I kinda tried to explain what the answer to your question in the post. Penny was a team leader, THE leader, and a better fit for the offense we were running. It's not like Henne was playing terribly, the coaches just thought that they had a better chance of winning w/ Penne.
Here is something I want to know. What was the dynamic between Tony Sparano and Dan Henning that kept Tony from simply taking the play calling away from Dan Henning during the season? Tony is showing this offseason that he is more than willing to adapt and do some things differently. Why wouldn't he do that during the season, and why would he go into the season with a game plan more fit for Pennington than Henne? Did he give Henning that much power to set the game plan? I can only speculate, but my guess is, as long as Bill Parcells was around, Dan Henning was safe.
you mean the TDs that he didn't have because the wildcat was subbed in and we ran the ball into FGs inside the 35? Those lack of TDs? On a per pass attempt, Henne was no different than Brees in virtually every redzone category last season. For someone who wants to criticize and express your opinion as fact, you should really go back and rewatch those games you feel "don't need rewatching". Anyone who claims they can see everything the first time around while entrenched in the live action is either full of it or some genius football prodigy. It seems like you're mind is already obtusely made up and aren't looking for a reason to change it OR be proven wrong. It also "appears" to display a little pompousness on your part because even NFL coaches don't catch everything during a game and will go through film numerous times.
Just like the Mafia, Henning was a made man...Sparano was grateful for the gig, but the gig had some baggage, you could tell by Sparanos demeanor in his requests for more power that this was quite possibly true.
Great question, I've wondered about that a lot myself. The end of the Buffalo game in particular is when I nearly lost it. We had the ball w/ 41 seconds to go, no TOs and were backed up in our own end. 3-4-5 wide? Shotgun? No, base personnel, w/ Polite & Ricky in the backfield, I formation, etc. It's about as close as you can get to giving up. I think Henning shoulda been fired that very day, but any time Sparano was asked he had effusive praise for the guy, even while the FO was leaking info that Henning was a goner at season's end. Sparano has play calling experience so it's not like he didnt have the option of taking over, I dont understand. I also wonder just how many of the players were still in favor of Pennington being the starter. He led the team to the playoffs in 08 and I'm sure a sizeable portion of the locker room wanted him to be the QB, including the HC & OC IMO.
Oh, it got even worse, Henne throws a dump off pass, and then they tried to substitute different personnel, the 2 minute drill was a train wreck for the last half of the season. Sure, winning is the only thing GMJ, they thought Penny would win games. Penny though, is done, not only shoulder surgery but also ACL surgery in March.
That's just b/c they're surgically attaching his knee to the part of his body that should be preventing his arm from falling off.
I also expect Jon Amaya to be a STs cornerstone. He impressed me last season. I'm going to take a positive outlook toward Rizzi this year until I see otherwise. Now that he is in charge from the get go, we may see some changes in ST coverage and blocking schemes. Last season taking over on the fly, he would have just stayed with Bonamego's playbook I reckon.
Did Curtis finish the season on the 53 man roster? I don't see him there now and the roster on the team web site seems basically untouched, (other than draftees added), since the end of the season. As for Todd finding a new forum, ain't gonna happen, he would never desert me.
I think that is exactly why Henning stayed. It was no coincidence they left the team at just about the same exact time.
IIRC we only played Curtis in the Buffalo game & we cut him afterwards. And you cant have Todd, I saw him first .
Thanks about Curtis. I guess he ain't the same WR he was a few years ago anyway. Todd joined in Mar '09, you joined in Jan '10. So I saw Todd first. He was already my adopted son before you joined up.
A huge part of the problem was: -Wallace was a first time ST player, and he was not very good at it -backup linebackers are dead slow, Dobbins, Ike, Q, lumberers all -cutting Jason Allen, he was a boom or bust Cb but a really good ST gunner. Agree about Amaya, he could push Culver off of the roster, Wilson could as well he should have the "want to" to make an impact. I suspect Dave Fipp will be the De Facto ST Coordinator with Rizzi's main job being "Sparano's guy".
our boy Henne will never be a star in this league ... but i will maintain that he can win enough to get us there - until he proves me wrong this year without the threats and CP hanging over his head. i said it last year, and will say it again -- he went toe to toe with Big Ben ... played a good game, even with the turnovers ... i'll take that week in and week out, with some improvement of course. he gets blasted, but he showed some courage the last half of last year coming right back from a knee injury to finish out the year -- negatively, but still rode it out .... with a ****ty line, ****ty play calling, no running game -- and an overall offense that 'appeared' to despise its OC .... i am good with giving him a breath of air and a real shot ... with a veteran back-up (read NO Thigpen) ...
i expect Amaya to get a look at FS this year as well .... still maintain that Jones is a SS ... so we have Clemons and ??? to push at FS. Clemons' light needs to come on quick this year -- he has the physical tools.
KB, because that's what they wanted from Henne ... to be CP ... that's why we saw a different Henne last year vs '09. The worst thing that happened to Henne was CP ... funny they reference finding a QB for your system when talking about Mallett ... i guess that's a lesson learned from Henne. i 'hope' that folks want more out of Henne than Flacco ... i know i do -- and have always said that he can be better than Flacco. still believe that ... absolutely. Flacco is not that good .... he is just on a good team. Flacco would be getting crushed if he was here in MIA.
thats a hi level of play right there regardless of those few picks., especially with a below average run game..Thanks for doin that KM.
I honestly do not agree. I have seen the argument over and over again that Henne is a not a fit for the offense they were trying to run. Yet when Henne is at his best it is when he can do quick throws. When the Dolphins have a scoring drive with Henne, he is generally 5 for 5 or 7 for 7. I think the fact that he is really good at 3rd and 7 also shows how he is best when he has to throw for 15 yards or under. He is not the gunslinger type. He wasn't a gunslinger in college. Also one thing that Flacco is head and shoulders above Henne is the ability to make a play when things break down or buy time in the pocket. Henne has not really shown the ability to do that. I also disagree that Flacco isn't that good. He is pretty decent. Probably not as much better as Chad Henne as people think he is, however not a bad quarterback at all.
I'm with you Dupree. I think Flacco is pretty good, just not as far ahead of Henne as many people like to think. Of course Henne could close the gap this year, or Joe could really distance himself. Henne is likely done as a regular starter in this league if he can't close the gap.
I was actually thinking about DJ; you're more of an afterthought. j/k. So is this the awkward part where we hug?
I'm flattered? By the way, you shouldn't be talking about yourself like that...... although, technically, if we're the same person you did kinda see me first.
LMAO. Do I inherit the bungalow in the jungle with the mosquito net around it? It would mean a lot to me.......... dad.
I can't stand this! I can't stand it when someone that has continually shown a STRONG bias as a Henne supporter and says that a person with a different opinion refuses to change. It's not pompousness. I'm not a coach. I have a different job that takes up the majority of my day. It's easy for me to say--I'm not nearly as smart as they are or half of the people on this message board. However, I don't have to be smart in the game of football to use facts to form an opinion. The fact is this. They didn't score points. He didn't lead them to points. Were there other factors at play? No doubt about it. I just can't see how people can say that when someone is benched, with no injury, with no suspension, with no breakage of rules, but purely because he wasn't getting the job done, isn't an indictment on his poor play. I mean that's just insanity. I really is insanity. It's exactly what you've said--someone that refuses to listen to someone else or change their opinion on that.
If the Dolphins were scoring points, would Chad Henne have been benched? Just answer that. The answer is no. Chad Pennington being a leader or being a better fit for the offense had absolutely nothing to do with it. Was Tyler Thigpen a better fit for the offense? Is that why Henne was benched for him? You can form the opinion however you'd like, he wasn't playing terribly, he wasn't killing the team, whatever, but he was benched. He was benched because in the coaches eyes, his play didn't warrant him to start the game. I mean that's a pure rationalization for the guy.
Just purchased it and I love it already. I think I may do one of these studies for our offensive line.
Just tryin to assess blame correctly, and know what we have moving forward, and if the subtraction of certain negative variables contributed heavily to the decline in performance. Blindly, if you knew you had a 2nd year starting QB with over a 90 passer rating after 5 games, and he was benched a few weeks later, wouldn't you want to know why?.. I mean the rapid decline in play suggests this might not of been a skillset problem?.. Once again Iam not saying your wrong at this point, what I am saying is that once we get closer to the benching and the causes, we might be able to figure out whether were wasting our time with Henne or not, or, that indeed he did not have the skillset, or makeup, to deal with some adversity...I just wanna figure out the level of adversity he did have to deal with, and if that would be something that any QB would of struggled with.. As of right now, it looks like he was dealing with it thru 5 games, and still playing at a high level..
So...because Henning was allowed to stick around all season, and then promptly sh1tcanned after the season, can we not all agree that his offense was obviously crap? I mean, if he'd been calling a good game week in and week out, he wouldn't have been given the axe, simply because his 2nd year QB sucked. Everyone wants to point back to 2008, and Pennington's great season, and then act like Henne sucks because he didnt have that sort of season...but the anti-Henne guys want to ignore the extreme difference between the two season's strength of shedule. Frankly, I've never been in favor of playing anyone but Henne. Henning was atrocious. More facts keep coming out to support that. His horrible playcalling nullified anything that Henne could bring to the table. The piss poor play of the oline and running backs put Henne further in the hole. All that being said, if Henne THIS YEAR doesn't show improvement, he probably should go. However, I still think that Henne had a better season last year than many think.
Dan Henning was a problem and that problem was eliminated. Chad Henne was also a problem. I don't understand why it has to be a it's only this guy's burden to share or this guys' burden to share. There were a lot of problems and I'm not denying that. I'm not getting into what makes Henne good/bad, his future, etc. in this discussion. My only point here is that Chad Henne was benched because the Miami Dolphins didn't believe in Chad Henne. It was most certainly an indictment on his play and his ability to lead the team to score points. If you want to believe the reasoning is because Pennington was a better fit, whatever. I'm not debating that. What I'm debating is this idea that Chad Henne's play was good enough to get the job done, when the coaching staff felt otherwise.
I got ya DJ. You're right, through the first 5 games Chad Henne looked OK. He didn't look like a guy hindering our ability to win football games. However, the Packers game was the start of not being able to put the ball into the endzone.
rdhstlr23, I find it amusing that you speak about knowing exactly WHY Henne was benched as if Sparano himself had called you. You'll come up with every excuse possible to support your distaste for Henne.
Of course Henne would not have been benched unless the coaches felt more comfortable w/ Pennington running the offense. I'm pretty sure that if Tom Brandstater was the backup QB, Henne would never have lost his job. I don't see how you can call who the backup was irrelevant, especially in this case. IMO Pennington was never thought of as the backup in the first place, by A LOT of people on the team and coaching staff. There was never a competition, Henne never beat Pennington out, he was just handed the job. I can tell you first hand that doing things like that can split a locker room, and cause the team to lose respect for both the QB and the staff, which obviously translates into lesser production on the field. If you read between the lines of what Sparano, Ireland & Daboll have been saying this offseason, they keep saying over and over, Chad is the starter right now, but he'll have to EARN the job in camp, he'll have to PROVE himself to be the best man. No more coronations. In the process, the hope is that he earns the respect of his teammates and proves that he can lead the team. If he does, then we have ourselves a QB, if he doesn't, we have ourselves a problem. So far in the offseason we've been adding pieces to help Chad Henne perform on a higher level, addressing the problems that "The Triplets" were screaming about all year long. No running game, no speed, no playmaking, poor play calling, shady OL play, etc. If we can fix those issues, I think our entire offense will improve, and Henne's play and production will improve as well.
