AFATT is... All Dolphins All The Time
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Dolphin's Sparano Has to Become His Own Man
Patrick Tarell, January 23, 2011
If Tony Sparano wants become a great NFL coach he has to realize the Parcellian dictatorship rule is no
longer affective in the modern NFL. The drill sergeant mentality of being such a complete prick that players
ban together in mutual hate is no longer viable. Most fans cringe at the term, “player’s coach,” because it
renders thoughts of a coach who is trying to be one of the guys, of a team lacking discipline, of inmates
running the asylum. Neither of these approaches can work in the long run because they go from one
extreme to the other. What it means is a coach must find the happy medium between being a disciplinarian
and being able to relate to players on their own level.
Certain Miami Dolphin personnel moves have left us wondering why? Matt Roth is a good example; Roth
didn’t make his bed so Parcells could bounce a quarter off of it. Matt Roth wasn’t going to march for the
drill sergeant and the drill sergeant wasn’t going to have a player on his team who didn’t play by his rules.
There is a reason Sparano and Ireland never said a word about Roth, it is because it wasn’t them who had
a hard on for Matt Roth, it was Bill Parcells. At this point in the Parcells takeover the number one rule was
when dictator Bill barks, players listened or they were shipped off to Cleveland. Jason Taylor at the time
never said, “I don’t like Tony Sparano,” but he did say, “Bill Parcells turned his back and would not talk to
me.” The drill sergeant didn’t approve of Taylor dancing with the stars and Taylor, having made the
commitment with the blessing of the previous regime, honored that commitment. Dictator Parcells allowed
him to go to the rival Jets rather than back down. In essence he told Taylor to break his commitment and
Taylor balked, landing him on latrine duty and eventually off the team.
The days of the Parcellian Dictatorship style of coaching and handling personnel are over in the NFL. The
players make more money than their coaches, collusion no longer means a player blacklisted in Miami will
not land comfortably in another NFL city. Randy Moss is a good example of this. If Tony Sparano wants to
make it as an NFL coach he will have to understand, the ways of his mentor no longer work. By the nature
of the job coaches must establish discipline, but they must also understand one button management only
works on those motivated by one button. It may sound like touchy feely mumbo jumbo but the truth is, NFL
players are millionaires. These are not lawn service work crews. These are people who never have to work
another day in their lives. Any person in this circumstance would just as soon show the leadership his
middle finger then deal with a drill sergeant prick.
Matt Roth and Jason Taylor are both players who were more inclined to show Bill Parcells their middle
finger rather than live in a dictatorship. While most players do not have this inclination they also will not
perform with the passion that usually is the difference between winning and losing in the NFL. This is
exactly what we witnessed on the Miami Dolphins and is exactly the reason Bill Parcells walked away. The
bully took his ball and went home because the rest of the kids on the millionaire playground decided they
weren’t going to play by his rules. Tony Sparano is left trying to pick up the pieces and win back a team
that has lost respect for the Parcellian style of management. Sparano has a tough job in front of him, but if
he understands why his team stopped performing he may have a chance to understand how to win it back.
Soften the tone, listen, set up clear rules of acceptable behavior and clear guidelines for the
consequences of not following those rules. There is no need to remind players of these rules if they are
clearly set forth. Instead of constantly reminding a player not to throw an interception, put a price on
interceptions. Every interception is worth fifty pushups in front of the team. If the ball bounces off a receiver’
s hands, he must now do the fifty pushups. It is up to the team, or the player himself to decide who does
the pushups. With those objectives on the table a coach removes himself from the role of disciplinarian
and places it back on the players. His time can then be spent on what is important and that is game
planning. The players are then responsible for disciplining themselves.
The old soldier analogy is long past. Millionaires cannot be coached by drill sergeants, but the boot camp
mentality of teaching the players to police themselves is more important than a coach getting in the face of
his players. When clear guidelines of discipline are set forth and policed by the players a coach can then
relax about his relationship with his players. He can now be more of a friend because he is no longer the
guy who has to be the disciplinarian. A lot of people talk poorly about Sparano and other coaches, but
rarely do they present solutions. Here is an attempt at a solution, but it is up to the coaches to realize the
modern NFL cannot be approached by the archaic views of the past. Our world is in constant change and
the people who can adapt to that change are the people who successfully navigate their way through it.
The folks who cling to the ways of the past are the ones who ride out of town with a snarl on their face,
while the folks behind them send them off with a one finger salute.
Because AFATT Says So!
Patrick Tarell, January 23, 2011
If Tony Sparano wants become a great NFL coach he has to realize the Parcellian dictatorship rule is no
longer affective in the modern NFL. The drill sergeant mentality of being such a complete prick that players
ban together in mutual hate is no longer viable. Most fans cringe at the term, “player’s coach,” because it
renders thoughts of a coach who is trying to be one of the guys, of a team lacking discipline, of inmates
running the asylum. Neither of these approaches can work in the long run because they go from one
extreme to the other. What it means is a coach must find the happy medium between being a disciplinarian
and being able to relate to players on their own level.
Certain Miami Dolphin personnel moves have left us wondering why? Matt Roth is a good example; Roth
didn’t make his bed so Parcells could bounce a quarter off of it. Matt Roth wasn’t going to march for the
drill sergeant and the drill sergeant wasn’t going to have a player on his team who didn’t play by his rules.
There is a reason Sparano and Ireland never said a word about Roth, it is because it wasn’t them who had
a hard on for Matt Roth, it was Bill Parcells. At this point in the Parcells takeover the number one rule was
when dictator Bill barks, players listened or they were shipped off to Cleveland. Jason Taylor at the time
never said, “I don’t like Tony Sparano,” but he did say, “Bill Parcells turned his back and would not talk to
me.” The drill sergeant didn’t approve of Taylor dancing with the stars and Taylor, having made the
commitment with the blessing of the previous regime, honored that commitment. Dictator Parcells allowed
him to go to the rival Jets rather than back down. In essence he told Taylor to break his commitment and
Taylor balked, landing him on latrine duty and eventually off the team.
The days of the Parcellian Dictatorship style of coaching and handling personnel are over in the NFL. The
players make more money than their coaches, collusion no longer means a player blacklisted in Miami will
not land comfortably in another NFL city. Randy Moss is a good example of this. If Tony Sparano wants to
make it as an NFL coach he will have to understand, the ways of his mentor no longer work. By the nature
of the job coaches must establish discipline, but they must also understand one button management only
works on those motivated by one button. It may sound like touchy feely mumbo jumbo but the truth is, NFL
players are millionaires. These are not lawn service work crews. These are people who never have to work
another day in their lives. Any person in this circumstance would just as soon show the leadership his
middle finger then deal with a drill sergeant prick.
Matt Roth and Jason Taylor are both players who were more inclined to show Bill Parcells their middle
finger rather than live in a dictatorship. While most players do not have this inclination they also will not
perform with the passion that usually is the difference between winning and losing in the NFL. This is
exactly what we witnessed on the Miami Dolphins and is exactly the reason Bill Parcells walked away. The
bully took his ball and went home because the rest of the kids on the millionaire playground decided they
weren’t going to play by his rules. Tony Sparano is left trying to pick up the pieces and win back a team
that has lost respect for the Parcellian style of management. Sparano has a tough job in front of him, but if
he understands why his team stopped performing he may have a chance to understand how to win it back.
Soften the tone, listen, set up clear rules of acceptable behavior and clear guidelines for the
consequences of not following those rules. There is no need to remind players of these rules if they are
clearly set forth. Instead of constantly reminding a player not to throw an interception, put a price on
interceptions. Every interception is worth fifty pushups in front of the team. If the ball bounces off a receiver’
s hands, he must now do the fifty pushups. It is up to the team, or the player himself to decide who does
the pushups. With those objectives on the table a coach removes himself from the role of disciplinarian
and places it back on the players. His time can then be spent on what is important and that is game
planning. The players are then responsible for disciplining themselves.
The old soldier analogy is long past. Millionaires cannot be coached by drill sergeants, but the boot camp
mentality of teaching the players to police themselves is more important than a coach getting in the face of
his players. When clear guidelines of discipline are set forth and policed by the players a coach can then
relax about his relationship with his players. He can now be more of a friend because he is no longer the
guy who has to be the disciplinarian. A lot of people talk poorly about Sparano and other coaches, but
rarely do they present solutions. Here is an attempt at a solution, but it is up to the coaches to realize the
modern NFL cannot be approached by the archaic views of the past. Our world is in constant change and
the people who can adapt to that change are the people who successfully navigate their way through it.
The folks who cling to the ways of the past are the ones who ride out of town with a snarl on their face,
while the folks behind them send them off with a one finger salute.
Because AFATT Says So!
The Wildcat Pact with the Devil
Patrick Tarell, March 17, 2011
The word repeated everywhere in Dolfan land was, “who?” Just who is this Brian Daboll and what are the
Miami Dolphins thinking hiring a nobody when their offense is clearly in need of a proven coordinator. The
Daboll hiring was universally criticized by the fans and the local media to the extent that a popular blog
shut down and decided the Dolphins were no longer worthy of the written word. The pundits looking for
some objective reasoning explained it away by claiming assistant coaches were not drawn to the job
because of what was perceived as a lame-duck coaching staff. All the while Tony Sparano held his playing
cards close to the vest; was there a method to the madness?
Daboll was not selected because no one else wanted the job; Daboll was selected because his offensive
philosophy most closely aligned with that of his new head coach. One need only put together a Josh Cribs
highlight reel to see where this offense is headed. The actual statistics on the number of wildcat plays
each team attempted in the NFL last season are a little hard to come by, but Cleveland clearly was at the
top. Before the cries of gimmickry begin echoing from the mighty pass happy NFL Mountain perhaps some
consideration should be given to why the concept has gained popularity in the first place.
Football is a sort of chess game built around match-ups. An offensive coordinator studies a defense and
tries to find weaknesses, and then puts the strength of his offense in the best position to take advantage
of them. As Dolphin fans we have witnessed firsthand the evolution of the NFL offense from the grinding
ground game of Larry Czonka and company to the “pick a guy and let it fly” passing prowess of Dan
Marino. Each of those systems had weaknesses because no one concept can be harder to defend than a
mixture of both. Without a passing game, defenses simply stack the box and bring more defenders than an
offense can block in the running game. Without a running game, defenses bring in multiple defensive back
packages and use blitzes to disrupt the rhythm and timing of the passing game.
The NFL “product” on the field is actually discussed in league meetings with the conclusion that the
passing game generates more excitement and higher scoring. Anyone who thinks the softening of the
rules in relation to the passing game has anything to do with player safety is sadly mistaken; the rule
changes are designed to enhance the vertical passing game. The proliferation of the passing game has
forced defenses to keep up, leading to a continuing shift from a base 4-3 to a base 3-4 defense league
wide. The interesting thing about this trend is the 4-3 is primarily a run first defense and the 3-4 is primarily
a pass first defense. A GM and coach with a modicum of foresight may be looking to exploit such a trend
and hence we may be looking at the true reason for the hiring of Brian Daboll.
While Dolphin fans clamor for a quarter back whose passing skills rival those of Manning and Brady, the
Dolphin brass is off in a whole other direction. The four defensive linemen in the 4-3 are leaner, quicker
and cause disruption in the running game, while the defensive linemen in the 3-4 are larger and more apt
to occupy blockers than to make plays leaving the linebackers free to disrupt. The 3-4 is proliferating at a
rate proportional to the passing game with the obvious exploit being to run at it. This is the intention of the
Miami Dolphins, but they will not deploy just any running game they are looking to master the wildcat and
Daboll has used it as much as any coach in the NFL.
This also leads to some interesting implications in the draft. A guy with the erratic arm of Cam Newton but
who can make things happen with his feet would be much more viable in a wildcat oriented offense than
the typical pure passer most teams are looking for. By going against the grain player options that do not fit
most other teams fall right into the Dolphins needs. By playing against the trends teams like businesses
create polar shifts that open new avenues for exploitation. The teams that get out on the leading edge of
busting the trends are the teams that are copied, thus creating new trends. Could the Dolphins be on the
leading edge? Could the mistake of hiring Brian Daboll be the genius stroke of a master plan?
Time will tell where the brain trust is headed but two quarterbacks in this draft, Newton and Kaepernick are
a fit for this implied offensive system. A lineman like Mike Pouncey who is a terrific pulling guard is also a
good fit. BY keeping a keen eye on the players on the Dolphin radar, parallels can be drawn as to how the
coaching staff intends to shape the future. There are a lot of indications the Dolphins have made a pact
with the devil and that devil is a wildcat!
Because AFATT Says So!
Patrick Tarell, March 17, 2011
The word repeated everywhere in Dolfan land was, “who?” Just who is this Brian Daboll and what are the
Miami Dolphins thinking hiring a nobody when their offense is clearly in need of a proven coordinator. The
Daboll hiring was universally criticized by the fans and the local media to the extent that a popular blog
shut down and decided the Dolphins were no longer worthy of the written word. The pundits looking for
some objective reasoning explained it away by claiming assistant coaches were not drawn to the job
because of what was perceived as a lame-duck coaching staff. All the while Tony Sparano held his playing
cards close to the vest; was there a method to the madness?
Daboll was not selected because no one else wanted the job; Daboll was selected because his offensive
philosophy most closely aligned with that of his new head coach. One need only put together a Josh Cribs
highlight reel to see where this offense is headed. The actual statistics on the number of wildcat plays
each team attempted in the NFL last season are a little hard to come by, but Cleveland clearly was at the
top. Before the cries of gimmickry begin echoing from the mighty pass happy NFL Mountain perhaps some
consideration should be given to why the concept has gained popularity in the first place.
Football is a sort of chess game built around match-ups. An offensive coordinator studies a defense and
tries to find weaknesses, and then puts the strength of his offense in the best position to take advantage
of them. As Dolphin fans we have witnessed firsthand the evolution of the NFL offense from the grinding
ground game of Larry Czonka and company to the “pick a guy and let it fly” passing prowess of Dan
Marino. Each of those systems had weaknesses because no one concept can be harder to defend than a
mixture of both. Without a passing game, defenses simply stack the box and bring more defenders than an
offense can block in the running game. Without a running game, defenses bring in multiple defensive back
packages and use blitzes to disrupt the rhythm and timing of the passing game.
The NFL “product” on the field is actually discussed in league meetings with the conclusion that the
passing game generates more excitement and higher scoring. Anyone who thinks the softening of the
rules in relation to the passing game has anything to do with player safety is sadly mistaken; the rule
changes are designed to enhance the vertical passing game. The proliferation of the passing game has
forced defenses to keep up, leading to a continuing shift from a base 4-3 to a base 3-4 defense league
wide. The interesting thing about this trend is the 4-3 is primarily a run first defense and the 3-4 is primarily
a pass first defense. A GM and coach with a modicum of foresight may be looking to exploit such a trend
and hence we may be looking at the true reason for the hiring of Brian Daboll.
While Dolphin fans clamor for a quarter back whose passing skills rival those of Manning and Brady, the
Dolphin brass is off in a whole other direction. The four defensive linemen in the 4-3 are leaner, quicker
and cause disruption in the running game, while the defensive linemen in the 3-4 are larger and more apt
to occupy blockers than to make plays leaving the linebackers free to disrupt. The 3-4 is proliferating at a
rate proportional to the passing game with the obvious exploit being to run at it. This is the intention of the
Miami Dolphins, but they will not deploy just any running game they are looking to master the wildcat and
Daboll has used it as much as any coach in the NFL.
This also leads to some interesting implications in the draft. A guy with the erratic arm of Cam Newton but
who can make things happen with his feet would be much more viable in a wildcat oriented offense than
the typical pure passer most teams are looking for. By going against the grain player options that do not fit
most other teams fall right into the Dolphins needs. By playing against the trends teams like businesses
create polar shifts that open new avenues for exploitation. The teams that get out on the leading edge of
busting the trends are the teams that are copied, thus creating new trends. Could the Dolphins be on the
leading edge? Could the mistake of hiring Brian Daboll be the genius stroke of a master plan?
Time will tell where the brain trust is headed but two quarterbacks in this draft, Newton and Kaepernick are
a fit for this implied offensive system. A lineman like Mike Pouncey who is a terrific pulling guard is also a
good fit. BY keeping a keen eye on the players on the Dolphin radar, parallels can be drawn as to how the
coaching staff intends to shape the future. There are a lot of indications the Dolphins have made a pact
with the devil and that devil is a wildcat!
Because AFATT Says So!