Sparano's Only Focus Is Buffalo Bills
MIAMI (CBSMiami.com) – Miami Dolphins head coach Tony Sparano's tenure may be nearing an end. CBS4 news partner the Miami Hearld late Sunday night reported that Sparano will be fired at the end of the regular season.
Monday, Sparano met with reporters fresh off a disappointing loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. Sparano was asked specifically if he would comment on his future with the team.
"No, I want to coach against the Buffalo Bills this week," Sparano said. "That's my sole focus."
But, when Sparano was asked if he had had any direct contract with owner Stephen Ross about whether or not he would be fired; Sparano deflected the question, but didn't deny he had talked with Ross.
"I'm going to coach this team against the Buffalo Bills," Sparano said after being asked if he had talked to Ross.
Sparano's players continue to fight hard for him. The media said the players were angry and upset about the loss.
"It tells me in week 14 that they care a whole bunch about winning the game," Sparano said. "We went in expecting to win the game and had high expectations."
Sparano said that Matt Moore was removed from the game due to concussion-like symptoms. Sparano said that the team will have to go through "the process" before Moore is going to make a comeback to the field.
Sparano was even more cryptic when it came to the possibilities about injured Pro Bowl left tackle Jake Long. Early in the game, Long went down with a lower-back injury and never returned to the game. As for Long's status for the Bills game, Sparano had no news.
"Jake Long, you guys will get that on Wednesday," Sparano said.
Sparano was pleasantly pleased with the performance of Reggie Bush, who has run for 770 yards this season. With three games to go, Bush could try to reach 1,000 yards rushing in a season. But Sparano said the individual records aren't a big deal to the team.
"I'm sure for Reggie, he'd trade any of those individual statistics for wins right now," Sparano said. "Their sole focus right now is to beat the Buffalo Bills. I thought Reggie played really, really well yesterday. I liked what he did in the game yesterday."
Sparano said that no matter what, he's proud of this team.
"That's a proud group and they have been playing really good football," Sparano said. "I'm not just standing there saying that. At the end of this thing, we've been playing good over a stretch of time."
