What Do The Dolphins Get With Tony Sparano?

Well, he's obviously got at least a little bit of a sense of humor as is evident in this "Mayne Event" segment.



But how did the Cowboys teams that he helped coach perform while he was there? Let check out some stats.

Since Sparano contributed mostly to the coaching of the offensive line, I'll compare the sacks allowed and rushing statistics to see how the Cowboys improved(or worsened) under his watch.

Sparano took over in 2003, and inherited a team that was in the lower half in the NFL in terms of average rush yards per game and allowed the third most sacks.

2002(pre-Sparano): 109.6 rush yards/game, 7 rush TD's, 54 sacks allowed

Sparano's impact was noticeable in 2003 when the Cowboys' rush average and rushing touchdown numbers went up, and their sacks allowed went down. Obviously, personnel changes factor into these improvements, but Sparano's coaching did help the Dallas offense perform at a higher level.

2003(Sparano's 1st season): 124.9 rush yards/game, 11 rush TD's, 37 sacks allowed

Sparano continued to coach the offensive line unit into better shape, and they performed well under his guidance. Though, in 2005 they did allow quite a few sacks(50), but that probably had to do more with the fact that the picture of immobility, Drew Bledsoe, was their quarterback.

2004(2nd season): 110.6 rush yards/game, 14 rush TD's, 36 sacks allowed

2005(3rd season): 116.3 rush yards/game, 13 rush TD's, 50 sacks allowed

2006(4th season): 121.0 rush yards/game, 21 rush TD's, 37 sacks allowed

2007(5th season): 109.1 rush yards/game, 14 rush TD's, 25 sacks allowed

By all accounts, Sparano is a no-nonsense type of coach that gets along well with his players. He obviously has a good working relationship with Bill Parcells and Jeff Ireland, and both of those guys believe that he can coach the Dolphins back into form. It's going to take a lot of work, but right now I'm confident that he can get the job done. Though, he is taking over a unit that averaged just 98.1 rush yards/game, scored 14 rush TD's and gave up 42 sacks. Lik I said, it will be tough work, but Sparano is the new capo in Miami and he's shown that he has the juice to get the job done.