And so does our FO and staff, which is why Henne will play the entire game. Pat White has zero chance of lining up under center. That would be like asking an American League pitcher to hit a baseball. Somebody with a good line on stats need ti find out if Pat White has ever even been directly under center. Henne needs the experience. We need the win. We alsoi need to end the season on a positive note, something to build on going into next year. Which of course leaves several reasons why it will be Henne starting and finishing.
Whether or not there is little harm in a loss still remains to be seen. Someone already pointed out that we aren't entirely out of the playoff hunt at this time. While, our chances are slim and the stars all need to align just right; how frustrating would it be should those stars all align, but we lost because Henne was on the bench? As to the better draft position. It seems to me that a team can still draft well without having a top 10-15 pick every year. The Colts have done well over the past several years. Reggie Wayne, for instance was the 30th pick in 2001. I have enough confidence in our FO to believe that we can still fill our needs without tanking a game. And again, Chad Henne needs all the experience he can get at this point in his career.
I hear what you are saying brother. I am thinking from the other side. Chad will be able to get better at reading defenses, perhaps start to understand the defenses coming at him, and if he could audible out of the play what would it be. Each day he is out there in a game situation will make him a better leader for it. With him learning with no weapons on offense so to speak, how much better will that make him when Bill and Jeff decide to get off there butts and get him a legitimate number 1 wide receiver, and good TE!
I know what the right thing to do would be what I don't know is if the coaching staff has the cajones to do it a secure coach would approach this game playing to win using other viable options to get it done, answering questions, while gaining insight & experience while serving well the rebuilding we shall see. maybe, BillParcells will have something to say on how this plays out
What you describe is a typical preseason game attitude. C'mon it's really us the fans that want to see what these other players have to offer. The coaching staff already has a great feel for what they can do. Unless they were brought in after the season started they've already had a training camp and gotten some experience in preseason games. If you're truly going play to win then isn't the right thing then to play the players who give you the best chance to do just that? If we don't play our starters and if they don't bring their A game the Steelers WILL win the game. The Steelers are in the same spot that the Jets were last week, in that they need to win for a chance to play in the post season (like us).
the right thing to do is play... You have a shot at the playoffs... I dont care that it may be a long shot, but you have a shot... If i have a shot at something i take it. Its not over till its over... You play to win the game... ect
Would love to see Henne have a big game, as we beat the Steelers and finish the season 8-8 and somehow make the playoffs. 2010 a New Year and Henne given Sunday.
IMO the one player it might make sense to feature in this game is.... Ginn. If we have any thoughts about trying to trade him this offseason it would help if he could follow up last weeks performance with some good numbers in the final game. Thats a bit of a conspiracy theory and I have never been one to think that coaches think that way too much but you never know.
Put the best team on the field and win this game.... pure and simple. Not play Henne??? After what he's accomplished this season? What kind of message does that send, not only to Henne but to the fans, as well? The last game of the season is not time for an "experiment." Play to win. Period.
The only scenario in which I'd want White to start is if a win by The Steelers eliminated the Jest from the post season. Since it doesn't, let's get our franchise QB of tomorrow some more valuable experience against the stalwart D of a team playing "do or die" in order to advance.
The last time such a brilliant idea was posed, Cam Cameroon felt like taking the last preseason game off.
play to win creatively: 1) game time is like combat, irreplaceable & necessary got to see players under the stress of NFL play to evaluate them run the first 1/4 w/ Pat White. let him begin & complete his package let him get into the game before you take him out.see if the non-conventional systems work w/ White captaining the team 2)it just may create enough confusion for a while to give us the edge if it goes well that is not a losing proposition. it is a win/win 3) let's try something novel on defense; let's not go w/ two SS's but use a Clemons (alternating w/ Culver) @ FS & rotate Bell & Wilson. Why not let Wake & Moses get some real playing time? we could move Erick Walden over from WLB to ILB. 4) let GinnJr. run back everything:PR's & KR's.; call a deep play every other series & a reverse & lets give him last shot @ redemption. 5) lets' give Thigpen & Turner a few series to get a taste of the game. let's find out what works. sometimes you must lose a battle to win a war
Easy now brother. In all fairness, you have done nothing to raise the value of the thread with your post. - If you don't care for the subject, there are plenty of other threads in here
you are a scholar & a gentlemen. your kindness will forever dwell in the immortal tabernacle of my heart
23rd, I enjoy many of your posts, but I do not know 1 single Coach or GM worth their NFL salt, that would buy into any of the above you put together. This doesnt have to be any more complicated than necessary, this Staff and Lockerroom already know who gives us the BEST chance to win and what Packages give us the best chance for success for the game day battles to win the game day war. They dont need to find out anything they already know....the effort to use this week 17 game to speculate what they dont know, isnt worth it. I will be rooting for the Win to end this regular season on highest note, and lets see what the others do that impact our post-season chances.
Until of course Henne gets hurt............then when he goes down you yell oh ****....................and that sick feeling over comes you and a permanent knot starts in your left side when you realize..............Pat White has played all of 10 plays in his career and the 2010 season is now officially over!!!!
Which is actually irrelevant as our REAL Second string QB has started 11 games and is actually pretty damn good http://www.nfl.com/players/tylerthigpen/profile?id=THI677677
That was my point earlier in the thread if you dont start henne it would send a horrible message to the young qb talk about a confidence killer as a fan could you imagine sitting down to watch the game and all of a sudden white is the starter especially considering we are still alive in the playoff hunt as remote as it may be that scenario has disaster written all over it
yup so good in fact that Kansas City let him get away "Real" second stringer? So Pat White doesn't deserve a shot?? After putting up the numbers he did in college the regime would be crazy not to give him a look. The only time for that right now is garbage time....unfortunately that is what this week has been reduced to. And I have adopted the same opinions of a lot of others on this board. If the game is meaningless why risk your star players?????
oh sorry....I thought after reading most of the colts and other threads regarding garbage games that don't matter that you sat your star players so they didn't get hurt......my bad
And then whenever he had to go places, wrap the cast in bubble wrap, and close down every road along his destination route.
right so what if the stars align and everything falls into place and we lose because we didnt have our starting qb on the field the whole fins fan base would be on the edge of a cliff we could have lived for another week but we gave white some work instead far fetched but not out of the realm of possibility
play Pat White for a quarter, give the guy some real game experience our first halves have sucked anyway the change up might shake something lose in the Pittsburgh defense White & the unconventional offense need playing time to progress & evaluate appropriately
We are playing in an early game where the end result of our playoff chances are still up in the air why on earth would we jeopardize even the smallest chance by putting White at QB? If we were a late game and 100% eliminated I might give him some crap time at the end of the game but no way this side of frozen hell would I let him within sniffing distance of the ball in the first half of a game with any post season hope still in the balance.
Poked in the eye my arse. Henne with that baseball cap on sure looks like he could play, and he probably would if the game meant anything. It may not have been a popular idea, but it appears Sparano was thinking the same thing.
I certainly didn't wish that on Pat White. Though its not completely unexpected... PW just looks like a kid out there. However, I will point out that after getting lambasted in this forum for even considering benching Henne in the second half, Sparano goes and does just that.
look how bad this team is without henne... they are terrible. Its unfortunate about Pat White injury, i really hope he is okay. But he was bad at QB, who barley threw...He just kept running or handing it off...Got to love his effort trying to get the first down on the play he got hurt... I wished henne got his 3000 yards to bad
Let me poke you in the eye and see how well you can see to make split second decisions. Or let me give you a concussion. Either way. They didnt bench Henne just to see what White could do. If you think that, maybe football isnt for you. Maybe badminton?
I'm a huge Tombstone fan so I found this funny. "Maybe poker just isn't your game. I know lets have a spelling contest."
