QB Chad Pennington to start vs. Titans

[tepop]

And last week, prior to be intercepted 3 times, none of which appeared to be his fault, he was 14th I believe and about average.  You haven't said a word about Henne in weeks and after a dismal display by the entire offense, not just Henne you chime in.  Great, now we have a head coach that thinks like Tepop.  Think I'll slit my wrists now.

Well, i guess 14th is good???  The went out and got him an elite wr, and he still sucks.  It is time to move on.

[Brian Fein]

This is the worst decision the team could have made.  Here's why:

A young developing QB needs to build confidence and learn to read defenses.  He needs to be successful against all kinds of defenses, to learn what works and what doesn't.  By benching Henne, you have ruined him forever, and you might as well cut him now.  You tell him "you're not even as good as noodle-arm Pennington, so get your ass on the bench."  Great for building confidence.

Now we have all complained about Henning's conservative playcalling.  At the same time, we have seen that Henne has been going through reads 2 or 3 WR's deep on nearly every play.  Perhaps its not Henning's fault, and Henne is scared or too conservative, and not picking the targets intended for the play call.  In this case, maybe its a justified benching.

I just think that's a very far-fetched scenario.

So what does this mean for the Dolphins' future?  Let's get Mike Vick next season?  Let's draft a guy and watch him fail as well?  What does this mean for the short term?  Watch Pennington float up rainbows all game and hope that Marshall can out-jump all the safeties in the league?  

Maybe the coaching staff LOVES the conservative offense, and thinks Pennington is better suited for the dink-and-dunk?

Maybe they feel that guys are dropping balls because Henne puts too much zip and Pennington's little soft floaters are easier to catch?

Maybe they just wanna light a fire under Henne's ass, and motivate him to step up his game and work harder?

I can't understand this decision, and this (combined with the Jason Allen decision) has me two steps closer to joining the "Fire Sparano" bandwagon.  I really don't want to get there, because I want to see continuity at head coach.  I just hope this guy knows what he's doing here, and it pays off.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

 How many does that make since Marino now?  

Jay Fiedler, Damon Huard, Ray Lucas, Brian Griese, AJ Feeley, Gus Frerotte, Sage Rosenfels, Joey Harrington, Daunte Culpepper, Cleo Lemon, Trent Green, John Beck, Chad Pennington & Chad Henne.

The next one will be 15.  

[hordman]

Then FIX IT!!!!!  Tell him to OPEN IT UP!!!  SCREAM it if you have too and quit telling him to be conservative with the damn ball and avoid INT's!!!!  YOU'RE THE F'ING COACH!!!!  Tell him that we've nothing left to lose.  AIR IT OUT!!!

I agree completely.  from what I seen, Henne's pass are to WRs on come-back routes, 5-10 yd ins across the middle and an occasional deep sideline pass.  the only true pass in the deep middle is the TE sometimes.

I still believe WRs are either running crappy patterns OR the WRs coach (dorell) is at fault

[Pappy13]

Well, i guess 14th is good???  The went out and got him an elite wr, and he still sucks.  It is time to move on.

I'd agree if we had someone to move on to.  Pennington isn't it.  He played well 2 years ago against one of the weakest schedules in the NFL.  Last year in his couple of starts he was WORSE than Henne has been ALL YEAR and since then he's had another shoulder surgery.  I like Pennington, but to believe that he would have done better than Henne the first 8 games of the schedule is wishful thinking at best and even if he would have, he has no future, so now it's back to searching for a QB again....for like the 100th time.

[tepop]

I'd agree if we had someone to move on to.  Pennington isn't it.  He played well 2 years ago against one of the weakest schedules in the NFL.  Last year in his couple of starts he was WORSE than Henne has been ALL YEAR and since then he's had another shoulder surgery.  I like Pennington, but to believe that he would have done better than Henne the first 8 games of the schedule is wishful thinking at best and even if he would have, he has no future, so now it's back to searching for a QB again....for like the 100th time.

Adjusted for defenses, Pennington was the 6th best qb in 2008.

[Pappy13]

Adjusted for defenses, Pennington was the 6th best qb in 2008.

That was 2008.  What was he LAST YEAR!  You know the LAST TIME HE PLAYED! 

Edit:  Wait, I can check that myself.....let's see..... Negative 4.8. which was LOWER than Henne's 7.8 LAST YEAR and much lower than Henne's 13.5 THIS YEAR....AND he's had shoulder surgery since then AND he STILL has no future in the NFL.

[Cathal]

If there is no real answer for why Henne is sitting, then I'm with y'all on getting rid of Sparano and company.

[Brian Fein]

Adjusted for defenses =

[dolfan13]

wow.... basically they are saying we've seen enough of henne to determine that he is not the future qb of this franchise.

better to figure this out sooner than later. fins will draft yet another qb next year, maybe they'll finally get the franchise qb desperately needed.

[tepop]

Adjusted for defenses =

Unadjusted he was 3rd, so take your pick.

[Pappy13]

Ya know I'd almost rather see Thigpen than Pennington.  At least he still has a shot of being the future QB of this team.

[Dolphster]

Adjusted for defenses, Pennington was the 6th best qb in 2008.

"Adjusted for defenses".........LOL   That is awesome.   This year, I would have batted 1.000 in softball  if not for the guys playing defense.

[Pappy13]

That was 2008.  What was he LAST YEAR!  You know the LAST TIME HE PLAYED! 

Edit:  Wait, I can check that myself.....let's see..... Negative 4.8. which was LOWER than Henne's 7.8 LAST YEAR and much lower than Henne's 13.5 THIS YEAR....AND he's had shoulder surgery since then AND he STILL has no future in the NFL.

Where's your snappy comeback now Tepop?  This got you stumped?  Don't like to comment when stupid stats like DVOA don't support your opinion?

Hey, well maybe last year was just an anomoly.  Let's check some other DVOA's for Pennington.

2007 - NEGATIVE 3.6
2006 - 10.4
2005 - NEGATIVE 29
2004 - 25.9
2003 - NEGATIVE 0.7
2002 - 40.5
2001 - 10.2

Pretty inconsistent there for Chad.  Seems to look pretty good one year and pretty bad the next.  Well maybe you're right, maybe 2010 is his year to be good, course that means we have to dump him before next year.

[Dolphster]

the word on WQAm radio, omar kelly is responding, and he's saying that coaches feel that Henne, and NOT Henning, are being conservative during the playcalling and he is checking down and not making plays that can exploit defenses.

wow.  I still believe it's the game plan, IMO, WRs are ALWAYS covered and under duress.  NO ONE is running free down the lanes/seams.

So the coaching staff's response to Henne not throwing the ball deep is to replace him with Pennington and his rocket arm?  wtf?    I mean, I like Pennington for what he is which is a smart qb who won't hurt his team with a lot of bad mistakes.  But if you are looking for someone to throw the ball deeper, Penny ain't yer boy.