Game 7..rewind thoughts..2nd half...Omgoodness..

AKA I have no logical leg to stand on. Please have a seat w/ the rest of the senseless Henne bashers.

 

So you think Henne has no killer instinct? His gonads don't produce enough testosterone???
IMO, you are really grasping at straws...

 

Actually I just felt the need to point out that he was being biased with his list. It seemed everyone but Henne had a bad year, and that's just not the case. It's ok to like the man as a Qb, or say he is or could be a quality one but we just do not know that yet.

 

Actually the first couple of times I saw him slide up in the pocket I was stunned but he was nervous as hell. The results were incompletions if I recall correctly but he did get better at it and made some completions. He still looked uncomfortable though.

 

Agree with ya Oz. He did appear uncomfortable--- like: "ok, I slid up, now WTF do I do"...... but at least that's an improvement over his previous showing. That's why I'm taking the "baby steps" approach regarding some of his game. We saw him gradually become more aware of this aspect; hopefully the next step is to develop what he's now more aware of (just like when he started taking off to pick up 1st downs or prevent negative yardage from a potential sack).

Some of the little things seem to be coming together which I'm keeping my fingers crossed leads to improved consistency.

 

I believe he deserves criticism just like any unfinished product does; however, I also feel he deserves some credit for how well he played at times after being consistently dealt a crappy hand compared to the other 2008 & younger QBs. I personally don't feel enough people gave him credit for the things that he actually did do well, improved upon, and showed a greater future potential for.

I agree with KingMo about his points---- that Chad would've been a different QB stat-wise, would've won more games, and would've looked better in the eyes of the fan base because of it; however I (and probably KingMo too) wouldn't interpret this as suddenly having no areas left for improvement. Even if Henne had a streak of good luck and all those bounces went his way, he'd still need to take his game to another level this year, right?

 

The list was about game ending INT's. The fact that in two of the games, a receiver ran the wrong route, and two receivers literally fell down, means nothing? It had nothing to do with what happened during the rest of the game.

 

Neither could Ryan, Flacco, or Freeman when they were in similar situations against tough teams or stronger defenses.

 

ahem, no. Come on, Dan Henning would have limited all of them the same way he limited Henne. A qb can't get a 1st down on 3rd down when the OC calls a running play, or play action, or calls the wildcat on 2nd down and backs us up 5 yards, Or only sends two wrs out on routes. God i hate our playcalling. ( a lot of people blame Marshall for not finding a way to score on that last drive)

Henne doesnt have an issue late in games IMO. He came back against the bucs 2009 in a miraculous fashion. He also put together two different late drives to beat the Jets as well in 2009. He came unbelievably close to doing it again last year against the jets too. We were at their 8 yard line at the end of the game and couldve won that first matchup against them.

I think what we're going to see from this point on from DJs evaluation is an overall feeling that the defenses figured Henning out completely. The Browns defense i remember specifically seemed ready for everything we threw at them. They just knew how to play the offense every step of the way. (and we still should have won!) I know im putting more blame on Henning than Henne but i believe that was the case.

 

I remember Freeman stinking up the field vs Pitt and a few other tough teams like Baltimore, NO, and Atlanta twice.
I remember Flacco having a horrible game vs NY, scoring 10 pts vs Pitt, falling apart vs Pitt in the playoffs, and throwing 1 TD & 5 INT with QB Ratings of 23 & 69 in two games vs Cincy.

Henne beat the SB champs in overtime in week 6 while Ryan poops the bed against them in the playoffs (and his 20 pts against them in week 12 would've resulted in a loss if his defense allowed 23 pts like ours did). Henne played well & scored 22 pts in what should've been a win vs the SB runner up Steelers in week 5, while Ryan scored 9 pts in a terrible performance during his week 1 loss against them.

Ryan had a poor game vs the Browns but luckily comes away with the win b/c Cleveland defenders couldn't hold onto passes thrown right to them..... where as Henne arguably plays a better game but loses b/c Cleveland's defense instead capitalizes on those opportunities.

Ryan wins 41-7 over Zona despite having a mediocre at best game throwing multiple bad passes to defenders that are all dropped; then he badly overthrows a wide open receiver on a deep post; meanwhile his his backs rush for 224 yards and his skill players take numerous short passes for solid gains which makes him look tremendous in the stat column.
Ryan's performance vs Zona was summed up by one Atlanta drive: Falcons have the ball at their own 28. Turner runs for 17 yards. Snelling runs for 7. Mixed into that is Ryan throwing 4 consecutive incompletions but gets a 19 yard PI call to keep the drive alive. Snelling runs for 5. Matt completes 3 passes for 15 yards, and then Snelling takes a dump off for a 19 yard TD. Little of the drive's success was due to Ryan although the stat column shows him 4 of 6 for 34 yards and a TD (completely misleading!!).


Ryan also had a piss poor game vs SanFran where he kills an early Falcons drive by throwing an INT at the Niner's 18. He later has the ball inside the 20 and fails to complete a single pass in 6 attempts, leading to a FG (Henne's lucky to have 6 opportunities in an entire game.... or two). Atlanta then gets a FG from a 45 yard drive where Ryan completed ZERO passes. He then throws a 2nd INT with 1:30 left to play <trailing 14-13> however it's fumbled and recovered by Atlanta, giving Ryan ANOTHER freakin chance. The game should've been over, and Ryan should've lost after a miserable performance. Then he has his only decent drive of the game resulting in a FG and a last second win which makes him look like a hero despite playing like the goat..... and his OC didn't send only 2 WRs on routes during the final drive either.

 

Added: how many quality drives did we watch Henne make late in games (or anytime in a game) that resulted in go ahead points, only to be thwarted because our defense couldn't subsequently hold the opposing offense? One of the biggest problems from my eyes was Henning/Sparano thinking that a FG would be enough to seal the deal, causing them to shut the offense down at the 35 because they didn't want jeopardize their guaranteed 3 pts. Then their excessively conservative decision to not fight for 7 comes back to bite them in the arse b/c our defense wasn't quite at that stellar, dependable level to close out a game.

How many times did it happen?
Buffalo: Defense allows Bills to almost come back with minutes left to play.
Jets: Henne takes a 17-14 lead only to have Allen give up a 67 yard TD pass on the very next play.
GB: Henne throws go ahead 22 yard TD with 5 minutes left. Defense gives up 69 yards & FG on ensuing drive to tie it.
Pitt: Henne completes 3/4 passes for 48 yards & go ahead FG with 5 min left (Henning called 2 straight unproductive runs as soon as we hit FG range, that a**hole). Miami allows winning FG on very next drive.
Tenn: Henne throws 3rd qtr TD for a 20-10 lead; defense allows 11 play 74 yard TD drive immediately after to put Titans back in game.
Det: Henne leads 2 drives in a row to give us 27-17 lead in the 4th qtr. Next drive Ronnie runs for -6 on 1st down; then Ronnie on 3rd & 16. Punt. Very next play Best for 53 yard TD to put Lions right back in game and changes the momentum.


Here's the Minnesota game:
*Henne's first pass--- 46 yards to Marshall to Vike's 27. Hey, now we're in FG range--- time to run or sub in the WC!! Yippee!! 6 runs, 4 are WC. Of 8 plays inside FG range, Henne gets only 2 of them--- 1 is a TD (the first 5 plays in FG range are runs).
*Next drive: 1st play--- Henne to Hartline for 19 to Minne 48. Then 3 straight runs followed by Henne being sacked. Then 2 more runs for 2 yards. Punt. (Chad's 19 yard pass goes for nothing after 5 runs and 1 pass are called in opponent's territory. Where was the TD opportunity here?)
*2 drives later: Miami moves the ball 37 yards to Vikes 43. Henne completes the following 1st down pass for 6 yards to the 37. You'll never guess what's next now that we're in FG range---- Wildcat for loss of 2 after Henne's 3/3 on the drive, putting Chad in 3rd & 6. He takes a shot to Marshall downfield who whiffs on the play IIRC. Then a missed FG.
*Very next drive: 1st play Ricky coughs it up on our own 1. Henne has no opportunities.
*Next drive: Henne 2/3 for 25 yards. (holding penalty kills the drive)
*Next drive: Henne in 3rd & 9 thanks to Ricky's -2 yard run on 1st down (typical). Inc pass to Brandon.
*Next drive: 1st play Ronnie fumbles on our 25. Again Chad has no opportunities.

Once on Minne's side of the field, Henning called 15 runs to 7 passes. Where are all Chad's scoring opportunities?

 

In a Bradyliss year and Mangina was still running the Jets. Ronnie Brown didn't miss a game and made it to the Pro Bowl. The Wildcat, a formation where Pennington didn't even touch the ball, was our most successful formation. Joey Porter led the league in sacks. Just about everything in the world fell our way that year and it had a lot more to do with things not involving the dolphins than the actual dolphins themselves. (as thankful as i am for that year)

Henning would have trusted guys like Rodgers, Brady and Manning (and pennington) more than he ever trusted henne (or ever would have trusted freeman, ryan, flacco) He didn't call dive plays on 3rd and 6 when Pennington was at the helm just because he was older and that earned Henning's respect. He was a stubborn old fool and he stayed that way until he was fired.

As for the comebacks, I picked three off the top of my head. I know there were more. How often is a young QB supposed to win in comeback fashion?

 

i have never seen anyone quite as lucky as Mark Sanchez. I swear to god, opposing CBs were betting on the Jets and faked trying to tackl Santonio Holmes late in the game. I mean WTF No im serious WTFFFF

I need to go calm down. Every time i hear Mark Sanchez and comeback i just get so riled up over the luck that team has.

i mean COME ON! It really did feel like they used their 9 lives by the time they had gotten to the Steelers game in the playoffs.

 

Looked like you blended in some game ending Int's with how he played in others to me. Sure falling means something when your trying to come back and win but what about mid quarter when he missed a pass that MAY have continued a drive or scored 6? They may not have been in the situation where an Int cost them...