I'd say no, at least not the Defense, when players on a unit are having a good to great yr, they tend to take a lot of pride in it and play hard to finish strong

Now if the guys Sparano gave chances to don't play hard, they will be on the offense, Marshall, Colombo etc.

 

They're big boys, they can handle it.

 

Uhhhhhhh no..... There might be anger but pride trumps it every time.

 

Colombo now knows it's no longer a free ride for him padre.

 

Common sense would also tell him he won't be back..and he'd better cash his game checks before they take a warrant out for his theft.

 

No, if you lighten up you get hurt, thought of this happening does not even compute.

Now we might get beat, but not for that reason.

 

I'm just baffled by the amount of Support for Sparano, the guy was just plain bad at coaching, and game planning! Seriousness man! He should have never been hired in the first place. Once Parcells saw his plan and philosophy no longer works in the NFL he took the money and bolted!

 

We all know that Colombo is not 1/4 of his former self... But you cannot blame him for being the starter on this unit... that blame goes to the coaches, period...

I understand what you are saying Pads but we all know that the decision to play him or not comes from up top...

So if it was theft, it was an inside job going all the way to the top... and we all know that ship has sailed...

Back to thread topic, even if pride it is at stake, it will depend in coaching and the level of talent on the field... will it be a close one???

It will depend on the health of Moore and if it is low scoring... I tend to fancy the Bills, our D could be the weak link in the fourth...

 

You're baffled that players have ton of support for Sparano? Why?

 

The fans support, not the players

 

I'd say just about everyone's performance will be on display for whomever the next coach is, translation - better play hard.

 

Eh, tbh I've heard that said, mostly seen it not pan out, what usually happens is the mega talented guys throttle back and the new HC has little choice but to keep and play them anyway, the bubble guys do play hard, the Carey's and Reshad Jones's, but guys like BM or VD just go through the motions because they know they won't and cannot be replaced, or if they are, they just wind up in a better place to play via trade.

 

I don't see the players laying down in protest. These players are now playing for their jobs and the fact Sparano was fired will not make one bit of difference to them. In fact on WQAM this morning, Mark Duper stated that there were several Dolphins which were happy to see Sparano gone. They just were not willing to voice this in the press because they felt there was nothing to gain from expressing their negative feelings toward Sparano as a head coach.

It should also be noted that the Dolphins are 4-9 this season. So based on this record, it appears the Dolphins were already protesting the fact that Sparano was retained as the HC after last season.

 

I think they will play hard today.Not sure if they win though.

 

Will this team protest the firing of their coach thru their effort??

Hopefully. Wins are bad right now.

 

They can "protest" all they want and play as hard as they can but with no Jake Long our offense will get dominated again.

 

Disagree, what got Garner last week was -0- prep time and an all pro DE Trent Cole, add in we played from behind for most of the game and he had little shot at success, and the Bills are not a strong pass rushing team.

 

Grown men auditioning for paychecks next season aren't going to throw a hissy fit and quit on the team because the coach got fired.

 

Oops. Someone forgot to tell Reggie that he was going to have a bad day without big Jake to block for him. ;)

Well at least we got to see some hope for the future in John Jerry. Overall, other than the false start, not a bad job by the young man.

 

So, the players like Sparano so much they decided to win after he was fired.

I really hope Ross isn't listening to the locker room, or at least I hope he's not taking their input very seriously.

 

It's not like they were winless with Tony...

 

Bowles is stoic as hell..... Quite the contrast.
Guys are paid to compete not to fold for a draft pick. :headwall:

 

They went on a 7 game losing streak, compiling a 4-9 record before Sparano got the axe, a day after the second most embarrassing loss this season (the first was in week 1) and a week after players like Karlos Dansby publicly said that they wanted Sparano to be retained.

I guess Sparano didn't 360 their games the way Bowles did.

 

Yes, but you're acting as if they had one win and didn't blow out teams during a stretch of 5 to 7 games.

 

I'm acting as if the 4-1 stretch is meaningless, which it is. I'm not fooled by how this team took 8 games to finally look like a team that belongs in the NFL rather than the Mountain West Conference. This forum puts way too much emphasis on five wins, not enough on nine losses.

This is not a good team, and it has way too many holes. So when one of those 53 sub-average players opens his mouth and talks about how we should retain his sub-average coach, after weeks of "screw the fans" type soundbites, sorry, I couldn't care less about their opinions.

 

53 sub average players? Really? The 5 wins are not meaningless. During that stretch, we've found out we have some very nice and young pieces on this team that contributed to the wins. I'd say that's important for next season. You don't think the next HC would like players like Fasano, Bush, Marshall, Clay, John Jerry, Jake Long, Pouncey, Odrick, Davis, Smith, etc?

Here's your quote. "So, the players like Sparano so much they decided to win after he was fired."

If this counts as a win, so do the other 4 wins they won under Sparano. So no, they didn't decide to win after Sparano was fired.

You can be mad that we are not Sucking For Luck, but you need to get over it eventually. This is a good team. Sparano was a bad coach, I agree. So hopefully, next season we will have a better coach that can do something with the talent on our roster.