Game 11..Raiders..Rewind thoughts..Henne analysis..

Good analysis

 

And people wonder why Henne only threw 15 TDs LMAO

 

Ran across a good article about Vet Qb's trying for the bounce back GMJ, interesting stuff, the gist of it is, if the Qb is over 31, stats wise we would be better served starting Chad Henne.

And Deej, Gradkowski is on the list!

His game is mobility and he had a bum ankle iirc, and look who he was tossing the ball to, Zach Miller and Rook Jacoby Ford and that is about it...

 

How often in your life of watching football have you witnesses a senile, batsh!t OC sub in not just one but two different guys for a QB who's playing well during a game, winning the game, and isn't injured? What a f****** joke.

If the military can cover up Pat Tillman's death in part to save their asses, then Henning could certainly do the same (regarding any involvement in benching Chad).

 

That was one of his few bad throws of the year. There really weren't many of them that involved horrendous accuracy or piss poor decision making regarding forcing a throw that he should've held onto.

Great point. If Henning spent more time working on Henne in practice instead of sub packages, maybe Chad would be even further along right now.
Ditto for giving him more opportunities in FG range. That probably doesn't do wonders for a player's ability to evolve.

 

That's gotta be frustrating knowing some bonehead is handicapping your life-long dream of becoming a successful NFL QB.

 

Sparano lacks balls. I want to see this team without the Henning/Parcells stench.

 

That's probably what I'm looking forward to most! (even though it could take us a while to undo the damage Henning left in his wake)

 

You're saying Sparano wasn't happy with the move? Like Henning had autonomy to put that package in and Sparano couldn't overrule him?

 

I think Henne is very mentally tough. He has displayed it numerous times. Any accusations of his being mentally weak, I prefer to laugh off as absurd, and just some flailing attempt to find another reason for the anti-Henne faction to run him down.

 

BTW Deej, Gradkowski played with a seperated shoulder in that game.

 

Agreed, that's typically what I saw from Henne last year. A lot of good throws, a couple great throws and a 1 or 2 WTF moments. As for the sub packages, not only are they ill advised tactically, but strategically they take practice time & game day rhythm away from the base offense and the still developing QB. And they didnt work, either. I'm going to go back and count how many times we crossed mid field (attack range) and then went to the WC, only to send Henne into the game to bail us out on 2nd/3rd and long after the WC bombed. It seemed at times that we were so guarded about securing 3 points that we didnt want to risk going for 6, which I dont understand b/c Henne's decision making was pretty damn good last year.

 

IMO the only reason to chase a Vet QB at this point would be if Henne lost the locker-room. Part of that is the lack of better options, and the other part is wanting to see what Henne can do under better circumstances. As long as Sparano is here we're going to be a run the ball and play defense style team. I think Henne is plenty good enough to fill that role, he's even shown he can put it up 40-50 times and play well while doing it. I'm more worried about who's going to run the ball, return/cover kicks and punts, and force turnovers. If we can do those things well, we won't need a good QB, average (Henne) will be just fine.

I think Gradkowski could be decent as a backup if Thigpen leaves. Ironically he and Henne had opposite problems last year. Chad had no speed guys, all posession guys, and no space to throw them the ball. Meanwhile Grad had a no possession guys, all speed guys, and no arm to get them the ball. The Raiders O was much better suited for Jamarcus Russell's skillset and ours a better fit for Pennington.

 

Two QB's and 2 subpackages that hadn't much of anything all season, I might add.

 

Henne was on Rose's show this morning, some bulletpoints:

-only watched Day 1 of the draft
-does not consider himself the starter said Sparano told him: "cut down on the turnovers and become more consistent at finishing games"
-expects a Qb to be signed
-sounds like he expects there could be a trade as well

on the QAM interview page.

http://www.wqam.com/index.php?page=347&sid=hnsfipmudkmni15gf50lj22oi6blg6bf

 

That's how I feel. How many INTs did Chad have because he flat out made a poor decision with the ball? Only a couple that I recall, the Raider game being one of them..... and the 3rd & 10 INT vs Cincy (after Cobbs dropped the wheel route) being the other. The 2 picks vs NE (I don't count the 3rd one) were more due to inexperience and not recognizing coverage than they were to poor decision making.

In retrospect, I think leading the league in throw aways speaks volumes for his decision making growth after seeing what he had to work with and/or overcome-- no run game support which places more pressure on a QB to make plays, Hitler Henning, excessive 3rd & longs where QBs can easily fall into that mode of forcing throws to move the chains, reduced opportunities inside scoring range which can cause a QB to force throws in an attempt to make something of those limited opps, and having receivers covered up b/c few are sent out on routes. I think I had more WTF moments while watching Matt Ryan vs Zona than I did Henne over a 3 or 4 week span.

 

Sounds like Sparano was intimidated by the idiot..... and sounds like Tony wore the dress in that relationship. I bet Hitler manipulatively used his experience advantage over Tony as a way to ascertain control.

 

Yeah TP, I counted about 9 INTs that were either WR error/confusion and end of game desperation type throws like vs NY, vs Pitt, at Baltimore. Besides the ones you mentioned, there was the dig to Bess in the Cleveland game and perhaps the INT intended for Cobbs vs Buffalo. But Henne definitely wasn't out there throwing the ball to the defense regularly like say a Sanchez. With better luck and play calling alone, I'd be surprised if Henne isn't in the 20 TD 12 INT range this season.

Don't forget all of the 3 man routes into 7 man coverages where there's no one open and the QB has to throw the ball away. The dynamic I saw was Henning being an idiot, Henne refusing to buck the system & Marshall getting pissed at him for it. Hopefully Daboll can alleviate most of that tension and get us working on all cylinders. We're not the Packers or Eagles but after Cleveland, Daboll must feel like it's Christmas morning coming here.

 

IF this is indeed true then we will find out soon enough. Henning was horible,Henning is gone....No more excuses.

 

I really wish there was another word to help describe just how bad Henning was b/c horrible doesn't do the man justice. He was a borderline double agent.

 

The only reason Henning finished the season was because of his connection to Parcells, I'm sure once Parcells really left, Henning was forced into retiring.
For a young QB it's unbelievable what he had to deal with, It's amazing he hasn't asked to be traded or cut.
Thanks for reviewing these games and shedding light on Henne's play.
One thing about the offence last year was that I didn't like it, I know it sounds simple but it was like why the wildcat now when you see Henne getting on a roll, why this run or that pass, it never made sense and there was no continuity.
Thanks guys I hope Henne gets it done with Daboll.

 

Put it this way, If it becomes documented that Henning was betting against the Dolphins then it would make sense. Hard to believe I thought Henning was a smart OC when he broke out the wildcat against the Pats when we whupped `em.

 

I don't disagree w/ you at all. IMO Henne played well for most of the season, Cleveland and at NY being his worst games and even those games involved some pretty awful outside circumstances. More senseless WC calls, more asking Henne to come in and covert 3rd and long afterwards. Marshall out, Hartline out, still no run game. Plus the Browns and Jets are pretty damn good on defense. Cleveland took Brees and Brady apart in back to back weeks this season, while NY's defensive talent I don't even to speak on so it's no surprise that we struggled in those games.

Having said that, I still would put Henne in the "average" category among NFL QB's. Yu have the elite guys Brees, Brady, Manning, Rodgers, Rivers. And the good QB's, Vick, Ben, Romo, Ryan, Cutler, Eli etc. And I would put Henne in the next tier w/ Cassel, Orton, Palmer, Freeman, Hasselbeck w/ everyone else as below average or bad.

 

That's an ungodly amount...... roughly as many picks as Ryan, Freeman, and Flacco had all season. From what I recall watching, Ryan had more picks dropped by defenders than Henne had that were due to receiver error (falling down, stopping/wrong routes, passes bouncing off of them).

In 1 game Ryan throws 2 bad passes right to defenders that are dropped; a thousand miles away Henne throws 2 non-bad passes that are INT'd because one receiver falls down and the other deflects it right to a safety. Ryan wins his game while Henne loses.

 

lmao. you know how many times I thought to myself double agent as well?!

 

I'd put him in "average" too........ with the definite talent and potential to move up to "good" if the deck isn't stacked against him yet again.

 

Henne's INTs:

1. 4th and 8 vs NYJ; last play of the game, no choice but to force the ball to Fasano
2. 1st qtr vs NE. Didnt see Ninkovich underneath Marshall's dig route
3. 2nd qtr vs NE late on check down to Cobbs, Ninkovich cut underneath
4. Miscommunication w/ Marshall on crossing route
5. 1st qtr at Green Bay; Masrhall slips on out cut, Tramon Williams gets the pick
6. 4th and 7 vs Pitt; last play of game, wasn't even an actual INT based on replay
7. 2nd qtr @ Cincy; Horrible decision floating a ball into double coverage to Hartline
8. Hartline falls on his outcut vs Baltimore, Webb makes the pick
9. Marshall drops the slant, tips it to Reed
10. Down 16 w/ 30 seconds to go, Henne forces a ball that is picked
11. vs Tennessee has Marshall on a post but the throw is off and Finnegan picks it
12. Oakland; forces ball Bess in EZ, pass picked by McClain IIRC
13. Deep ball for Hartline underthrown & picked by Joe Haden. Hartline makes ZERO effort to come back for the ball
14. Horrible force to Bess on a dig route vs Cleveland
15. Pass deflected at LOS right to a defender, bad luck basically
16. Checkdown to Cobbs who barely tries to make the catch, picked vs Buffalo
17. vs Detroit miscomm w/ Shuler on crossing route
18. Bess falls down on curl/stop route LB steps in
19. Forces curl route to a doubled Marshall vs NE

I bolded the bad decision picks and there were some bad throws in there also, but Henne had an awul lot of bad luck/circumstance INTs and very few dropped INTs. Both those should return towards to the mean in 2011.

 

Hartline had no chance to make an effort. The ball was thrown 5 yards behind him and he was running full speed. Somehow he is supposed to stop on a dime, go backward and break up a pass all the the matter of a second?

 

give me a break. he noticed the ball was under thrown and made a half assed effort to make a play on it. Yes, at some point he should've planted his back foot and driven aggressively back to the ball. He did NOT. Rather he gradually slowed himself down by taking NUMEROUS baby steps over a 10-12 yard stretch and then realized <after it's too late> that he's out of position and needs to do something about it. It's not like it was a 7 yard out. Brian had 50+ yards worth of air time to make an adjustment. You act like that's some monumental feat. True vertical receivers with actual tracking skills can come back on that ball and either make a play on it or prevent an INT with regularity. That's what makes them legit vertical threats and reduces Hartline to more of a possession guy. It's the freakin NFL, not high school football; some of these guys ACTUALLY have talent when it comes to making plays down field.

 

If he leads the league again in "least amount of dropped INTs" and "most amount of INTs due to receiver error/negligence/miscommunication, then I'm taking that as a sign the football gods simply don't want him playing in the NFL.

 

give me a break, it would have taken a great effort to make a play on the ball. It is the freaking NFL, players with ACTUAL talent would have not made that play as well.

It would have been a monumental feat, a true vertical receiver would have let that ball been intercepted. What you mention does not happen regularly, those ball that are that underthrown are regularly intercepted. In fact balls that are a yard underthrown are generally intercepted.

It is like you do not understand running.

 

I get what you are doing, bolding only the poor decisions, but if you want to count the INT's that were truly Henne's fault, obviously that number goes up big time. I've bolded the INT's that were his fault.

I counted 9 int's that were clearly Henne's fault with others that I don't remember may have been (i.e. #16, #17, #4, etc.). My 9 doesn't include game ending INT's either which are debatable as to whether they should be on the QB or not.

In the end, his 19 was inflated due to WR's slipping or poor route running, but he still had AT LEAST 9 INT's that were completely on him.

 

A couple things about the play. Despite Gumbel's comment that there was "good protection", when you watch it you can see that McQuistan has been walked back into Henne's face by the NT (Rubin). And while Henne is able to step into throw, he has to shorten his release, cant follow through and has to immediately bring his arm down to avoid hitting Rubin's outreached hands or having the ball tipped.

On the other end, when the ball reaches the 40, Haden is at the 50 and Hartline is 4 yds behind him at the Cleveland 46. Despite having already realized that the ball was underthrown (he's already decelerating as he comes into the picture) Hartline takes an additional 6 steps, travels 5 yds further up the field, and allows Haden to make an easy INT. I'm not putting the pick on Hartline per se. If McQuistan has better pass pro, maybe we get a better throw, if Henne anticipates the pressure and slides to his left he'd have had a clear lane to make the throw, or if Hartline had come back for the ball maybe he'd have prevented the INT, a pass breakup, a pass interference, anything would've been better than the turnover. So while Henne is the only one who gets the pick on his stats, it was the failure of 3 different players which led to the INT. IMO.

 

How about..no.

Henne humped the doggie on that throw GMJ, short throw caused Cornball to slow up, ball to the inside of the field meant Haden was in better position, that was a Daffy Duck pass he put up there, agree with your general theory, that one is all on Henne's throw.