" His career could not have started much better. Not when you consider he has started all of his 32 games, and not when you consider both seasons were followed by invitations to the Pro Bowl.

For Dolphins left tackle Jake Long, it might seem reasonable to hope for more of the same -- a perfect example of the adage, ``if it ain't broke, don't fix it.'' Coach Tony Sparano and Long, however, have a different mind-set.

``Listen, Jake Long is a pretty good player for us,'' Sparano said Wednesday. ``This is the offensive line coach in me coming out, but there's a bunch of things Jake would tell you he needs to do to raise the bar a little bit with his game.''

So what are those ``things?''

``In the run game, I need to work on staying low, making sure I have a good base,'' Long said. ``My hand placement in pass [protection]. Working on my kick slide. Working on my hands.''

For another 15 seconds Wednesday, Long continued to spew similarly complicated terminology about his desire to improve, terminology that would otherwise make you fall asleep if it wasn't for the presence of his mammoth 6-7, 317-pound frame."