There is no excuse for the offensive production the past two weeks. It hasn't been good, and I won't try to insult others' intelligence my claiming that it has. But I do think there might be an explanation at least for the conservative approach to those games. Last year, if there was one game that we might all agree on that Henne looked like a rookie, it was vs Buffalo in Buffalo. in the first game, I think the coaches wanted to ease him in to that situation...dont give him the notion that he has to make up for a game played poorly last year. We had the superior team, he just needed not make mistakes. Tough Buffalo defense (allegedly), hostile enviroment....they wanted to make sure Henne didnt have a game that would not only cost us a loss, but affect his psyche going forward. To that end, mission accomplished. In Minnesota, I think the Vikings tough defense that held the Saints offense to only 14 points, the coaching staff wasnt going to ask him to win the game. And they did not. Had it not been for two fumbles by our usually reliable running backs, this game wouldnt have even been close. Our defense is dominant, and there was no need to get greedy. This week the Jets come to town. You never know how this is going to play out; in NY last year a total defensive game. In Miami last year a shootout. Henne made some big plays in that first game. He will need to do it again this week. I think he will. I think now they are at home, and they are going to let him play a bit to see what he can do. If they offense gets untracked (even just to where they were last year) this team is a top 2 or 3 team in the AFC. Anyway, just some thoughts about the conservative nature and approach to the first two games.
I don't agree that a mistake free QB + solid defense = Super Bowl contender. I think that makes you a playoff contender. And if you do make the playoffs then you're a strong bet to be eliminated in the first round. I can only think of one team that won the SB in the last 10 years with a mistake free QB and that was the Ravens who didn't have a solid defense but rather an all-time great defense. I think in today's NFL you need a top 10 offense (in terms of YPA) and a top 15 defense to be a a SB contender. Obviously there are exceptions but that is what I would shoot to attain.
Tom Brady when he was winning superbowls was a mistake free qb. It was when they got Moss and Welker that the team turned into a very high octane offense.
I think we already have somewhat of a high octane offense, and as the OP pointed out we won the first two games playing solid defense. It would have been nice to beat the Vikings by 30, don't get me wrong, but I think we showed enough on the first drive last week to prove that the offense is capable when we have to press the field. Besides, name one Mia/Jets game in the past decade that we didn't pull out some trickery to make it interesting....I don't think it's happened. This year, when the magic viel falls on Sunday I think we'll see Henne put up some impressive numbers. No double reverses or fake punts; just a solid offense that can move the ball by air or ground. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Miami put up 30 points against the Jets this week.
To this point, why risk injury and a loss of confidence by Henne when we haven't been behind in a single game all season? If we open the O up unnecessarily and Henne either has a bad game and loses confidence or someone get blammed on a route or something and injured, that ball control offense would be sounding pretty damn good at that point.
This coaching staff is a snake in the grass when it comes to division games... they pull the rabbit out of the hat, they're like houdini... can I come up with a few more metaphors? Point being is I bet that they had a gameplan designed for Henne to push the offense, however there never was a time in either game where Henne needed to do so. So why pull that playbook out and let the Jets/Pats have a look at it? I get the feeling Henne will get a little bit of a workout with the Jets, although I expect us to once again focus on the run there. The Jets D is much better against the pass than the run. And we are going to absolutely exploit the Patriots secondary the week after with Henne and Marshall. If the Jets could do it with their QB and receivers, there is no question we can. I would be very surprised if those two things didn't occur, and if we've really seen a definite look at what this team's offense is going to look like 10 weeks from now.
They never prematurely shoot their wad and end up with a mess on their hands. And all our collective hands, as fans, really.
