Reports are coming in that Tony Sparano is expected to be named the Dolphins coach as early as next week.

According to a league source, the Miami Dolphins are expected to name Cowboys offensive line/assistant head coach Tony Sparano to be their next head coach.

The Dolphins could officially announce Sparano's hiring early next week, the source said, but Sparano will not leave the Cowboys until their season is over.

No surprise if and when it happens. Everything else seemed like a formality anyway.

The Tuna also picked off one of our scouts.

Assistant director of pro scouting Brian Gaine, in his third season with the Cowboys, left the team to join the Miami Dolphins’ scouting department.

The blurb also mentions that Jerry was a little frustrated about this one. I wouldn’t be surprised if he starts blocking some of the Dolphins’ overtures in the future.

Update [2008-1-6 12:41:25 by Dave Halprin (Grizz)]: From the DMN blog:

Brian Gaine, the Cowboys assistant director of pro scouting, has not joined Jeff Ireland and Bill Parcells in Miami.

I'm told the NFL has blocked a possible move to the Dolphins even though the Cowboys are willing to let Gaine leave now. Under league rules, Gaine would not be eligible to leave for the Dolphins until his contract expires unless he takes a job with "final say authority." His contract ends in the spring.

Since Ireland has that job in Miami, Gaine remains with the Cowboys - for now - unless the league decides to change its decision.

Hat tip to Philosopher for posting the news in the comments.

Tim Cowlishaw tries to put this year’s defense into a historical perspective with Cowboys defenses of the past, especially the Super Bowl teams.

The Breerman takes a look at the Cowboys secondary and discovers, contrary to popular opinion, that they’ve been getting better as the year has progressed and have put up some respectable numbers.  

They've allowed just one opponent to throw for more than 250 yards over their last 10 games after yielding 250-plus three times in their first six.

[snip]

On top of that, when the Cowboys haven't been making big plays, they've been preventing them. In three of the team's first six games, the Cowboys yielded four pass plays of 20-plus yards. They haven't allowed that many in a game since.

Not too bad. It seems like the thing that has hurt us most in the recent games is the inability to stuff the run like we were for most of the season. Once a team can run the ball on you, everything else becomes much easier.

Jerry Jones offers this quote on the health of T.O.

"I like where he is," Jerry Jones said on his Friday radio show. "Our trainers are really satisfied with the progress that he's making. He's got his boot off. The swelling, [there is] none detectable or relatively little. And when you compare that and the nature of his injury with the rehab of other players in similar situations, then we [should] be optimistic."