Henne Benched In Favor of Pennington

[CW McGraw]

Quote: Originally Posted by ProfessaPackMan

Sparano's job is in jeopardy already?

I'm just guessing that's the case. Why else would you throw in an injury prone thirty something QB when the season's essentially over? They must be thinking they have to win now or else. If Sparano's job were safe and doesn't think Henne's a franchise QB, then why not put Tyler Thigpen in? He's shown flashes of potential in Kansas City.

[NYJets]

Quote: Originally Posted by CW McGraw

Awful move. The AFC's too good for us to make the playoffs. There's no upside to this move. This tells me that Sparano and Ireland care more about winning now to save their jobs than they do the future of the franchise.

Your still 4-4 and have played a ridiculous schedule so far.

Now you have

Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Buffalo all at home.

Oakland and Tennessee are both winnable games.

You'll have to at least beat one of New England and the Jets on the road but that's far from impossible.

I could absolutely see the Dolphins go 6-2 the rest of the way and get to 10 wins, and your right, the AFC is tough and that may not be enough, but it could be. I think it's too early to throw in the towel.

That said, I'd be surprised if Pennington, coming off another injury, is the answer, but I do think the Dolphins should still be trying to win games.

[elicoleman]

Quote:

Chad Pennington's base salary will jump from $2.5 million to $5.75 million now that he's been named the Dolphins' starter.

Quote:

The escalator was written into Pennington's one-year deal as an "unlikely to be earned" incentive. The 34-year-old Pennington appeared in three games this preseason, completing 17-of-28 passes (60.7 percent) for 156 yards (5.6 YPA), two touchdowns, and no interceptions. It's believed that one of the main reasons for Chad Henne's demotion was Miami's red-zone inefficiency. Pennington's accurate passing is expected to upgrade that area.

That's insane that he gets paid $3 million more for starting. Good for Chad for having that in his contract.

[wwharton]

Quote: Originally Posted by NYJets

Your still 4-4 and have played a ridiculous schedule so far. Now you have Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Buffalo all at home. Oakland and Tennessee are both winnable games. You'll have to at least beat one of New England and the Jets on the road but that's far from impossible. I could absolutely see the Dolphins go 6-2 the rest of the way and get to 10 wins, and your right, the AFC is tough and that may not be enough, but it could be. I think it's too early to throw in the towel. That said, I'd be surprised if Pennington, coming off another injury, is the answer, but I do think the Dolphins should still be trying to win games.

Exactly what I was thinking. The Phins are still in this... everyone else in the division has to play some tough games too.

[Burns11]

I don't get this at all. I like Pennington, but I'm not sure what the motivation is here.

[HungryBologna]

Like NYJets and wwharton said, they are far from done. They're still a pretty tough team.

[elgreazy1]

I like this move. Henne has been making too many mistakes and has been putting his team in bad positions. Sure Pennington doesn't give you a lot of field stretch but this isn't how this team is built anyway; the Dolphins are a run first (and run second) team that uses play action to jump start the passing game. What Pennington does bring is smarts and accuracy; he's not going to throw into tight coverage needlessly, he's not going to give up the avoidable INTs, etc.

Now, all this is based on the last time I saw Pennington playing consistently. Who knows, his skills might have gone sour much like when Brad Johnson went in last year for the Cowboys.

As for Henne, there's nothing wrong with being benched and watching a vet show you how it's done. Who knows? Maybe this adds fuel to that fire in Henne to push himself, maybe it sobers him up to temper an ego, or maybe it puts him in his place knowing that everyone is replaceable and if you don't do your job or perform well, you get yanked.

[lonewolf371]

Quote: Originally Posted by elgreazy1

I like this move. Henne has been making too many mistakes and has been putting his team in bad positions. Sure Pennington doesn't give you a lot of field stretch but this isn't how this team is built anyway; the Dolphins are a run first (and run second) team that uses play action to jump start the passing game. What Pennington does bring is smarts and accuracy; he's not going to throw into tight coverage needlessly, he's not going to give up the avoidable INTs, etc. Now, all this is based on the last time I saw Pennington playing consistently. Who knows, his skills might have gone sour much like when Brad Johnson went in last year for the Cowboys. As for Henne, there's nothing wrong with being benched and watching a vet show you how it's done. Who knows? Maybe this adds fuel to that fire in Henne to push himself, maybe it sobers him up to temper an ego, or maybe it puts him in his place knowing that everyone is replaceable and if you don't do your job or perform well, you get yanked.

Your first paragraph doesn't make any sense. A strong running game complements a deep passing game way better than a short passing game. If you have a strong running game and deep passing game, the defense faces a dilemma over where to put their safeties. If you pass short all the time, the answer is clearly to shorten your defense to the puny 20 yards of field that you need to defend.