NFL.com's Bucky Brooks: Change in offensive philosophy could be difference for Henne

I stopped reading right here. This is pure nonsense.

Henne can't execute play action properly; he doesn't sell the fake. He usually doesn't even try. He has trouble reacquiring the defense after completing his non-fake. He's stated that he doesn't want to take shotgun snaps because he prefers to be up close to the line and acquire the defense; I'd imagine his dislike of the shotgun and his trouble acquiring the defense after play action have the same underlying cause.

As for Henne's vertical passing, his deep accuracy is pretty bad. He has an arm, but little precision. He can throw a powerful deep bomb but it usually won't wind up anywhere near the receiver. I'd wager he also has difficulty throwing to specific spots on the field, since IIRC Henning's system called for the ball to be thrown to points on the field based on route timing, rather than directly at the receiver in stride.

We've learned since Henning's departure that Henne did in fact have the ability to make adjustments at the line, and his protection calls were the primary reason why so many blockers were kept back. Likewise, with so many blockers retained, there were comparatively few receivers available to throw to. Henne became his own worst enemy.

Combining Henne's desire for max protect with his desire to always keep his eyes on the defense, one must conclude that Chad Henne can't read defenses and has no feel for the game beyond what he's directly looking at. Someone who can sense pocket pressure doesn't need extra blockers all the time; someone who knows receivers' routes, their timing, and can anticipate how the defense will react in coverage doesn't need to stare down his intended receivers.

Brian Daboll's playbook can't fix a quarterback who can't think or feel. Brian Daboll himself can't do that either, especially not after an entire offseason of zero hands-on coaching. Karl Dorrell isn't exactly going to have an easy time of his WR-to-QB coaching transition either.

 

Dabol like to throw to the TE, which is a problem now. I'll be shocked if Ireland goes after Zach Miller but, can see him signing Robert Royal, a 32 year old from Cleve. He is a good blocker, and at least would allow Fasano to go out as a receiver. I know he doesn't have speed but, he does click with Henne. I believe this would give a comfortable option and cut down on Henne locking into WRs, which will cut down on mistakes.

 

I don't agree with all of Brooks thoughts but I do agree with some. I think Daboll could help Henne as he is said to have had some success in working with quarterbacks (according to Chad Pennington I think). Daboll will have his work cut out for him though because he's going to have to simplify the offense some. Going to have to really nail down the core or base plays and build around that with constraints. It'll be interesting to see because I think it could show Dolphins fans what Daboll is really about. We could find out if he's got the ability to be a good teacher and play caller or if he'll fall flat on his face.

The same goes for Chad Henne though.

 

Our offense as a whole couldn't sell play action for sh!t. The RB's never committed to look like they were going to run, the O-line never threatened any type of run block, and 2 WR routes being covered by 7 defenders who didn't budge on overall crappy play action killed any possible play action we tried. Henne could certainly improve there, however it wasn't all him and he didn't look that bad doing it in '09.

 

They've already got a true TE in Fasano, a Flex in Clay (whatever his worklaod will be), and appear to be bringing back Haynos or a true blocking TE, which I don't have an issue with. Daboll does like to use his TEs in the passing game (probably because of what he learned under Weis and the NE philosophy in general) and I think the quick game will help him. I think it will simplify the reads for him (be a 2 on 1 grass read from what I gather) which may be good or it may be bad for Henne depending on how patient fans and the coaches are. IMO Henne is going to be starting almost all over again with his development because he never got the proper teaching and coaching from the previous staff. I think while Henne is to blame for some things, the majority of the blame should go on the coaching staff. Whether the new additions to the staff will be any better is uncertain however.

 

I don't see anything that was incorrect about his post.

 

Desides, Been through this max protect debate, and a QB can only use it if coaches send in the personnel to use it. Make sense?

 

I really like Fasano, and believe that Daboll will give him a chance to shine. My point was that Henne seldom had a TE he could throw to, as Fasano was kept in to block so much.

I have high hopes for Clay but, I have the same for every Dolphin picked. If it's a Haynos, or a Royal, or a whoever, anything is better than what we had last year at 2nd TE.

 

outside of his error wrt to Henne and playaction, the rest of the article seemed pretty reasonable to me.
we at least have optimism that henne can improve under Daboll, whereas we had no hope under Dan Henning

 

This is not a pro Henning post but, how did Penne have a very close to MVP season in 08 with him as OC?

 

As a Dolphins fan, I am absolutely certain that I have watched more of Chad Henne's professional career than Bucky Brooks has.

 

By being Chad Pennington.

 

HOU has a lot of quality depth at TE.

I'd def make an offer for James Casey or Joel Dreessen. Can't imagine it'd take more than a late round pick..

 

I think you'd be surprised. I think they like those two. Both guys are talented.

 

I'm sure they do, but they did just sign Owen Daniels for 4 years so I can't imagine them not being open to moving one of them.

 

Possibly, though Owen Daniels hasn't been healthy the last couple of years. If they are open to moving one of them, I'd be surprised if its for a late round draft pick.

 

Never assume

 

Acting like Fasano was a Tackle-eligible is fairly inappropriate. Per PFF, he ran 365 routes and stayed in to block 147 times. That's what, staying in to block 28% of the time?

 

That is part of the stat. Fasano was kept in to block 529 times, as opposed to 365 when he ran routes. He was thrown at 55 times the entire year, which ranks him at #27. We all know that TEs are targets on running downs as as well.

 

Logical conclusion: your attempt at refuting my post by rolling your eyes and saying that Brooks is a scout is negated. His description of Henne bears no relation to the player on the field.

If you disagree with my description, refute it; don't attack me directly. That's bush league.

 

Too many negatives in that sentence, no idea where KingMotion is going with that question about not being not calling not max-protect not.

Fasano stayed in to block on pass plays more than most #1 TEs in the league, if not more than all of them. That figure 29% is a high figure. Even the guys that are generally kept in a fair amount are about 23%. Other guys like Jason Witten are more down in the teens.

Doubt the Texans give up Joel Dreessen. Played too well in place of Owen Daniels, and he's also their long snapper. James Casey is possible but I still say not likely. Think the Dolphins could go after someone like Robert Royal or maybe Chris Baker...outside shot of Daniel Graham.

I hate when people have to pretend that a dissenting opinion means that the dissenter automatically thinks he's more qualified and that the person he's disagreeing with has no right to his opinion, etc. Desides clearly disagreed with Bucky Brooks. BFD. But to react to his dissenting opinion the way SOME did, is beyond juvenile.

Personally I look at what Bucky Brooks wrote and I think he kind of just mailed one in during a dead time. I like Bucky a lot, think he hits the nail on the head a lot. Good former scout. But I swear 90% of this article could have been written by a piece of software.

 

This Henne calling max protection is gonna make me crazy. If coaches send in Marshall, Hartline, Bess, and Moore, how does anyone call max protect?

If coaches send in Fasano, Shuler, Polite, and R or R, how do you not call max protect, and hope for the best?

Does anyone hnestly think that Henne is going to keep any of the 4 WRs in to block or, send Shuler or Polite on a fly pattern?

I blame Henne for a number of things. This cannot be one of them.

 

The first major critical flaw in this argument is that Miami's wide receiver usage was not out of line with the rest of the league. In fact I think it was dead center average. However, their use of unnecessary blockers WAS out of line with the rest of the league. Ridiculously out of line.

And there's a second minor critical flaw in this argument. Yes, if you have tight ends in and running backs in the game, you can very well release them out on patterns. It's done all over the league. Even if they're not particularly great receiving tight ends or particularly great receiving running backs. Everywhere in the league. Except Miami when Chad Henne is in.

My studies show that there's an 80% correlation across the league between number of extra blockers held in to block, and number of extra pass rushers sent in to blitz.

 

[video=youtube;MyPtJF-IgPc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyPtJF-IgPc[/video]

Now, I've seen Henne struggle with play-action at times. And I've also seen his accuracy on the deep ball be a problem (though I've yet to see many young QBs who don't have issues with that). But I don't think Brooks is that far off base here. Do agree with CK that it's a bit of a puff piece.

 

Read an article on NFL.com the other day about the Texans, and it said that James Casey has been bulking up in preparation to play FB should they not be able to re-sign Vonta Leach, who went to the Pro Bowl. Not saying they couldn't sign, say Nnamdi Asomugha as they've been rumored to be interested in his services and still re-sign Leach. But, it does sound like they have a contingency plan should Leach be gone; though I doubt they'd want to mess too much with that running game given Arian Foster's success last year.

 

Sure. But considering our #2 TEs throughout the season, don't you think that part of the gameplan was to keep them in to block when they were on the field? I mean . . . isn't it possible that was just part of the scheme and that Henne was not expected to release them much, if at all?

 

OK, You and CK pick out a few games, and I will be a "Stat Cat" in looking up those games to prove, or disprove, the point.

Sorry Desides, enter in your choice as well.

 

Riddle me this. Keeping far more unnecessary extra blockers in to block than 2008 or 2009 is commonly blamed on tight end usage. But the 2-TE set was used a lot LESS in 2010 than in 2009 or 2008. That's a fact. Miami had 665 tight ends in this year on 644 pass plays. In 2009 that was 746 tight ends on 611 pass plays. In 2008 that was 778 tight ends on 539 pass plays.

Tight end usage declined, but unnecessary blocker usage increased. And we're supposed to believe that it's personnel-based?

No. The simple fact of the matter is there's a very HIGH correlation league wide between extra blocker usage and extra blitzer usage, across the board. Except Miami, where for whatever reason we were keeping extra blockers in regardless of whether extra blitzers were coming or not. And if you say that's because Henne didn't have the freedom to call protections, that it was taken out of his hands to that degree, what a damning fact that is on the amount of confidence they had in the 3rd year player. He was no rookie but rookies have more freedom, if that was the case. More likely, however, is that Henne DID have that freedom, and he just liked to keep extra blockers in and had the confidence in his receivers (especially with the addition of Brandon Marshall) and the confidence in his arm to think they could get open and he could make the throws regardless of how many defenders were in coverage. And the Miami staff were too daft to bother correcting him on it.

 

CK / Desides - you guys have obviously spent a lot of time breaking down Henne and his flaws.

Was there a change from '09 - '10? Everyone seemed on board that he would be, at minimum, a decent QB in this league after his first year as a starter. Now it seems most have given up on him.

Do the numbers hold for both years? Did he call max protect, play conservative, have accuracy issues - both years, or was it more pronounced in '10?

It seemed like the entire offense was out of whack this past year (somehow no one talks about our running game going from first to worst) so I am wondering if a fresh start could help Henne on track to be a better QB.

 

There are few in the media who I respect. If a JAWS said he studied a QB for a few days on film, I have to respect that. Guys in the papers know less than most I've read on this, and other forums. JMO

 

That is conceivable, absolutely. But at the same time, it's irrelevant. Every team in the NFL puts backup quality players on the field running routes and whatnot. Most teams in the NFL (I would venture a guess) used more tight ends than Miami did. See the figures above, back in 2008 the Dolphins had 1.44 tight ends per pass play, and in 2010 (when unnecessary blocker usage was at its most obscene), tight end usage was a mere 1.03 tight ends per pass play.

The issue is not really about tight end usage, it's really more of a running back issue. If anything with as many 3-WR sets as Miami used in 2010, there was even less pressure to keep extra guys in to block, based on personnel groupings.

And it all boils down to this fact. In this league I've found extra blocker usage to be about 80% correlated with extra blitzer usage. This was not the case in Miami. The question is WHY. There seem to be two possible answers to that question...and NEITHER speaks highly of Chad Henne (or the coaching staff). They're both culpable no matter which way you go on it.

 

That may be true, I don't know. Pick a game or two, and we can sort this out.

 

But how can you say it's not a personnel issue while ignoring who the personnel were in each year? Isn't it pretty clear that our #2 TEs this past season were far worse than they were in 2009 and especially in 2008? So my question still stands. Even if we were throwing them out there less, the fact that we were throwing out complete scrubs suggests to me that they were put out there for one purpose: to stay in and block. Am I really completely off base here?

I'd venture to say that our #2 TEs were some of the worst in the league.

 

A welcome addition in this discussion. Did you play D or O? Did the QB have final say on max protect or, was it the players sent in by coaches?

 

The main difference wasn't him, it was what the defenses did to him and how they played him. They were far less aggressive in trying to pressure him. They sat back in more shell coverage, more zone coverage, they read his eyes and his tendencies and kept a lid on him forcing him to be creative to beat them. The robot is not creative.

Staying the same was not good. He wasn't good enough in 2009. People thought highly of him because he played pretty well relative to the stage of his career. A year later, he's the same, and all the sudden you realize there's no progress being made...which is a stinging criticism because it was something that could have been (and was) said about him at Michigan. The rest of the league has a learning curve. Defenses poke and prod until they find what works aganist you and when they do, the dam breaks and it's a copycat league, everyone follows suit. The league learned him faster than he learned the league and it could very well be a sign that he just doesn't have what it takes to stay ahead of good defenses. In fact, I'd stake a lot on it being exactly that.