I'm watching the Pitt-Houston game and Houston just orchestrated a 10:55 TD drive on the opening kickoff where Houston actually drove 105 yards b/c of penalty yards. Foster and Tate ran all over them, and as soon as Foster got in the redzone, Dierdorf emphatically says: 2 plays later, Schaub throws an easy TD to Daniels off a play fake to Foster. I'm tired of hearing how Henne is the reason we're not scoring in the redzone. Have the ability to run the ball in the redzone and defenses will have to respect both aspects of our offense rather than keying in on the pass. It's tough enough to have the back of the endzone act as a 12th defender.
You're grasping for straws here Todd And besides, everyone knows it's not fair to compare us to a team that actually knows what it's doing.
He's certainly part of the reason. I don't see how you could deny that. Running better would certainly help his cause, but he's certainly not without blame for our redzone woes. His accuracy doesn't help him out, and I've not ever seen him try and throw a fade to Marshall since the 1st Jets game last year. I think he's got some confidence issues when it comes to performing in the redzone.
Dan Dierdorf is not an authority on anything. In fact, game day announcers and color commentators are usually among the worst sources of information in sports. They have to fill time and say something and so act on their own biases.
Here's what I just don't understand from some about the Henne arguement. Us that aren't Henne fans will admit things like him having a good game or good half. And admit that running is very good for redzone offense. But Henne backers ONLY have excuses for him. If he has a bad half, its everyone elses fault. If he looks like trash in the redzone, its because he has no running game. We all know running in the redzone is important, but that doesn't keep us from evaluating Hennes every throw and play. He simply not good in the redzone, he hasn't made the throws that were there, having nothing to do with lack of running down there.
So what your saying is that ex-players don't know as much as fans? Please tell me that's not what your saying.
I'm saying that an ex-player is not a reliable source simply because he's an ex-player. Example: Mike Golic.
Grasping for straws? I don't think so. Dierdorf was very direct with his statement, and it came after Foster had rushing success in the redzone. And I'm certainly not grasping for straws when Houston has Andre Johnson, Owen Daniels, and Schaub in the redzone..... yet Pitt was more concerned with the ground game beating them on a fake to Foster, and Schaub tossed an EASY TD b/c of it.
The problem is that there are SO many areas that are lacking more than Henne , that while he deserves criticism he isn't the main reason we are not winning , and that his play has notably improved and he hasn't been supported as strongly as should be. If the other problems ie OLine including the all world get almost no negative comments Jake Long was above average we would see better red zone play. Of course the main reason we don't is Henne , not Spireland of course.
especially since he never played in the NFL or anything.... and it's not like he watches different football teams on a weekly basis.
Ex-players will always know more than fans, some fans are so full of themselves that it's actually funny. You may not always agree with what they say, I sure don't, but their right most of the time.
Grasping for straws is an understatement. We're 7th in the league in rushing yards, 9th in YPC, 5th in attempts. And yet still suck in the redzone. Excuses, excuses, excuses, all we ever hear concerning Henne. Good QB's don't need people making excuses to excuse their bad play.
So are we saying that playing in the NFL is the only criteria towards making you an authority on everything football?
Again, being an ex-player is not automatically a qualification of authority, just like being an ex-coach doesn't automatically qualify one as an authority. Would you take as gospel anything that comes out of Dave Wannstedt's mouth about playing football? How about Ryan Leaf? JaMarcus Russell? Akili Smith? Rich Kotite? Herm Edwards? Being formerly employed in a profession is not automatically a claim to expertise in that profession.
He's right, Bush has not really shown to be the X Factor in the red zone that we need, and with DTrain out, and Sparano's reluctance to use Hilliard we effectively have limited RZ options all by ourselves.
Think about it, the D can drop 8, rush 3, and chances are good Colombo or Carey will give up a pressure. "If" you have the running game working the D can't drop 8 into coverage.
Being overseas here in Afghanistan, I often am forced to "watch the game" on NFL dot com, watching the bar graphs for plays. Now, while being forced to "watch" games in that manner is you actually get to follow the stats as the plays happen. Now, I'm not saying this to defend nor criticize Henne, but when you actually see the plays called, a run or a pass...and see those numbers add up as the game progresses, it's truly an eye opener, often asking, "what in the hell were the coaches thinking? I first noticed this last year. I noticed that Dan Henning would call pass after pass after pass. I'd watch those numbers rack up and would ask myself, "why aren't we running Ronnie or Ricky?" Well, when you observe this the big picture starts to become clearer as to why a young quarterback struggles in the NFL. BALANCE in calling your game is essential for your quarterback to have success. If you look at last week's numbers versus Cleveland, at the half, Henne was 15/17 for 150 something yard I believe it was, 1 TD and had a 12o something QB rating. Henne was playig great, but when you also look at the running plays called, there were something along the line of 13 or so running plays that had been called. When you have that BALANCE, you keep defenses honest. Do they put 7 in the box to stop the run or do they drop back in coverage and open the middle for a good strong run up the middle. When defenses are having to be kept off balance because your attack is balanced, your QB is going to excel. Now, the second half of last week's game, in the second half, Henne ended up going 4/12 for the second half and the running game was not as balanced as it was in the first half. So when you put the onus on the QB and set him up for success, you see the end result. We lost. This year's offensive attack is indeed more balanced overall than it was last year when Henne was forced to put the ball up 35-40 times a game with hardly a running game being called to give him help in keeping the defense off balance. Are there still issues? Sure there are. Is this the first year with Brian Daboll's offense? Sure it is. Is there going to be a bit of a learning curve? Of course there is. Will Henne make mistakes? Sure he will...he is human. Whether or not Henne bounces back from mistakes is another topic of discussion, but to lay the blame at the feet of your QB, who proved in the first half if you call a balanced attack, he can produce really isn't that fair when the second half wasn't nearly as balanced as the first. Try it guys. Watch the game and have NFL dot com opened and watch the stats as the game is played. I think you'll notice what I'm talking about and just might re-eval the way some of you offer criticism.
Sure it does, it doesn't help Henne one bit. I've seen the great Dan Marino struggle in the RZ. I've seen him throwaway 4 straight in a game.
2nd leading rusher is who? and is it because the Oline , the pride of Sparano has been to date far far worse than Henne?
Great QBs make the team around them better. Great QB's don't need everyone around them to step up to elite status just so they can look better than mediocre.
oh yeah? What's our ground game like in the REDZONE?! The stats you listed have nothing to do with the redzone. EXCUSES EXCUSES EXCUSES. That's all we hear concerning the rest of the team's sloppy play and lack of contribution. WHAT is the run game contributing in the redzone? Is it more or less than Henne's? Answer the question. There's absolutely no reason Henne needs to throw the ball as many times in the redzone in 3 games as Penny did for half of 2008. That's b/c we can't run in the redzone. If we could run, Henne wouldn't need to be the ENTIRE REDZONE OFFENSE! Good QB's still need the threat of the redzone run to help open the pass. Since preseason we've shown no ability to do so. But I guess you give our run offense a free pass because rare players like Peyton Manning & Dan Marino are able to throw in the redzone without a ground game. I'd love for you to show me over history how many QBs succeed in the redzone with no ground support there.
Yes, it was against the Colts. Went for it on 4th, after 3 other incompletions, Dan threw the 4th down pass into the stands.
Your keyboard had a stroke when you were typing that DDpree? I do think this thread is a bit premature, my goodness for all we know they have the RZ issues fixed for this one and we put up 28 pts.
Tom Brady once threw an interception to lose a game to Channing Crowder. I guess that means Chad Henne = Tom Brady. Am I doing it right?
No, but IIRC, Dan threw 3 into the stands. We all know that Marino was a great passer, but even the best need help. That's all I'm getting at.
But more often than not, it was a touchdown. Just because sometimes Adrian Peterson is stuffed for 1 yard up the middle and Reggie Bush is also stuffed up the middle, doesn't mean they are equal at all at running up the middle.
Not especially, no. If that were the case, then NFL DC's are doing a poor job, considering how many more TDs are passed for than run for. There are teams that do it though, OAK in particular, but its by no means the norm. I think more often than not, the pass is opening up the run. Teams like NE, BUF, DET, GB, all use the pass to open the run, and are among the best in the RZ. Conversely, a team like Baltimore isn't very good in the RZ.
Also saw Dan Marino hit Keith Byars in both hands he KB tipped it up and the defender picked it off and went 90 for a TD. Guess that one was on Dan for hitting Byars in both hands.
