BREAKING NEWS: Sparano names Chad Pennington starting quarterback

But Adam, tell me the truth, how much of your optimism is born from what your eyes and gut were telling you, and how much was from just hoping that he's the one? The Henne light didn't come on for me until about two weeks ago. Up until that point I gave him every benefit of the doubt, but eventually I just couldn't ignore what I was seeing. I could no longer pretend that the WRs just weren't getting open. I could no longer pretend that Henning was blowing every single drive up with stupid calls. I could no longer tell myself that Henne just needs a few more starts. The law of averages were telling me that the trend was leaning toward Henne as being the problem more than anything else.

One Bill Parcells saying that has rung true with me more than anything else is this:

"If they don't bite when they're puppies, they never will."

I didn't see enough biting from Henne. I saw an adolescent wolf that had a nice build and a nice set of fangs, but was too timid to go for the jugular and even when he tried, he missed out of shear fright that he might get bitten.

We need a new alpha male.

 

I hope for the teams sake you are right because what I saw when i saw that play was a 34 year old busted shoulder QB who was trying to prove that he could still play and heave that ball with ALL his might. I didn't get the sense that he purposely under threw that ball at all. So I guess I just don't get it and after watching it again I still see the same thing. One mans treasure I guess...

As far as risk goes when you are pounded in your head to not make mistakes and not turn the ball over guess what? you play scared and don't take chances. Being limited by the coaching staff and not giving the QB other opportunities tends to make you what? predictable and success less. Henne is stuck in a catch 22 here and I think we should get rid of him because this coaching staff will never let him be Henne. He will always be expected to be a strong armed Pennington witch is impossible.

 

STL...I always love when you show your *** round here..

The point I get out of this is that I have lost sight of Chad's ceiling..I dont know where it is at this point because of the inconsistencies in his game.. His lack of mobility, poor pocket awareness, overall slowmotion to his game has got me questioning that ceiling..I know its early in his development, but I dont see play's being strung together, I dont see drives being put together with any sense of rhythm or timing..maybe a good check like this will get him to step up as a man..He needs to learn to lead men, to demand respect, he seems to passive at this point to get the job done..The team needs a kick in the ***, {like ronnie said,they all need to man up at their position's, and if hes not ready to do it or inspire to do it, the old man on the bench will..

 

Also of note...Jason Campbell goes to run a more aggressive offense, more down-field throws (albeit still a flavor of West-Coast) and plays at a much higher level...

The offense has to match the QB...Henning's offense does not match Henne...but it matches Chad P. to a T...and good defenses fuggin' eat it for lunch.

 

Yup hence why the Ravens had a field day with his *** in the 08 playoffs. Same **** different color... Same results as 08 watch.

 

I am not sold on Sparano as a head coach. But it is his job that is on the line. Not the jobs of all of you who are against this move. The owner stated before the season that the Dolphins were good enough to make the Super Bowl. Perhaps this was just owner speak. Yet with Parcells no longer part of the organization. Sparano and Ireland are very aware that they are under pressure to win games this season. Obviously Sparano and the rest of the staff feels that Pennington gives them a better chance at winning now then Henne does. Looking to the future is not something Sparano or Ireland have the luxury of doing in season three of their regime. The owner and most fans want the team to win NOW. If this change doesn't work and the offense does not improve. It is Sparano, Ireland, and the coaching staff who will suffer the consequences. I fully understand this move on the part of Sparano. Perhaps if he was in his first year as coach and the team was looking more toward the future. Henne might have played the entire season. But given the fact Sparano needs to win games NOW. He is making the move he feels will give his team the best chance of winning games this season. Perhaps if all of you who are complaining about this move had your jobs on the line. You would not be so quit to judge.

 

But that's just it...that's what should have struck you about the difference between Penny and Henne (and I'm no Penny guy either; just saying)...the FIRST thing Penny does when he comes into the game is throw up a jump ball to Marshall. The FIRST PLAY!! That play was not likely designed to happen that way...he MADE it happen that way by being aggressive, even though the "teacher" told him not to. Granted it was preseason, but I'm willing to bet dollars to doughnuts that we'll see alot more of the same starting this sunday. Just have a hunch.

The great QBs are renowned for doing things that their coaches would just as soon string them up by their man sack for, only to walk freely to the sidline into the arms of their coach after making the play of the game. Coaches by nature are not great risk takers. Great QBs are.

 

I am not in favor of moving completely away from Henne yet. I have had my issues with him of late but I can't see flat out replacing him with another new QB. It does make sense to seat him for awhile and bring Pennington back in. Henne is not playing like he should at the moment and that is ok, many young Qb's struggle at times and come back after a time on the bench and step there game up. Maybe it is their competetiveness coming through or just a bit of refocusing and relieving the pressure for a bit.

I see this as a positive and a sign that the team isn't going to throw the towel in on the season. Seems to me that the goal is still to win games.

 

Iam fuc#in lovin this sh$# man...

I think were forgetting that football is a game of emotion and can affect the win loss column...were gonna have emotion now, thats for sure.

 

to me, i still view the development of a QB as a five year process and it starts with starting not sitting on the bench so to me what I look for is

first year) show flashes that you can be the guy. show that you can potentially win games on your own (1st monday night gm vs Jets last yr showed me that)

second year) show that you are progressing on your weaknesses. Defensive coordinators will have a year of tape for you so you will have to play to your weaknesses and not your strengths. This is the reason most QBs go through the so called sophmore slump. Henne proved he can beat man to man coverage so defensive coordinators have played cover 2 all year against him. He is still learning how to attack it. Defeating cover 2 generally means knowing your receivers and their routes like the back of your hand. Henne isnt there yet and he hesitates too much and is why IMO he is having trouble with it. He is looking for wide open receivers and in cover 2 you need to anticipate the breaks of receivers and throw to a spot even if they are initially covered. Having said that, I see improvement in other areas. He went from locking on to his initial receiver to periodically looking off a receiver. he went from one or two progressions to three and four at times this season, He became a killer against man to man coverage, in general i think he has a better feel for the game. its just cover 2 thats killing him right now IMO

year three) the time to become a franchise QB. You should start being dangerous when it comes to your strengths and have worked on your weaknesses enough to get them to the point where they are no longer liabilities. You should pretty much know what coverages are being shown to you presnap and where the right area to attack is on juts about every play

year four) by now you should be moving into the elite category of a top ten QB. You may still have some mistakes but they should be of the aggressive nature now instead of the clueless variety

year five) pro bowl. if by year five you arent pro bowl material you may never be

 

I wasn't asking knowing, I was asking to find out and yes it does matter if the players match the philosophy. you know apples to apples...

And at what point did I say we had no talent? So intent on proving your self you are ready to make assumptions on my behalf? For the record I think for a lot of reason, that Penny will do better with this team the remainder of the season because he is better suited to the philosophy of the coaches and has more experience. I also think he doesn't last the season and his TD-INT ratio will also be questionable because D's are gonna shorten the field.

As far as taking chances for Henne I think that is exactly what the coaches don't want him to do. So concerned about him making no mistakes they have really limited his game and made him more susceptible to the mistakes they are trying to eliminate.

 

He made that play happen that way by underthrowing a ball because of his busted shoulder. Don't make it seem like he just wanted to put the ball up for grabs. That pass was supposed to be out infront of Marshall just like the 1st play of every game for about the first 3 games when Henne put the ball out infront of Marshall.

I could care less who is starting I just want this team to win. I'm just saying dont act like we have seen anything from Pennington over the past year that made us think we are making a mistake starting Henne. Pennington wasn't even that good when he was starting last year. Lets not forget.

 

parcells did the same with Phil Simms and Simms was enough of a tough guy that it worked. Henne will turn into Phil Simms or Bledsoe or he will fall apart. Its up to him.

 

Maybe that's the plan......he was in Dallas, and there is an opening.....and being the Cowboys coach means a bigger payday.....

Naaaaaaah....no one would do that gamble, would they ?

 

Don't you just LOVE how we have an OC who is incapable of doing his job and makes it hard for Henne to do his, yet Henne is the one punished??

FIRE HENNING!

 

Welcome to Miami Dolphins football

 

Pennington could come in and kick ***, and it might still not be the best move.

 

If Peterson comes in, it will be another decade til we get to the playoffs !

 

Wow I am shocked at this move. How many starts does Henne have under his belt? 19 or something like that?

 

I have to agree with you on year one. I saw enough that I thought for sure he was the one. That Monday Night Jets game was fantastic.

I agree that he's great vs. man coverage and his achilles heel is zone coverage.

I agree that he's shown progress with multiple reads and even looking at both sides of the field instead of just halves.

I guess I just don't agree that he should be given a chance to let the team sink around him while he works out his personal issues. I mean, come on, this is a professional football team we're talking about. A professional quarterback that has seen about a thousand snaps vs zone coverage between high school, college and the pros. And I'm seeing a QB who's regressing.

Now, I'll grant you that his regression could very well be a product of the "just don't screw up" mentality that has apparently been shoved down his throat. But even if it is the reason, I have to wander about his resolve and competetive nature as an athlete that he's willing to let himself play scared even though it's hurting his team.

And one other note. While QBs probably do need three years to become what they're going to be, I still can't shake the memories of seeing guys like Manning, Brady, Montana, and now Bradford, and coming away with a distinct impression that although they made some mistakes, and missed a few throws, they also made a few throws that I didn't think they could, or came up with a play when I thought they wouldn't...in short, they impressed me as something special. I don't see Henne as special. I see him as a roller coaster QB (just as in college) who would have great games followed by WTF games, followed by a pretty good game, then another poor one...etc. etc. etc. When he's on, he's very effective. When he's not on, he's a liability. The problem is that I think Henne's nature is to be off/on. I think we've seen who Chad Henne is as a QB. It's not clear, it's not a slam dunk, but if you read between the lines, and just trust your gut over what's "fair", I think you can see that Chad Henne is going to be for the rest of his career what he's been for the last year and a half for us. Inconsistent.

Just my humble opinions of course. And thank you for your response and thoughts. Very well delivered.

 

regime change is on the way in the off season book it!

 

While Im not a big Chad Henne fan (and understand a lot of the criticism against him), the guy who deserves most of the blame here IMO is clearly Tony Sparano.

For the last two seasons, Sparano has been WAY TOO conservative on offense to the point where it handcuffs the QB. Its painful to watch but Sparano will very rarely go for it on 4th down - even late in games or inside the opponents redzone. He will punt late in the 4th quarter when the Phins are losing even if theres no guarantee hell ever get the ball back. He'll also settle for FG's more than any other HC Ive seen. This puts a tremendous amount of pressure on a young QB and leaves very little margin for error. Sure Henne can be mistake prone, but Sparano needs to do more to lend his Offense a helping hand by deviating from this conservative clock management scheme predicated on old-school 4th down probabilities. Hell, even Peyton Manning needs four downs sometimes to keep the drive going. I dont think Sparano understands that by being obstinately conservative, youre putting MORE pressure on your QB, not less. As a result of Sparano's playcalling and clock management, the Dolphins play from behind more often and theres additional responsibility on Henne to play the role of hero late in games. Thats no way to mold a young QB.

 

Tony will get his.. Honestly hes feeling the HEAT now and wants to SPARK the Offense in hopes of getting some win to SAVE HIS ***! If this team DOES NOT make the playoffs TONY IS GONE..

Bill Cowher will be brought in.

 

You need to understand though that I'm not so much sticking up for Penny as I am sticking up for the idea of taking chances to win. I know Penny is no long term solution. But I've also developed doubts about Henne's mental ability to be that either. And I am no fan of Henning either. I would have been MUCH MUCH MUCH more pleased to hear that he was "benched" instead of Henne, because I knew our problems on offense were a result of either Henne or Henning, I just couldn't put my finger on it. And i'm not convinced that Henne was teh problem or that this is the right move, but I have to admit that I did start to get that creeping feeling in the back of my mind that it was Henne that was the primary problem.

My biggest beef with what was said about the jump ball play is the notion that Penny had to throw that ball as hard as he could. That's just utter nonsense. I know he doesn't have the best arm in the world, but I'm not kidding you, I play catch with my kid all the time and he routinely makes throws of 20 to 30 yards...and he's 11. I don't know how many of you have ever actually made a 20 to 30 yard pass, but it's really not that hard. I could make that throw flat footed and I have a shredded shoulder as well. It's just nonsense is all.

 

WTF!!! I love Pennington, but really??? This just shows that Sparano is more confused than I thought.

I say the coaches are mostly to blame for the under development of Chad Henne. Henning being the #1 contributor to Henne's demise......this just sucks!!!

 

you could very well be right. he's doing the things i need to see to keep him playing but if there is a problem i have with him that isnt due to his inexperience its his timidity. overall i think he is playing too scared. maybe its due to henning, maybe its due to the times when he gets aggressive it seems to bite him in the ***. i am not sure and its why next year will be the key. he will either grab the bull by the horns or he will play the same scared style. and i'm not talking about necessarily throwing it deep though i would like to see him try a few more times. my main gripe with him is in the 10-15 yd area in cover 2 where he seems to need someone to be way too wide open for him to risk a throw. you have a friggin howitzer, attack!. rifle that sucker in and make the DB make a play. All QBs hear dont turn it over, the successful ones take that with a grain of salt and take their shots and live with the coaches screaming at them if they fail. The unsuccessful ones play scared. He's made improvements but what he needs to know is he needs to keep making them and next year he better be on fire

 

with our owner the likelihood is it will be herm edwards

 

wow! i can's believe they made this move. it doesn't make sense. you've got to give a guy more time than that. his completion percentage was about 63% last time i heard. he had more int's than int's but alot of them were tipped passes and the wr's fault from running the wrong route or just flat out falling down and slipping before the ball got there.

 

Two thoughts.
1. Why is Henning getting a free ride in all this, his incompetance is mind-boggling.
2. I will reserve judgement on this move until 4pm Sunday afternoon.

 

Not that it matters one iota , but Marino has said repeatedly that he would chose Cowher if he had that decision to make.

Hmmm ...

 

Weren't you criticizing me earlier for having that in my title three weeks ago? Guess it's not such a stupid idea...

 

Again ...

Again ...

Again ...

 

The only people who should be benched are Sparano and Henning.

 

Then they probably wasted ANOTHER draft pick. Another HIGH draft pick

 

So... let me ask this...

what happens if we loose the next two games? Or if we become mathematically eliminated from the playoffs in the next couple weeks. Keep playing Pennington? Or go back to Henne? I know I'd much rather see Henne again. He's not going to learn to fix the problems he's having by sitting on the bench. If we indeed made this switch today to try and salvage playoffs, and that goal fails... is it really worth playing Pennington still?

 

wow! i can's believe they made this move. it doesn't make sense. you've got to give a guy more time than that. his completion percentage was about 63% last time i heard. he had more int's than int's but alot of them were tipped passes and the wr's fault from running the wrong route or just flat out falling down and slipping before the ball got there.

i hope this move makes us better in the redzone though, i think it will.

 

IMO no. Henne has to be given a chance even its just till the end of the season. Pennington short term if he can help this Offense, Henne if Penny cant win us some games.

 

Im actually suprised that Iam glad about this.....I think Penny would have led us to a better recored up to now and a better record moving foward.

Its not like we have any GD deep threats anyway so let noodle arm wing it down the field 7 yards at a time.

 

Why oh why oh why did we not get Drew Brees when we had the chance? We've been on a QB carousel since Marino retired and I'm getting dizzy.

I do like Pennington. I really do. Accurate, few mistake, highest completion percentage in NFL history. He plays SMART football, but unless Dan Henning calls a better game, Pennington is going to be set up for failure.

I've said it before and I'll say it again...unless we run the damned ball and run it effectively, it doens't matter who you have as QB...defenses are going to gunning for you and when you play Russian Roulette, sooner or later you shoot yourself.

I was just thinking of Peyton Manning's rookie season. He was thrown to the wolves..."sink or swim rookie". His first half of the season was horrible but he put up pro bowl numbers the second half.

You've vested all of this time and effort in Henne as your QB for the future. Failure tests a man's mettle more than success. I would say keep Henne playing...put Pennington in his back pocket...get into Henning's a$$ and have him call a better game...and challenge the rest of the team to play for the good of the team and not their individual stats.

If Henne is indeed done. If this is the end of Chad Henne, do we make a run for Kevin Kolb or Mike Vick in the offseason? Do we waste yet ANOTHER draft pick on a rookie QB of the future? (Beck, White, Henne).

I'll be watching Sunday's game with great interest.