the ball 75% of the time and that is why we hired this clown.

by bklynbrewcrew on Jan 14, 2012 2:01 PM EST up reply actions

Complete misinformation about Buddy's Offense

When you say this:

Rex has proven to be just like his father; great defensive coordinators who dont believe in offense.

you’re just incorrect

Buddy ran the Eagles for 5 seasons. The offense in those 5 years was ranked 24th, 12th, 5th, 13th & 3rd in points scored for an average of 11th.

The defense during that time was ranked 12th, 25th, 14th, 5th & 12th in points allowed for an average of 13th.

Not a big difference between the two units. Right?

Also, two of Buddy’s first three,1st round draft picks were on offense (Keith Byars in 1986 and Keith Jackson in 1988), not on defense.

The Eagles offense under Buddy Ryan, with players such as Randall Cunningham and Keith Jackson and Keith Byars and Cris Carter were anything but a ‘Ground & Pound’ , conservative, boring offense. It was much more of a wide open, big play offense.

Spread the news.

by GeoMak on Jan 14, 2012 6:59 PM EST up reply actions

OT: Fuck the Giants

I really don’t want to care about the Giants-Packers tomorrow, but the fawning media and their obnoxious fans make me wish they lose by 50 points. The Giants fans who will brag about their second round appearance this year while we missed the playoffs, are the same assholes who told us we accomplished nothing the last two seasons because we didn’t win the Super Bowl.

Proud owner of over 20,000 comments. (most of them in the wrong place) Oh yeah, and Buster Posey

by rxmeister on Jan 14, 2012 11:18 AM EST reply actions

Yeah I kind of wanted thdem to win before now I hope they get smoked by 60 points

"I want to be a catcher. I love to catch. I like to be a catcher. I like to be in the middle of the game. I mean, it's my position. I want to play my position."-Jesus Montero

by 2xtheBully on Jan 14, 2012 11:20 AM EST up reply actions

I'm rooting for the Giants.

NY first and foremost. I don’t blame them for the media talking them up and honestly, after all the crap Rex said, I would expect them to talk a lot of shit about the Jets. I would if I were them.

"I just build our guys up. If it's trash talking that I believe in our football team, then, yes, I agree with that statement. I'm the biggest trash talker there is." Rex Ryan

by OldJetsFanatic on Jan 14, 2012 11:25 AM EST up reply actions

no way!

Are there a lot of Mets fans who root for the Yankee’s in October?

I never came here to kiss Bill Belichick's rings. I came here to win, let's put it that way. ... I'm certainly not intimidated by New England or anybody else. Rex Ryan

by Simon Says Jets on Jan 14, 2012 11:46 AM EST up reply actions

I don't know

I only know I do.

"I just build our guys up. If it's trash talking that I believe in our football team, then, yes, I agree with that statement. I'm the biggest trash talker there is." Rex Ryan

by OldJetsFanatic on Jan 14, 2012 11:49 AM EST up reply actions

I'll root for anyone from NY

However I will not root against the Jets, Yankees, or Islanders. There’s a hierarchy.

Arm chair GM. Mod/contributing writer at SBN Jets blog GGN.
GangGreenNation.com

by Bro Namath on Jan 14, 2012 1:00 PM EST up reply actions

I think the point is more about what you will do if your preferred team is knocked out already

I would never root for the Giants over the Jets. But if the Jets are eliminated, why not?

"I just build our guys up. If it's trash talking that I believe in our football team, then, yes, I agree with that statement. I'm the biggest trash talker there is." Rex Ryan

by OldJetsFanatic on Jan 14, 2012 1:03 PM EST up reply actions

I'll say it

so long as they aren’t beating the Jets, I really like big blue.

Arm chair GM. Mod/contributing writer at SBN Jets blog GGN.
GangGreenNation.com

by Bro Namath on Jan 14, 2012 1:06 PM EST up reply actions

I bought my brother and my nephews matching Eli Manning Jerseys for Christmas

It wasn’t easy to do, but my brother is a long time Giants fan and I thought it would be a good gift. My nephew is 4 1/2 and I know my brother will be upset if he isn’t a Giants fan too!

"I just build our guys up. If it's trash talking that I believe in our football team, then, yes, I agree with that statement. I'm the biggest trash talker there is." Rex Ryan

by OldJetsFanatic on Jan 14, 2012 2:14 PM EST up reply actions

Hmm

I hate Atlanta because Im a Mets fan but I agree, Go Packers! The only other NY team I would root for other than my own would be the Islanders because there is no hate between the Devils and Islanders. There is plenty of hate between Mets and Yankees, Jets and Giants, Devils and Rangers. In addition the Giants are obviously treated much differently from both the national and local media vs the Jets.

ESPN, Mike Francesa, NY Post, NY Daily News, Fox Sports = Propaganda

Feel free to add me on Twitter;
https://twitter.com/#!/BlueChill1123

by BlueChill on Jan 14, 2012 2:08 PM EST up reply actions

And if there's anything the Jets need on offense right now

It is sounds protection for Sanchez. Sparano should be a good fit

I never came here to kiss Bill Belichick's rings. I came here to win, let's put it that way. ... I'm certainly not intimidated by New England or anybody else. Rex Ryan

by Simon Says Jets on Jan 14, 2012 11:47 AM EST reply actions

Does Sparano play RT?

by Putnan Prince on Jan 14, 2012 7:19 PM EST up reply actions

That's what this offense is going to be.

Protection at all costs. Run the ball at all costs. Keep away from Sanchez. 17 pts per game.

All vanilla. No aggression. No creativity. No Keller. No Holmes. No McKnight. It will be all on the defense. And Rex is too cocky to put players at key positions.

Rex wants it to be about Rex. He’s an egomaniac. And he won’t get a player at OLB and he won’t get a player at safety. He wants it to be all about his scheme, all about him. And we’ll go 8-8 or 9-7, watching this defense colapse in the clutch over and over and over again.

by Crackback on Jan 14, 2012 12:32 PM EST via mobile reply actions

This is 100% spot on

the Jets had an opportunity to hire a top notch OC like Haley or Hue Jackson but chose to go with the most uninspired choice available. Crackback has said it perfectly; this offense will be all about not turning it over and leaving it for the defense to win the games. We will in fact be a worse offense under the clown Sparano than we were under Schottenheimer.

Sparano will run run run and when we throw he will keep extra guys in to make sure Sanchez doesnt get hit. We will have two receivers running 5-7 yards downfield when we need 10 or more yards. This team will almost never throw downfield and we will be attempting lots of field goals.

I agree that this is all about Rex. We havent drafted a legitimate pass rusher because rex thinks he can outscheme the offenses. I guarantee no other team besides the Jets were hiring Sparano for a job other than oline coach.

We had a chance to start anew and try to put a real offense on the field, one that can score 30 points in any game. Instead we decided that we dont need to score and will attempt to win every game 13-10. We have ensured mediocrity for our offense and have ensured that sanchez will always have the same role as Flacco does for baltimore; just be a caretaker and try not to turn the ball over.

If we hire haley or Jackson and one of them is in charge of calling plays I will feel differently but as of now I am bitterly disappointed that we hired a coordinator who will be no better than the loser we just fired.

by bklynbrewcrew on Jan 14, 2012 1:23 PM EST up reply actions

I don't agree

Sparano said he likes to throw long, and he did it in Miami even with weak armed Chad Pennington. The only way to be successful constantly running the ball is if they respect your ability to throw the ball. You really think Sparano doesn’t know this? Say what you want about Sanchez, but he’s still better than anyone Sparano had in Miami and he threw plenty and he threw deep.

Proud owner of over 20,000 comments. (most of them in the wrong place) Oh yeah, and Buster Posey

by rxmeister on Jan 14, 2012 1:52 PM EST up reply actions

At least Pennington was accurate.Watching Sanchez for the last 3 seasons,his arm is about average

for the NFL.Hopefully different coaching can make Mark a more consistent QB but after 3 full seasons he should be further along in his development with reading defenses and handling pocket pressure.

by Putnan Prince on Jan 14, 2012 7:36 PM EST up reply actions

Have to disagree...

purely on the fact that it’s all assumption about what Sparano WILL ACTUALLY do. I know he has said he wants to do certain things and honestly those things while not gimmicky might be better and more effective for the offense with the personnel we have or will have. Tons of people here wanted Schotty gone and one reason is he didn’t have sense enough to attack the opposing defense’s weakness or change things up when they weren’t working. I believe Sparano will have enough sense to make the adjustments that Schotty wouldn’t when it was obvious to everyone else they needed to happen. I too would like for Haley to be on board but if we don’t get him I will still be willing to reserve any judgement until Sparano proves he isn’t capable of properly managing this offense or at least calls plays for a few games so we can actually see if he can make our team productive. I honestly think the offensive strategy will be a more balanced attack than most think although Rex will keep trumpeting the “Ground and pound” philosophy.

by Mac N Cheese on Jan 14, 2012 1:57 PM EST up reply actions 5 recs

Rec'd

Good post.

"Reality is purely the perception of the individual mind. It follows, that since no two minds are alike, no two perceptions of reality are alike. It further follows, that what reality is to one, may seem complete madness to someone else."

– Yefim Novikov

by joeklecko on Jan 14, 2012 2:13 PM EST up reply actions

Sanchez was 2nd and 5th

Sanhez was 2nd in the AFC and 5th in the NFL for QBs getting sacked! That means he is under significant pressure almost every play. Someting has got to change!!! Its a wounder he is not suffering from PTSD…got to admit guy is tough as nails.
I think the past staff tried to keep him upright using Vlad as a Jumbo TE…but in the end I agree with Jet Orange.. Hunter needs to give some $$$ back and we need to get a real RT…. maybe a 2nd rd pick in the draft
That being said; look even if we get the #1 in RT on the planet its going to take time for the line to gel… if we are lucky they will be a tight unit by game 3

by willmpk on Jan 14, 2012 12:33 PM EST reply actions

Well

we have a full training camp and off-season this time… also, who’s our o-line coach gonna be?

by darshv3 on Jan 14, 2012 12:40 PM EST up reply actions

Paulie Walnuts!

by Putnan Prince on Jan 14, 2012 7:38 PM EST up reply actions

Forget Hunter and Ducasse

We need to bring in a big time RT ASap. Either through the draft or free agency. And of course on defense bring in a pass rusher or two and knock the snot out of Brady.

by Chrebetfan on Jan 14, 2012 12:40 PM EST reply actions

Would Agree, but do not see a decent FA RT

by JetOrange on Jan 14, 2012 12:58 PM EST up reply actions

Typical Parcells BS Answer

No offense, John B, but I despise that man and couldn’t give a rat’s ass what his opinion is on any topic. He screwed the Jets over royally and is a just a greedy, mercenary SOB.

– Yefim Novikov

by joeklecko on Jan 14, 2012 12:46 PM EST reply actions

congrats to all of you for hiring sparano

I am really glad youll get to have him for a couple of years. You should draft a field goal kicker in the first round

by dolfan52 on Jan 14, 2012 2:05 PM EST reply actions

Congrats on hiring on Jeff Fisher, I figured he'd rather coach in Miami

Oh wait … never mind.

Oh yes that's right, I'm a Jets fan.

by Bob_The_Friendly_Baker on Jan 14, 2012 2:15 PM EST up reply actions 3 recs

Miami owner couldn't sign a petition!

by Putnan Prince on Jan 14, 2012 7:24 PM EST up reply actions

Congratulations on another season of double digit losses tying for bottom of the division

and having an organization that nobody reputable is willing to coach for.

Arm chair GM. Mod/contributing writer at SBN Jets blog GGN.
GangGreenNation.com

by Bro Namath on Jan 15, 2012 12:15 AM EST up reply actions

by Clarke W. Griswald on Jan 15, 2012 11:34 AM EST up reply actions

Giants Fan

The older I get, now 52, the more I support the other NY teams. As long as their players have class. So, I hope at piece of crap running back Jacobs gets knocked out on the first play. Then Big Blue can win.

by JETS Champs on Jan 15, 2012 9:28 AM EST reply actions