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.