So far this season Chad Henne is an elite QB when it comes to 3rd downs. He has hit on 68.3% of his passes, 3 of his 5 TD's, and no picks. His QB rating is an astounding 113.5. The only QB's better are Brady and Vick. Marshall leads the entire NFL with 11 catches, and Bess is #2 with 10 catches. To me, these are very surprising stats. One would think a very young QB would be worse in these situations. Opposing D's are changing things up in trying to confuse him, blitzing more, applying more pressure, and pretty much ignoring the run. So, why is this happening? Is it the D's we've faced? the play calling? a little more focus in not wanting to come off the field? Luck? Something different? Thoughts?
Good question. Maybe they should try those "3rd down" plays on "first down".It seems to me they open it up a little more only when they have to. They seem to show more urgency on third down when first and second downs are equally as critical.
Having a first down making machine, in Bess, has to help but, Henne still has to get him the ball with teams expecting it. Many receivers are stopped short. Bess somehow manages to almost always get to where he needs to go. IMO, he is now the best slot receiver in the NFL.
Soo its all bess??? That puts Bess into question on downs 1 & 2 then if he turns Henne into a monster on third.
Not to take anything at all away from Bess but, a QB rating of 113.5 on 3rd downs after four games is Phantastic. Henne has been better than guys like Peyton, Brees, Rivers, etc, etc.
I agree that Henning and Bess have something to do with Henne's success on 3rd downs. However, Henne still has to execute, and is doing so like a HOF QB.
Cant dispute these ridiculous accusations? None of this is accurate........ Henning eats puppies and kicks babies.
I've always thought Henne is at his best when he gets to just wing it without having to do a lot of thinking. I feel that's what comes most naturally to him up to this point. IMO he doesn't have to be "quite" as conservative on 3rd downs, and being "less conservative" means "less thinking" involved. He can rely more on instinct etc. But I could be completely wrong.
Henne is very good against the blitz and sending at least 5 on 3rd down is en vogue now. I think the blitz plays into Henne's skill set. Henne rarely gets rattled which is the main goal of the blitz. Also our pass blocking has been very good which helps nullify the effect of the blitz. When you do blitz it makes the back of the defense easier to read. As a young QB, that is the part of his game that is still developing. Also with fewer back defenders, the QB doesn't have to be quite as accurate, which is something that Henne occasionally struggles with. Finally, this team has good short area (higher percentage passes) receivers in Bess and Marshall. They also contribute to Henne's third down success.
Agreed. I would add that most of Henne's 3rd down completions were not of the 3-5 yard variety to a back or TE. The QB rating takes everything into consideration.
He's also been putting more of these passes on the money b/c our receivers have had an opportunity to tack on the YAC.
He is not good against the blitz. There was an espn insider article about how only 8 nfl starting qbs have a worse passer rating against a blitz than non blitz and Henne was one of them.
This year he has eaten up the blitz. He has a quarterback rating of 115 against the blitz. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/nfl/players/8834/passing_splits.html
I think the main thing is as bad as Henning is at calling plays his style of play calling does put Miami in manageable 3rd down situations. Henne is 15 for 20 for 131 yards, 2 TD and 1 sack on 3rd and between 1 and 7 yards for "13 1st downs". Henne is 13 for 21 for 161 yards, 1 TD and 1 sack on 3rd and 8 or more yards. However, the 13 completions have only resulted in 6 1st downs. I would say several reasons for Henne's numbers... 1) Bess 2) Being put in manageable 3rd downs 3) Henne's willingness to dump it off underneath on 3rd and long and play field position rather than risk a turnover which is Sparano/Henning's philosophy.
exactly how can you be bad at playcalling if you're getting your team into manageable 3rd downs? Isnt that the goal?
Does seem contradictory as manageable 3rd downs is certainly a goal. However, not taking shots down the field is one example of poor play calling. For example, on the 1st play against Minnesota Henne hits Marshall for 46 yards and then NO calls the rest of the game to take shots deep down the field. Miami having a 3rd and 20 at Minny's 46 in the same game. Instead of throwing the ball underneath to try and at least pick up 15 yards and get into fg range which is almost always open on 3rd and 20 the ball is handed off to Polite for a 4 yard game resulting in a punt. Henning's use of the wildcat this year when Miami has been driving the ball and gets in or around the red zone which seems to disrupt the flow and put an end to drives. Honestly, I think Henning's play calling has been better the past 2 games as he has opened up the play book a little more. The 1st 2 games I thought were pretty bad. For a QB to have the numbers Henne is putting up on 3rd down and yet only score 13, 7, 23, and 14 ppg (14.25 ppg) tells me the play calling and/or mistakes are killing drives...against NE it was TO's but against Buffalo and Minnesota I think it had more to do with play calling. Where is that "chunk yardage" Sparano was talking about? To get chunk yardage a team needs to take shots down the field.
Looking at these stats, Henne is playing amazing when we are tied, and when we are down 2 score (8-14). He's playing very well when we are only down one score as well. He's only doing bad when we are down more than 2 scores and surprisingly when we are already winning. Then again, when we are winning it doesn't seem like we call the same type of passing plays. Though, it could just be a combination of how the defense is playing us at that point and where Henne is choosing to go with the football (I don't have the coaches' tape to verify one way or the other sadly).
Young quarterback, who'd have figured. Maybe we should have asked somebody what this would have been like.
He's very poised for a young guy which is nice, and there's been enough times where his WRs haven't helped him (even on good passes). I'm most frustraded with the OL. That and giving up almost 3 bills on the ground is a recipe for disaster (unless you're playing against Ray Lucas).
