The Sea Of Hands: Raise Yours If You Thought Sparano and Cable Would Coach Again

In 1974, the Miami Dolphins, coming off three straight runs to the Super Bowl, strode into Oakland for a divisional playoff game. This would become what we call now "An Instant Classic."

With 24 seconds remaining, Raiders running back Clarence Davis caught the game-winning touchdown on a truly remarkable throw by Kenny Stabler as he was being brought to the ground, sending the Raiders to Pittsburgh for the next round.

This game is known as "The Sea of Hands," because of the number of Dolphin defenders surrounding Davis when he caught the pass.

Miami and Oakland were at their apex when that game took place, and while all teams in every sport go through times of mediocrity, these two teams are miring in it.

The recent handling of coaches Tony Sparano (Miami) and now former coach Tom Cable (Oakland) is a lesson in ineptitude of the highest degree.   

At this point, any fan of the Miami Dolphins football team knows what has taken place over the past few weeks: a courting of Bill Cowher, and subsequent rejection over a matter of personnel hirings.

Then owner Stephen Ross flew to the left coast in hopes of coaxing Stanford's Golden Boy and Bill Walsh protege, Jim Harbaugh, away from the college scene, other NFL teams, such as Denver, and his new employer, the San Francisco 49ers.

Normally when a team owner prowls for a new head coach it means there is a vacancy. There are no vacancies, nor were there any, when Ross made his pitches to Cowher and Harbaugh.

Tony Sparano is still the head man in Miami and was in fact given a two-year extension for his patience, I'm sure.

Al Davis has made the Raiders the Monet of catastrophic management. Their latest folly was getting rid of Tom Cable (a coach who took their moribund franchise to an 8-8 record, 6-0 in the AFC West) for no apparent reason.

Cable was a coach the players respected and spoke out in defense of after word leaked he wasn't going to be brought back.

This was the response from all-world cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha when asked after the season about Coach Cable being brought back next season: "I don't even think that that's an issue right now," the cornerback said. "I don't even think that that's something that people are thinking about."

Why not?

"Because we've been successful," he said. "When you have a successful year, part of it is good things come from that."

Here were the reactions from punter Shane Lechler and guard Robert Gallery to the Oakland Tribune after their coach was fired:

Lechler suggested that several key free agents could leave because of the instability. Here’s what Lechler told the newspaper:

“It’s going to influence a lot of guys’ decisions on free agency,” Lechler said. “You’re going to for darned sure lose Robert Gallery now. You’re going to lose Michael Bush now, for sure.

"You’re going to lose a bunch of guys that are great football players and just because of this move...I already know what those guys are going to do. I’ve talked to them, I’m friends with them, and I know what’s going on.

“It’s going to be a huge setback because you heard the locker room just like I did. It’s hard to understand how or why the decision was made when it seemed it was in the best interest of players and we finally felt like we were headed in the right way, and owner goes and pulls the [plug].”

This is what Gallery told the paper:

“I really haven’t processed [the possibility of leaving] yet,” Gallery said. “It’s definitely something to think about. Coach Cable and everyone else knows how I feel about him and the things he did as far as getting my career back on track. He’s a guy I wanted to play for. We’ll have to see what happens when free agency does come.

Cable, an offensive line coach for the Raiders, was promoted as interim head coach in 2008 after Al Davis offed the head of Lane Kiffin and Oakland finished 4-8 with him at the helm. The following season they finish 5-11 under Cable then make the jump to 8-8.

Now 2-8 outside of the division is shaky at best but you can't argue with improvement and most importantly, players wanting to play for you and the Raiders.

Al Davis lingered until February last year in determining if he should keep Cable or not and gave the thumbs up after a 5-11 season but won't keep a guy who improved on that and had the team in playoff contention right up until the end?

Much like Cable was promoted from offensive line coach, it appears Oakland is heading down the same path as rumors continue swirling that offensive coordinator Hue Jackson will be the next head coach.

Expectations for the Dolphins coming into this season were the antithesis of Oakland's in every way.

Miami had won the division two seasons ago, finishing a stunning 11-5 after a 1-15 season the year prior. Then, as expected, their smoke, mirrors, and wildcat stunts crashed back to reality in a 7-9 season. 

So the Fish brought in two excellent free agents to bolster each side of the ball: Brandon Marshall, monster wide receiver from Denver to finally give Miami a legitimate target in the passing game; and Karlos Dansby, fantastic linebacker from Arizona, who led a stunning Super Bowl run and nearly captured a ring.

Dansby helped Miami finish seventh overall in rushing yards allowed per game, eighth in passing defense and sixth overall in total defense.

Brandon on the other hand finished with 86 catches for 1,014 yards and 3 TDs...two of those against the Jets. This is a classic case of stats not telling the whole story.

I blame dropped passes on Brandon, but not much else. Miami's offense, (Dan Henning's offense) could not have been more inept.

Splashed all over the front pages of every paper in Florida and beyond, the Dolphins coaching situation is well documented and summed up earlier in the column.  

One factor that separates Tony Sparano's situation with Tom Cable's is player feelings towards their coaches.

After Miami was annihilated by New England in the last game of the regular season, it was suggested by many outlets, that players flat out quit. If true (and you could certainly make a legit argument for that) you can't possibly keep a coach players aren't willing to go all-out for.  

You read the thoughts of three Raiders players above about Cable, here are the reactions from two prominent Miami players about their head coach:

When asked on WQAM-560's Sid Rosenberg's program, Ricky Williams addressed on several fronts, the situation with Sparano, in particular here, when asked about votes of confidence players expressed to the media about Sparano: “Usually when players are talking and saying the right things, it means that they’re full of s***,” Williams said.

Williams further remarked that “Tony goes through a lot of effort to show us the things it takes to win football games,” Williams said. “Not turning the ball over, converting third downs, scoring in the Red Zone. He spends a lot of time saying, ‘If you do these things, you win.’

"And sometimes I feel personally that he does a little bit too much. My personal opinion is if you have the right attitude that you guys are going to win, then all that other stuff takes care of itself.”

Ricky even harkens back to when Nick Saban briefly coached the team:

“Coach (Nick) Saban had a saying: he said, ‘We’re worried about mouse manure, when we have elephant s*** all over the place,’” Williams added. “I want to really start focusing on what I want to accomplish and what it is I want to achieve, but not micromanaging this or that and focusing on the little things.

"It’s keeping my eye on the prize and putting myself in a supporting environment and going to work every day with a smile on my face.”

And here is Brandon Marshall weighing in on the entire situation with this team:

“We’re not close to where we need to be,” Marshall said. “It’s been that way all year. It’s a number of things: players, coaches, we all have to be on the same page. We got to speak the same language when it comes to offense, just need to do a better job next year of putting guys in position to make plays.”

“If we do our job on the offensive side of the ball, coaches and players, we could have a hell of a team,” Marshall said. “We have a top five defense. Just need to be halfway decent on offense. Need to speak the same language from the coaches to the offensive players, and we’ll have a chance. We have a lot of work to do this off-season.”

A second factor is that Miami, unlike Oakland, not only failed to make progress, they looked much worse in their second straight 7-9 season.

That being said, in no way did Tony Sparano deserve the garbage he has had to deal with since the season concluded.

To cap an already chaotic postseason, the Dolphins supposedly cancelled a meeting with former Browns coach Eric Mangini in which they allegedly just wanted to pick his brain about the division. What?

Stephen Ross had every right to pursue other coaches if he had already fired his current coach. He hadn't.

At the very least he should have sat with Sparano and told him straight up that they will be evaluating other coaches and given him a deadline as to when they'd make a decision.

How can Sparano be expected to run the team now when everyone on the
roster knows his two-year extension is just a farce?

Why would players want play for an owner who has no clue how to run an
operation?

Miami has had the same carousel of coaches since Don Shula left. For all the talk that Miami has been in dire need of a franchise QB since Dan Marino left, a real front office and head coach would be a better start.

For the Raiders fan base, this disgusts me to say because it will come across as callous, but their team will never be relevant again until Al Davis is gone. And I worry that it will be when Al Davis is permanently gone.

I can't think of another owner who took a team from all-time highs, to brand new lows. He has embarrassed an organization he takes so much pride in running.

His drafts are terrible. He has no idea who he wants as a head coach. Free agents don't want to play there. And as you read above, current players don't want to be there after this.

What's even worse for Oakland is that they have several excellent building blocks on their team. Many of these guys could go to competitors and be instant upgrades at some positions and push those teams over the brink.

Unfortunately, they have an owner unsatisfied with every coach he brings
onboard, so this team is unable to gel and utilize its talents. 

So Miami extends the contract of a coach players aren't keen on, while the Silver and Black toss out a coach the players love playing for. That seems about right considering the teams.

Neither Sparano or Cable deserved this type of treatment. 

If the Raiders are considered the picture of ineptitude in the NFL, the Dolphins aren't far behind.