Tony Sparano Excited About his Running Backs

Aug. 18, 2011; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Jets offensive coordinator Tony Sparano on the sidelines during fourth quarter at MetLife Stadium. Giants won 26-3. Mandatory Credit: Debby Wong-US PRESSWIRE

Offensive coordinator Tony Sparano was brought to the New York Jets to install the physical running attack needed to Ground and Pound. It only had limited success in the preseason, as the Jets averaged 3.9 yards per carry. Despite that, Sparano feels good about his guys that he will go to war with come Sunday. Here is what he had to say about Shonn Greene:

I don’t like putting expectations on anybody. I’ve been down that road a few times, but I will say I’m excited about possibilities with Shonn. He is really impressing me right now. He has done a nice job. (Coach) Anthony Lynn has done a good job getting him ready, as well as Bilal, Joe (McKnight) and John Conner. This guy is built. He’s built the right way and he’s built for our style of football here. As long as we can keep the game in our kind of football game right now and do things the way we want to do things, I would expect that Shonn does well.

Aug 30, 2012; Philadelphia, PA, USA; New York Jets running back Bilal Powell (29) during warmups prior to playing the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field. The Eagles defeated the Jets 28-10. Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-US PRESSWIRE

Here is what coach Sparano had to say about his newly annointed third down back, Bilal Powell:

Every time Bilal has played, since I’ve watched him, he has flashed at me in different ways. He has really good speed (and) good burst. He has blocked well. He has caught the ball well (and) showed me that he can run between the tackles and on the perimeter. I’ve been really impressed with what he has done. Whenever we put him in the game, he has made yards when there’s nothing there, or he has made hard yards. He’s blocked big people during the course of games (and) these are all things that we wanted to see coming into OTAs and out of OTAs when you’re in pajamas running around out there, and getting into pads and doing all that. It gives you a really good chance to see it and we’ve seen everything we need to see with him.

As we haven’t seen the full offense yet, Tony Sparano’s enthusiasm certainly is encouraging. Hopefully, it will translate into good play on Sunday.