A possible reason for Henning's ineptitude at playcalling

No, it's laughable if you actually think our run blocking has been sufficient this year. That one example proves absolute squat if you actually watch the games. Whatever.

 

There's no denying though that a lot of places he went got an initial rise in their offensive effectiveness his first year there. Consistency has been a big issue though and to me that points to year to year adaptability.

I believe very strongly that in today's NFL which is full of talent parity, you should be able to get ranked in the low 20's in yardage and points by coaching alone. The fact that Miami ranks #29 on points is very damning of the offensive coordinator. The fact that it's happening at a time when the talent on the offensive side of the ball has not been better since the regime arrived, is flat out stupid.

People can ignore what's in front of their face all they want. Dan Henning will be fired and it won't be because of the outrage of the naive masses, it won't be because a meddling owner wants something done, it will be because Henning has not done a very good job fitting an offense to the talent he has, and because he has formulated failed game plans, and made misguided play calls. Bottom line.

 

Henne goes down and the wildcat comes in and what happens.... We run the ball successfully with the same line. To gain yards you have to try to establish something or at least be creative. Believe me I do watch the games and I know Henning is a stubborn old senile bastard who has changed the way things are done and it has failed. Stop defending him. Once again it is laughable.

 

OMG! Don't misquote me. I said I'm not defending Henning and in many threads, I've given many better examples for some of his problems, but believe what you will. I'm being fair. If you think the run blocking has been sufficient, than you rock!

 

I do feel the run blocking has become a little bit too much the scapegoat. There are some things they are good at and some things they're not. Dan Henning managed to stumble on some of the things they were good at, at the end of the Cincinnati game. And then, he called that kind of stuff once or twice against the Ravens, and it worked then as well. I'm not sure I've seen it since. I'm talking about misdirection and counter runs (aside from end-arounds).

But that's just an example. Play calling can affect the ground game. If Chad Henne doesn't read the defense and kill to the right play, that affects things.

The RUNNING BACKS are in the driver's seat of the ground game. I think because of the hype and reputation surrounding them, people often hold Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown relatively blameless in this. But I can tell you that some of the early games when I really reviewed them I found that these guys were just not making the plays they should. Ronnie's instincts have been very questionable at times this year, and Ricky's inability to make defenders miss has also been a big detriment.

Because of the frustration over the offense as a whole, people pretend that the ground blocking has been putrid when it really hasn't been. Would it surprise anyone to know that in the opinion of Pro Football Focus (again, just their opinion), the Dolphins' run blocking has been 4th best in the entire National Football League? I think it would generally shock 99% of the people here.

Play calls have to make sense, running backs have to hit the right holes and make people miss.

 

While he's been around longer than forever, that doesn't mean the game has passed him by. You could say the same thing about Parcells....he hasn't won anything since the late 80's with the greatest defensive player of all time ??

How exactly do you know whether he's updated the playbook ?? Have you seen it or do you get a memo when it's updated ?? Seriously, there is too much wrong with this offense to point solely at Henning. And as I said, how much tinkering does Sparano do that interferes with what Henning is trying to accomplish ?? That OL, Sparano's forte, has been wildly inconsistent in both run and pass blocking since he's been here. He's spent huge cash for guys that are no longer here after 2 yrs. Brown has been his typical injury prone self. Ricky has been as consistent as he can be at his age, which isn't terrific. We have NO WRs save for Marshall this year, but who do we have after that ? A decent role player in Bess and that's it. What TEs do we have ?? There is a lot wrong with this offense and dumping it all on Henning is wrong. Sure, he's been there and done that but he's not suddenly unable to call plays as you've suggested....

The execution is an issue not with his other firings, as I don't care about them anyways, however, about this situation...yeah, it's an issue...

 

Where is the "Thanks" button when you need it.

I do believe though you have to stick to it for the backs to establish a some sort of rhythm. You can't run the ball a few times and say we just can't do it. Especially with a young QB.

 

I see a lot of straw man arguments.

You'd find very few people that would say straight out, everything is good on offense, the only thing holding them back is Henning, without him they'd be perfect. The only person I've seen come even close to implying that, was being sarcastic. The only other body that seems to be putting that idea forward, is doing so kind of indirectly (more on that in a second).

I'm not accusing anyone of trying to sound like the smartest man in the room, but the fact of the matter is yes, we GET IT...we know there are other problems on offense. But Offensive Coordinator is one of them. And perhaps even the biggest. And some people would like to try and understand why it's such a problem, hence the kind of speculation that inspired the original poster to create this thread.

You know, Pro Football Focus' ratings system is just a numerical representation of their opinion. Not enough people seem to understand that. You see a writer, even ones in the newspapers, just casually say "So and so is the 18th ranked Center in the game" without even explaining that the ranking is just the opinion of one set of people. That said, their opinions are backed by people who watch every player on every play. Every player, on every play. So obviously their opinions should carry SOME weight, just not referenced like the Encyclopedia Brittanica.

Anyway where I'm going with this is, a few weeks ago they wrote about Miami's offense being somehow less than the sum of its parts. Right now if I go to their team ratings page and I sort by Overall offensive rating, they have Miami the #2 offense in football. You read that right, the #2 offense in all of the National Football League, behind only the Houston Texans. If I sort by Run Blocking, I get Miami being the #4 best run blockers in football, behind the Jets, Texans and Cowboys. If I sort by Pass Blocking, I get Miami being the #2 best pass blocking team in football, behind only the Jets. If I sort by Pass, which judges the efficiency of the QBs and WRs in executing the pass game, I get Miami being the #10 passing team in football. Sort by Run, I get Miami being the #15 team in football.

And yet Miami is 29th in the NFL in scoring points.

Where is the disconnect? The ratings come about by looking at each player on each play and giving the guy a grade, summing them up. What Pro Football Focus is in effect saying, is that the players are actually doing what they're supposed to do, and they're doing it as well as anyone out there. That points to the thing that Pro Football Focus does NOT judge, as part of their system...the play calling. It's the offensive coordinator's job to take these players that are doing their jobs and formulate an offense around them that takes advantage of their strengths, covers for their weaknesses, and makes them more than the sum of their parts. Right now Miami is significantly LESS than the sum of its parts, in the eyes of the people that grade every player on every play.

 

I said that the run game has not been good for a number of reasons and the the R&R express are off their game a bit this year.

Right, exactly, which would imply that it's not all on Henning and the play-calling. That's my point.

Yes, that is a bit shocking and I don't know how you can determine something like that considering our run game is not ranked nearly that high. That would speak really bad to Ricky and Ronnie and they do deserve a lot of blame here as well, which was my point. Yikes for them!


This isn't against you CK, I respect your opinion. I guess they all need to go.

 

Explained very well CK and I've been saying for a while now that Henning just doesn't put the offense in the position to be successful. Especially Chad Henne who took all the blame and was benched.
Thanks for reinforcing what my eyes have been telling me for a while now with some facts and logic.

 

Where does our QB alone rank?

 

#15 in Pass, #16 in Overall.

And I've talked before about how the ratings can be too sensitive toward snap counts because of the summing that is involved in the formula, but in this case if you adjust by taking the Overall rating and dividing by the number of snaps, Chad Henne still comes out #15.

Michael Vick of course comes out #1, on that basis. And that's probably accurate.

 

Thanks. I did a month subscription there, and honestly didn't use it enough to warrant keeping it.

 

I definitely use it often enough to warrant keeping.

It's interesting to look at the disparity between how guys are ranked purely by rating and how guys are ranked if you divide by total snaps.

It comes out very intuitive. For instance Ben Rapistberger would only be ranked #22 of 38 on Overall rating alone, but he's played 318 snaps where most guys have played nearly twice that. If you account for that, he's #9 in the Overall...and that feels right. Same with Colt McCoy. He's #23 on the Overall but he's only played 230 snaps. If you do it as a rate, he's #10 overall...which is surprising, but at the same time the dude IS playing well and he's got them very competitive since assuming the job (making Mike Holmgren look quite the genius because that call above all was his call and his alone, had nothing to do with the scouting staff). On the flip side the Mannings, Peyton and Eli, get ranked #1 and #7 on Overall rating. But I don't know that either is playing well enough to warrant that, and so when you adjust for play count, suddenly Peyton is #6 and Eli is #11...which sounds more right to me.

Tony Romo being #2 is a surprise. But I do remember reading before he went out that Dallas was one of the most potent scoring offenses in football and still couldn't win. Rodgers is #3, Rivers #4, Matt Ryan #5. Peyton as I said #6, David Garrard #7, Schaub #8, Rapist #9, McCoy #10, Eli #11, Drew Brees #12, Matt Hasselbeck #13, Shaun Hill a surprising #14, Chad Henne #15, Carson Palmer #16, Josh Freeman #17, Kyle Orton #18 and Tom Brady a surprising #19, followed by #20 Jay Cutler, #21 Mark Sanchez, #22 Bruce Gradkowski, #23 Joe Flacco, #24 Sam Bradford, #25 Jason Campbell.

 

Funny thing, I have a TI-30 in my office desk. I can't bring myself to toss it out.

 

Because 1+1=2. He's openly stated that this offense will run the same no matter what QB is starting (Penny OR Henne). So since Penny was the starter in 08 when Henning got here and the offense was designed for him, then one can accurately assume that the playbook hasn't been updated b/c Henne is an entirely different QB than Penny. If the playbook were indeed updated, then we'd see our offense RE-designed around Henne's play & strengths rather than still being geared toward Penny. It can't be any more clear than that.

 

Senile Dementia?

 

what exactly are henne's strengths? you seem to feel there is some magical formula for improving henne's game. i would be interested in hearing what it is

 

I'm not talking about improving Henne's game per say. I'm talking about updating a playbook that's more geared for Henne than Penny. I don't think anyone can say that the playbook that's best suited for Penny is also optimal for Henne. Do you feel that both of these QBs are carbon copies of each other who can run the same playbook to 100% effectiveness?

 

well henne cant throw the fade like henning liked to have delhomme do in carolina to steve smith. he cant throw deep because we lack speed and he isnt that effective at it. so we're basically stuck throwing short and intermediate. which is pennington's game. what in the short and intermediate game should we change

 

If Henne cant throw these types of passes he doesn't belong in the NFL. IMO he is capable of making these passes but being mentored by Chadwick Pennington hes probably been taught to opt for the safer checkdown.

 

How often does he miss those 30 yard back shoulder sideline passes? He's been pretty accurate on those IIRC....... even when thrown to Bess. Yet there's only been 7 passes of 30 or more yards. Since when is Henne "not that effective at throwing deep"? Just b/c he missed a few passes in the 1st game of the year with 10mph winds?...... or are you including the receivers dropping passes. lol. How often do we get a chance to see him throw a bomb like he did in the Jets victory to Ginn? A pass over 40+ yards has only been attempted 3 times (1 was completed, and at least 1 was a drop). The flea-flicker to Hartline was 60 yards in the air with only a split second to thrown it. How about the back shoulder TD he threw to Fasano early in the year---- how often have we seen that play dialed up since then? The wheel route to Cobbs was perfect (but dropped)--- yet how many times do we see that play called?

His most successful formations are 3 receiver-1TE sets...... I believe out of the I.

 

First off, Penny arrived in early August, hardly time to rewrite the play book that was set in place at the time. Secondly, you may be very well be right that the playbook hasn't changed. I think a good OC has to be confident that he can implement his system and not have to redo the works every season. However, Henning does call the plays from that playbook differently than when Penny was in there. He certainly calls more deep outs than when Penny was here. There is also something to be said about what Henne sees as 'open' compared to what Penny may see as open. I'm against having Henning move on, just that his offense works. It's proven. How it's executed is another story right now.

 

is there somewhere you can post a stat of passes that travelled more than 30 yds and compare it to other QBs in the league over the last two years. My impression has been that he simply isn't that accurate when throwing deep going back to last year. Also, he has the freedom to go deep in this offense. He simply chooses not to or should I say chose not too until the Titans game after getting benched for not attacking downfield more. Maybe he will attack more often now. It seems he took the message of the benching to heart and took a couple of shots down the field instead of settling for the easy checkdown. How many times has he thrown the ball to Marshall when he was covered? Almost never. Sparano made clear that Marshall is a guy that even when he's covered he's open and Henning had no problem allowing Delhomme to throw jump balls to Steve Smith when in carolina so the idea that somehow this coaching regime is handcuffing Henne seems silly. The more reasonable explanation is Henne is handcuffing himself by playing too cautiously

 

There was a very good post by Robert_Horry who was at a recent game and noted how simplistic etc our routes were---- that we used very few routes that challenged deeper (or even intermediate-deep) parts of the field. Coach Mike has noted how little we use motion or vary our formations as well. Add to that Henne's inability to audible at the line. Implementing a system that doesn't have to be reworked during the offseason is only forcing round pegs into square holes when you have personnel who don't exactly fit that system. And if your system isn't good enough to get it done without having to resort to the Wildcat bailing you out, then there's something wrong with the system IMO.

 

Added: and if the system is failing to work for 5 or 6 other teams outside of year 1, then that's all the proof I need that the system is too friggin hard to establlish effectively.
To do it "right" it should be like the Redskins of the 80's.... but it's like Henning takes a conservative approach to that team, which doesn't work. Yes, the 80's Skins used the hogs up front to run Riggins and Rodgers behind them. Yes, they used accurate QBs to move the ball down field 5-10 yards at a time. HOWEVER, the thing that allowed that offense to work was having a trio of WRs who could stretch the field and open up EVERYTHING for them (Art Monk, Ricky Sanders, Gary Clark). When safeties came up to support the run, they attacked deep. When the safeties were back, they ran it down teams' throats.

We come nothing close to accomplishing that. Everything about us is in a 20 yard box. How does that open anything up or dictate the game to the defense? It doesn't. If we wanted to be a smash mouth offense, then the last thing we should've been drafting is slow possession type WRs who offer little to nothing vertically. Then we gave away our only vertical threat (Ginn). We've passed on numerous opportunities to truly open up this smash mouth offense and make us like the 80s skins. We passed on Hakeem Nicks (which I don't mind bc I love Vontae). We passed on Mike Wallace. Passed on Mike Thomas. Passed on Dez Bryant, Mike Williams, Jacoby Ford, Johnny Know..... and should've taken DeSean Jackson in 08. This is just off the top of my head but I'm sure I'm missing a few.

There is absolutely no consistency in his philosophy, and it's premise is completely flawed. The past 20 years have basically proved it.