Inside Slant - USATODAY.com
Although the Dolphins' 30th-ranked secondary has been repeatedly torched in the first two games, it's their offensive offense that has been particularly disturbing.
And if the trend continues, look for impatient Dolphins coach Tony Sparano to make dramatic changes, including putting in rookie quarterback Chad Henne over Chad Pennington. But not yet.
The Dolphins are one of six teams in the NFL to not have a pass play for over 25 yards.
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i don't see Pennington as the problem... he's been relatively mistake-free, which i love. Chad has gotten very little help from his o-line or his WR's.... so how can you blame him? It also doesn't help that our defense gets us down by 14+ points before the end of the first quarter....
Henne looks good but everyone seems to be overlooking the fact that he played in a 2-minute offense at the end of the game in garbage time when Arizona had moved into a prevent defense.... he still played well but under different circumstances than Pennington had.
i'm just as optimistic about henne as the next guy, but guarded optimism guys, guarded optimism. pennington should have this team this year. :up:dolphindebby, gafinfan, muscle979 and 3 others like this. -
—WR Ted Ginn Jr., who has been replaced as the team's primary kick returner by rookie Davone Bess and by Derek Hagan in three-receiver sets (along with Greg Camarillo and Bess), is slipping down the depth chart.
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K the coaching staff might be upset with Ginn for whatever reason, sure sit him at WR, but replacing him at the primary kick/punt returner is a mistake plain and simple.
MonstBlitz likes this. -
Bess is doing a find job at KR and PR duties... but not better than Ginn was IMO. If taking Ginn off the KR & PR duties was to give him rest for his role as a starting WR, why are we not seeing him as a starting WR then? I think at the very least, Ginn has earned the starting spot as a KR/PR... -
But you dont' sit a guy like ginn on special teams who could score 7 on any given play when your desperate for points. It should be intersting to see what happens in Foxborough, if he's non existent again, like him or not, i could see him being moved. -
They wanted to keep us out of the end zone, and it was very clear. They might have been more relaxed because of the score, but they were not in garbage time.
Pitching a shutout or keeping another team out of the end zone is a big deal.
Pennington has not been impressive I don't care what anyone says. A 5.8 Ypa is not impressive or good I dont' care who's fault it is (wr, oline, good D etc.)
The "pennington is safe with the ball, low TD/INT ratio" etc. has only been true two of his 8 years befor this one.SCall13 likes this. -
given the quality of QBs this franchise has had since Marino, i'm very surprised that you are holding the QB position on this team to such a high standard. i'm looking at it in a relative manner.... Pennington is clearly the best QB we've had since Marino. -
SCall13 likes this.
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We're the same people that ridiculed Joey Harrington for having slightly misleading accuracy numbers (even though they were never great) because of his checkdowns. The same people who noted the short passes are easier to complete than the longer ones, hence the higher percentage passes caught number of a Welker to a Chambers.
I've never been a fan on Pennington, before he got here, and now. So I'm not "throwing him to the wolves" you can look for those who did like before for that :)
Our Oline has always sucked. I disagree with the best QB comment. I'd rather have Frerotte. You can't be a power running game without the threat of a deep ball. Period. Point blank. What i see is a weaker armed guy (not an indictment by itself but important) who has not been this low bad decision guy since 2004, before his surgery.
If we had better receivers we could get away with a pennington. We don't, and I fault the FO for that a little. Of course our oline, and our WRs share the blame. That doesn't absolve Pennington.djphinfan likes this. -
Lastly, Frerotte's best year matches up with Pennington's worst year, statistically, if you count almost a full season of starting.... so no, i don't think Frerotte was a better QB than Pennington.
Lastly with all the talk and analyzing on the problems, you seem to be focusing on QB play when in reality that is the least of our problems right now. i don't see you addressing the secondary, the o-line, poor tackling, the WRs... but i see you going after Pennington in multiple threads.... it just makes me think that maybe you're not acknowledging or understanding the majority of the reasons we suck right now, or at the very least are mis-placing your blame. -
I'm just knocking those who I think are getting propped up wrongfully. Our whole team is a mess, QB play included.
If someone were to start extolling the play of our WRs, they'll be next on my hitlist :yes:
My beef with Pennington is that we were not the right fit for him. Lets examine his limitations. First, he has a week arm. This isn't a fatal flaw, but it is when you take into consideration what we're trying to do. We're trying to be a power running team. That means you have to be able to execute successfully a deep play. If you shorten that field, you're making it really hard to establish a running game.
Nobody, and I mean nobody, respects Pennington's deep ball. Being able to complete one here and there, doesn't mean it's going to be respected. Defenses know they can close on those deep passes if need be. Pennington isn't a weak arm compared to a Drew Brees or anyone else deemed to have a weak arm. His is way way down there.
All a D needs to do is patrol the middle. They'll let us have the underneath stuff, the outside stuff, and the deep stuff. That isn't hard for a Defense to do.Rocky Raccoon and djphinfan like this. -
i'll agree that Pennington still isn't the best fit here, but he's better than McCown, who was otherwise set to be our starter this year.
so in that regard, i'm ok with him. -
You know, sometimes I wish we'd throw in a McCown or some other journeyman QB with a strong arm.
Losing with spectacular plays at least entertains me for a bit. I can't think of one "OMFG!" play the last two weeks.
Plus I woulnd't care about McCowns psyche. henne and beck I would be more cautious of.
But this Sunday, we start our turnaround. And I pray Penny will have a great game. In the end I just want to win. -
From what I hear, Wilford doesn't use his body well which is why you don't see him in the red zone a lot. He didn't have a great amount of opportunities in Jacksonville in the red zone either. -
a lot of your post is what has been going on, so i'm confused at how you think this will "improve" things...?
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texasPHINSfan likes this.
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I think the truth about whether or not the defense was more relaxed when Henne came in is somewhere in the middle. They weren't playing a prevent defense, but were definitely giving the receivers more cushion. That was plain to see. The announcers in the booth saw it and commented on it. -
Actually it's a credit to the jerk Jet fan I lost the bet to. :pity: -
The part that irks me the most right now is that Henning or whoever else may be responsible does not seem to be even trying to make an effort to get more creative or devise ways to help put the crappy receivers in position to at least be mildly successful. By now it is obvious to everyone what Pennington's limitations on this team, with this roster, are. If Ginn can't get a clean launch off the line, why are they not creating ways for him to get an easier release? They should be motioning him around, putting him in the slot more, and even using more WR screens like the one Henne threw to him.
It just doesn't appear that there are any adjustments being made, and that is what boggles my mind the most right now.texasPHINSfan likes this. -
AS for Henne, I have to disagree with anyone who says that Arizona was playing in prevent. They absolutely were not. The only prevent they were playing was trying to prevent a TD. They were blitzing and rushing Henne and he showed great poise in that 18 play drive and made throws to the WRs that Pennington didn't and seemingly wouldn't attempt. NFL players are so fast, there is such a small window to get those passes in there that you HAVE to have the arm strength to get the ball into tight spaces. Pennington doesn't have that arm strength. And, in my opinion lacks confidence in himself to attempt those throws, thus all the throws to the TEs and backs - leading to his very low per attempt average. -
The problem I have with Wilford is that he doesn't do anything well and because of that, I have a lack of confidence in giving him the ball. The guy can't catch, can't do nothing despite his size, can't gain separation and can't use his body. Since he can't do any of those things, I have very little confidence in throwing the ball to him and I think that's what the coaching staff might be seeing as well now.
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A couple of thoughts. One I think Pennington had a decent game week one and a horrible game week two. I think that Arizona slacked off a teensy bit against Henne but that he was still impressive and outshone CP that game. I think it's a shame that Wilford and Ginn aren't being used more, but I think it's just because Bess and Camarillo are playing harder. And I think that Gus Frerotte was probably the best QB we had here after Marino and we should have kept him on the roster another couple of years. He played well enough that we should have kept him. I'd prefer to have him here mentoring Henne than CP.
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You'd rather have Gus Frerotte mentoring Henne than Pennington? Not me. Pennington's arm may be weak, but no sane person can question his intelligence and leadership qualities. Those traits are the best things that could rub off on Henne, imo. I think Pennington is just about the perfect mentor for Henne, and that is probably at least 60% of the reason he was even brought to Miami.
texasPHINSfan and Colorado Dolfan like this. -
i'm seeing a lot of Frerotte homerism on here, but i think you guys are a little jaded on the subject... Frerotte was awesome in 2005 because our other option was Sage Rosenfels.... i can't believe we're having this discussion... you guys think Frerotte is a better QB than Pennington?
jesus.Colorado Dolfan likes this. -
texasPHINSfan likes this.
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When's the last time someone got mentored into being a good QB? The closest you can get is Aaron Rodgers? Too bad when all that drama was going down Brett Favre was accused of being the worst mentor ever!
Maybe Drew Brees and Philip Rivers. I'd rather have Gus Frerotte play screw the mentoring. Let the kid learn and the coaches coach him up. I don't want Henne learning to work the middle like a madman. I want to see some explosion!