Miami Dolphins notebook: Sparano remains ‘very confident’ about his team (plus an update on Phillip Merling)

His team looked horrible in its final two preseason games, his Dolphins have made some head-scratching personnel moves over the past three days, and his team has more question marks now than it did six weeks ago, surrounding the chemistry between Chad Henne and his receivers, the cohesion on the offensive line and the plan in the secondary. But Dolphins coach Tony Sparano said he is not at all ready to change his team’s expectations of reaching the Super Bowl this season. “I’m very confident heading into Week 1. I really am,” Sparano said after Monday’s practice, the first official practice of the regular season. “The bottom half of the roster is going to continue to turn until we get the right people … and that doesn’t have anything to do with confidence.” Sparano said the recent roster upheavel – cutting veterans Marques Douglas , Charles Grant , David Martin and Donald Thomas in favor of little-known rookies – is not indicative of a team in chaos. “Any place that I’ve really been, I’ve been part of a few of these type of situations, it is pretty common,” Sparano said. “We’re just flipping over rocks. If they’re not the right guys, we’re bringing in somebody else.” Two of the players the Dolphins cut this weekend – Martin and receiver Patrick Turner – immediately went to a rival team. The Dolphins will face Martin and the Buffalo Bills this Sunday, and will face Turner and the Jets in Week 3. Additionally, the Dolphins traded Greg Camarillo to Minnesota, who is the Dolphins’ opponent in Week 2. Sparano said he isn’t concerned about his former players giving away inside information. “I think it’s overrated,” Sparano said. “I’ve tried that before, and we’ve done nothing but confuse ourselves. … When you get a player from somebody else’s team, they’re so concerned about how they’re going to fit into what you’re doing, that the last thing that you want to hear about is maybe what they were doing someplace else.” Sparano also found himself once again defending his decision to play the starters a significant amount in the final preseason game last week against Dallas. Offensive tackle Jake Long injured his left knee during the game, and sat out of Monday’s practice with a brace on his knee. Sparano would not say whether he expects Long to practice this week or play against Buffalo. “My thought was, there were still some areas that needed to be worked on,” Sparano said. “It’s an unfortunate circumstance. I’m not going to Monday Morning Quarterback any of those decisions.” Other news and notes from Monday’s practice: * Defensive end Phillip

Merling , out for the season with a torn Achilles tendon in his left leg, said he suffered the injury while running shuttle drills during a workout near his home in southeast Virginia right before training camp started in July. The worst part of the injury? Having to call the Dolphins and tell them the news, which he called “scary.” “Very disappointed. I felt like I let a lot of people down,” said Merling, a 2008 second-round pick who has under-performed in his first two years. “I was ready to go, ready to play this year.” Merling also said he doesn’t know his timetable for when he can start running again. “I told (trainers) I don’t even want to know. Just want to focus on each day and get better,” Merling said. Finally, Merling said he could not comment on his recent legal woes. He is currently in the middle of a felony domestic assault case after allegedly hitting his pregnant girlfriend. * Sparano confirmed that Jason Allen has replaced Sean Smith in the starting lineup . Sparano said it was more a case of Allen winning the job than an indictment on Smith losing it. “From my time here, all I’ve heard about is, ‘When is Jason Allen going to turn the corner?’” Sparano said. “And maybe the guy has turned the corner. We should be happy about this, for Christ’s sake. This is a good problem, not a bad problem.” Sparano would not say, though, whether Smith is now the third or fourth cornerback. Benny Sapp has been working as the nickel corner. * Sparano said ILB Bobby Carpenter was acquired because of the coaching staff’s familiarity with him from their days in Dallas, plus Carpenter’s abilities on special teams. * Sparano would not comment, though, on whether the addition of Carpenter means the Dolphins are concerned about Channing Crowder’s availability this weekend. He has been out the last three-plus weeks with a groin/hip injury. “Just means we brought in another inside linebacker,” Sparano said. * Ikaika Alama-Francis continues to work with the first team at outside linebacker over rookie Koa Misi . * Signs in the Dolphins’ locker room (today was the first day media was allowed inside): “We are what we believe we are. Why not us?” And “No Egos Allowed.” There is also a countdown to kickoff clock that has been counting down to the Bills game since OTAs, and was down to around 5 days and 22 hours when we were in the locker room.

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Miami Dolphins notebook: Sparano remains ‘very confident’ about his team (plus an update on Phillip Merling)

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