What you have here is a set of objective facts (signed by the Cowboys in 2007 as a UDFA, subsequently waived) and then a whole lot of spin. You can spin it one way, you can spin it the other. Ben Volin chooses to say Ireland and Sparano "liked him", but that they "couldn't keep him" because of a "numbers crunch" and they "tried to sneak him through waivers".

Notice the language.

Now, has Ben Volin talked to anyone in the Dolphins' front office about Moore? Are those their words, or his? Chances are, they're his words, and he chose to make them glass-half-full words.

But the facts are the facts, and Ben Volin didn't bring any new ones to light. Matt Moore was signed by the Cowboys in 2007 as a UDFA. After competing in training camp and preseason they cut him, even though he was the #3 QB on the roster rather than the usual #4 trying to be a #3.

You can spin that either way. You can say they "tried to sneak him" through waivers, or you can just more objectively say "they waived him". You can say "they liked him"...which is a valid enough inference from the simple fact that they signed him...or you can just not comment on that fact one way or another because you have no idea whether and how much they liked him. You can excuse his being waived by pointing out it was because of a "numbers crunch", or you can more objectively point out that he was the #3 quarterback, there was no #4 quarterback, and the Cowboys kept only two quarterbacks on roster.

Now, if I were to interpret the objective facts involved, like Ben Volin did, and decide whether I think they like Matt Moore or not, I would say not. If a guy is the #3 QB on your roster and you like him, I think you keep him on the roster. It's not like trying to figure out if a guy is good enough that you keep a rare 4th quarterback on roster. Most teams don't need a whole lot of motivation to keep a 3rd quarterback on roster, and so to me if you're cutting that 3rd quarterback and trying to play games using the extra roster space, it's because you don't think the player is all that good and it wouldn't be a big loss if you ended up losing him.

 

Can't say it any better than that.

 

I would hope they wouldn't be interested in a QB buried on the depth chart on one of the few teams that had worse quarterbacking than us last year. But I also would have hoped they wouldn't want the offensive coordinator from one of the two teams to do worse on offense than us last year, and we see what happened there.

 

76.7 qb rating if he is healthy he might be cheap comp.

 

He's played like 8 games......I live in charlotte, the guy just threw the ball up. The begining of last season before he was injured was a disaster. No thank you to him.

 

Considering we have 1 QB under contract, he most certainly could be a signing option.

 

All your google search bar turned up was more spin based on the same objective facts. I don't think the Cowboys' intentions to put him on the practice squad were ever in question. Not from me, anyway. When you have three quarterbacks then usually all three go on roster but if not then that third one is probably on practice squad. That's just the way it goes.

Bottom line though, they thought he was good enough to try out in camp and preseason, but they didn't think he was good enough to keep on the roster as a third quarterback where most teams keep three. They cut him, knowing the risks. And that's a pretty significant risk because you normally want three quarterbacks attached to your program that have been through camp and know your playbook. To actually risk having one of those three picked up off waivers, to where you'll go through an entire season with only two quarterbacks attached to your team that went through camp and know your playbook, have chemistry with your other players and coaches...that's one hell of a risk to take. I think you only take that risk if you're not very in love with the talent of the third guy and you figure if push comes to shove you can pick up a guy that is a stranger to the roster, and you're not really losing anything.

 

Imo, there isn't a 2nd tier player that can beat out the talent that Henne has, and there definitley isn't a 2nd tier QB that can mess with the dynamics of whats going on with Henne and team in the offseason..So if you wanna throw him a piece of meat for him and the team to rip apart, then OK, I get it..

I mean really, who do we really have to choose from, Young, Mcnabb, Hassellbeck..

 

What dynamic? Teammates saying we need to bring in a QB???

 

The dynamic of a team practicing together with no authority..You may not agree with this, but with the combination of some teams training together and staying in shape compared to most teams who are not to that extent, I think were gaining a bigger advantage than most are projecting..

Ive heard a couple players say what you said, but its always prefaced that Henne is their guy.

 

I don't disagree with that, but I don't believe it will make his teammates feel any differently about his ability.

 

He didn't really have the cream of the crop to throw to.

I like Moore. He could be a solid backup for us imo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0JsdmJ_9xQ

Yes, that is just his highlights, but as you can see he has pretty good touch on the ball.

 

Agreed about not having good guys to throw to (except steve smith) but he had a real good running game and o-line

 

Just a question, did either Ireland or Sparano actually have any say in whether Moore was waived or not? I'm just asking as I'd have to say that it would likely be either Jerry or Steven Jones or Parcells himself that would have more say in that regard in Dallas wouldn't they? If so, Ireland and Sparano may have (or not) really wanted Moore, but if they didn't have final say, then their opinion(s) may have been of no more significance than that of a dissenting opinion.

Or am i wrong here? I always was under the impression that Jerry or Steven operated as a the GM with final say.

 

absolutely..Matt Moore isn't good enough to do either..

 

Players talk Stringer, they know what went down last year..

 

Yes, which is why their clamoring for a new QB is so telling.

 

You really think that huh?..I don't buy it, you got some incriminating info you'd like to share.?

 

There are counterarguments out there to the contrary..

 

You mean guys like Ricky Williams, Sean Smith, Brian Hartline and Kendall Langford all agreeing that in this league you need a quarterback, with obvious implications that we don't have one? Brandon Marshall echoed it.

 

None of that is indicting to me about players not believing in Hennes talent.

 

I forgot about the Cameron Wake comment. Talk about a glaring way for Cam Wake to say "I stand by my quarterback, but only because I have to".

 

Do you not remember Ricky Williams on the radio?

"What is the difference between the Patriots and Dolphins?"

"The Patriots have a QB"

Thats it. He didn't say "The Dolphins are just young, but they have a shot at becoming as good as NE". He didn't say "We just need to work a few things out". He didn't say "the OC". He didn't say "we had a lot of bad luck". He didn't say "we had some issues on the OL". He came straight out and said "we don't have a QB". There were a million ways he could have answered that question, but he was pretty direct and blunt about it. He earlier said some things about Sparano micro-managing too much, so obviously he wasn't denigrating Henne to support the coaches. Thats as straight forward as something will be said about a QB in today's NFL.

This is in addition to Tony Sparano saying they needed to "improve the QB position".

This is in addition to Brian Hartline saying "we need to bring in a QB".

This is in addition to Brandon Marshall being very clear that he thought "Tyler gets it a little more".

 

1. Ricky Williams flat out said Miami's problem is we don't have a quarterback. He didn't hold back on the issue.
2. Sean Smith implied the same thing pretty clearly but without saying it straight out, on Twitter, said he'd get in trouble if he went on more record.
3. Kendall Langford made his excitement about Thigpen and opinion clear when he said that after the Titans game that the backup came in and gave us more than what the starter was giving us.
4. Brandon Marshall repeatedly and at times emphatically expressed his displeasure with Chad Henne, saying that Thigpen "gets it" more, and at one point every time he was asked about Chad Henne his response was "No comment"
5. Cam Wake's comments on Henne seem like an extremely obvious "I support him because I have no other choice" situation.
6. As Stringer points out, Brian Hartline said "we need to bring in a QB".

Come on. You can't have it both ways. You can't suggest the players know what's really up, have all the behind the scenes info, and then casually dismiss when those very same players make it known they don't like Chad Henne.

 

Ricky, Sean and Hartline couldn't hold Henne's jock in the first half of the season..all three players attributed to him getting benched quite nicely, as in all three players played below par football.

 

you have no idea how those players really feel..your spinning it, Iam merely saying hold off before you make accusations like that..

 

Ah I see. So now you're going back on your own declaration that the players "know what went down last year.."

Nice little bit of back pedaling.

 

Lets not forget Marshall stumping for Ryan Mallett pre-draft.

 

The players have made it clear how they feel. You just don't want to acknowledge what's right in front of your nose because it doesn't fit your view of the situation.

 

Yeah I forgot about that one.

 

There is really no spin, their quotes are their quotes.

This isn't a case where reporters are citing sources or anonymous players. These are current Dolphins publicly making these statements.

 

By the way we might need some clarification on how Sean Smith contributed to Chad Henne's getting benched.