Henning: Dolphins lack speed, changes haven't worked

He'd need to improve more in the shotgun though

 

I think you have to give him credit for being honest, but he should have said that and addressed it around mid-season. R & R have been slow as hell this year hitting the hole and they had to dumb the play book down for Henne. Because of this our offense has the range of a Daisey air rifle. He don't throw out of the backfield, we don't use double tights, and we hardly ever use screens. He is right - this is sick.

 

It's sad when the player whom fans regard as our "vertical threat" is a skinny white guy who runs a 4.5.

 

I know I'll get a TON of opposition over this one but, If this offense wants to take it to the next level, IMO it needs to build it around Chad's arm and basically scrap the skill positions and almost start over from scratch. I'd also get a big armed QB to compete with him.

IMO our offense could be entirely upgraded & deadly in 1 offseason if we did the following:
FA: Mankins, Mike Sims-Walker, Ahmad Bradshaw, and Tolbert (or re-sign Ronnie). Now our ground game and vertical threat are pretty much locked up.

At WR:
-Brandon Marshall moves to the slot to replace Bess. (I don't think it's arguable who would be better here or could make more plays... or would help open up the offense more).

-Sims-Walker replaces Marshall outside. (Putting Walker's size & 4.35 speed next to Marshall should give Brandon extra space to work with so guys aren't draped all over him as soon as he catches the ball, and having Marshall on the field will give Walker more opportunities to make big plays than he's had in Jax)

Here's an important quote from CBSSPORTS.COM's Rob Rang in his recent mock that has us taking WR- Ryan Broyles:

If an impartial outsider can easily tell that Marshall needs space, then it should be pretty obvious that we need someone in here to help him...... b/c Bess & Hartline aren't space makers.

-Draft Greg Little in the 3rd to replace Hartline outside. Little has borderline 1st round talent and is probably an upgrade over Hartline in every aspect of the game. People will hee & haw over this, but Little would make all of us forget that Hartline ever existed, and has enough talent to eventually replace Marshall. As such, I'd trade Hart for the 3rd that we could use on Greg who only drops in the draft b/c he couldn't play this season. With Marshall & Walker on one side, Little would become a nightmare for CBs in single coverage.

-Bess would become our 3rd down specialist. With the above guys on the field, he would be an unstoppable 3rd down target! His value to us is on 3rd down, not as much on 1st and 2nd. He can also rotate in to give the big boys a breather so they're fresh in the 4th qtr.

-Jerrel Jernigan (5'9 190, 4.38ish speed; extremely elusive & tough): People will say it's overkill, but he's an X factor who would bring that much-needed big play speed element to the offense. He's also an elite return man. We have no one on this team whom is a legit threat to hit on a quick slant and split the coverage for a huge gain. He reminds me a lot of Steve Smith.

Our run blocking at WR would go from:
Marshall 6'4 230, Bess 5'10 190, Hartline 6'2 186.....
to
Mike Walker 6'2 214, Marshall 6'4 230, Little 6'2 225 (This is a deadly trio IMO.... and Bradshaw would have some monster seasons with this much space and downfield blocking to work with).

At TE:
-Kyle Rudolph, 6'6 265: I'd trade back my first and get him. Once his hammy recovers from surgery, this kid can become one of the top every down #1 TEs in the league. He'll take a few years to groom, which is perfect b/c we still have Fasano. By the time he's ready for full time duty, we can trade Fasano for a draft pick.

-DJ Williams, 6'2 250: While Rudolph is grooming as the #1, we're still gonna need a playmaking #2 whom we can move all around the field etc similarly to what NE does with Hernandez. DJ is similar in size, speed, etc to Dustin Keller in my eyes.

People who think this is overkill and not important enough to use 2 high picks on TEs should only need to see what Gronkowski and Hernandez have done for NE's offense b/c Rudolph & Williams are a very similar combo. Rudolph has the talent & potential to be quite an upgrade over Fasano. Anthony is good, but that's not a reason to say he's untouchable, especially not while half the league has #1 TEs whom are better.

A good OC could make this group nearly impossible to defend, even with Henne at QB. And if Chad STILL doesn't work out, we would have ALL the pieces in place to allow us to trade an entire draft to move up for a top QB..... and this QB would have all the tools around him to succeed.

To round it all off, I'd entertain trading Vernon Carey for a 3rd & use that on one of the talented RT prospects..... and I'd also try and get a 2nd or 3rd for Odrick b/c he's potentially 1 injury away from never playing again, and we've seen how that story ends with Grove and Smiley. I'd use Odrick's draft pick on a QB to compete with Henne.

That still leaves a 4th & 5th rounder to use on Oline, RB, or throw a bone to Nolan on D.

Go ahead...... blast away!!!

 

My one thing with the Henne requiring more time because of where we drafted him idea is that he was just about as experienced as you could hope for when we drafted him, but he is way more talented then Beck no doubt about that.

This off season would obviously be a huge upgrade to our offense, but I have a few points regarding it:

Where exactly would we be picking all of these players it seems like a lot of top 3 round talent considering we have only 2 picks currently in those rounds (I saw how you had us acquiring the picks, but it seems fairly unrealistic). Would Hartline really garner a 3rd?

Sims-Walker is very inconsistent that has always been the down side on him, and as far as Little it seems that most rookie WRs take some time to develop and would sitting this year affect that? or is he truly a Mike Williams, Dez Bryant type talent?

I would rather not give up on Odrick just yet he has huge upside to me.

I also don't love the idea of bringing in a 3rd round pick to compete with Henne, I'd rather see a veteran back up that can step in and actually win games in case Henne under performs with this new offense.

Also I just can't see us limiting Bess after handing him the extension and if Welker can be as effective as he's been then I think with the addition of Sims-Walker or Little to the outside with Marshall would open things up for him and allow him to be great because I love his ability in the open field.

Other than that I think any offensive coordinator would go crazy with that type of talent handed to him. ​

 

And what happens when teams run nothing but zone defenses against Henne's arm? 20 Td's 26 int's?

That's a mighty long list Todd. Don't you think it might be easier to find a Qb, get Rb, a speedy Wr/Kr and 15 new offensive lineman?

 

you keep blaming henning for the production. I keep telling you its the personnel. if you think an oline of berger, mcquistan, incognito and a QB like henne can produce wins or points then we simply disagree. norv turner, sean payton would all have the same results.

 

But he could have enough class to actually NOT denigrate the players' lack of 'ability' publicly. Or would it be fine for the players to hold interviews about his shortcomings too? It's just really really low class and in poor taste, and makes him a crappy teammate and a crappy coach in the sense that the players can;t love this guy the way he glibly makes them look bad in the media. Yes, they lack speed and big play ability but you do NOT want your own OC going out there telling people he sees so little ability in you. That's like your own Mom saying you aren;t the most handsome kid.

Sparano says Henning is 'tremendous' even on when Henning has had a bad week. BMarsh and other players try there best to bite their tongue and not criticize Henning's decsions of how to use them (see BMarsh and Ricky Williams' radio shows where BMarsh talked about not being used properly and when williams replied to talk of players questioning Henning by saying if people are talking about the rumor then you might say there was something to it, though he wouldn;t personally confirm it).

So players don;t put Henning down publicly (or try not to, with great effort). Sprano PRAISES him.

And yet Henning repeatedly points out players' defects.

Tell me how that makes a player want to play for that OC. I'd HATE him if I were playing for him. I'd tell him to give me the truth in the meeting room and to my face, but spare me splashing it in ink all over town for my kids schoolmates to see. That's classless. And ridiculous, imo, for a veteran coach like Henning.

 

so lets trade for tom brady

 

Didn't Ronnie TD run come out of the Wildcat too though? Let's be fair, not all of henning's wildcat calls are bad ones.

Also, the TD pass to BMarsh was a BEAUTIFULLY designed route combination on the goalline by Henning. Teams KNOW (like as in defendrs have said) that we go to Fasano a LOT on the Goal line (he leads our team in redzone TDs). So the play Henning drew up and called had Fasano clear out the defenders and ran BMarshes route RIGHT in behind that cleared out space. He knew the Bills studied our film and that they'd HAVE to honor Fasano heavily on the goalline. THe route Marshall ran into the void behind Fasano was simply great play design, great call at the right time by henning, Touchdown.

So, Henning HAS his moments. I won't say he doesn't.

But he also makes bone headed calls.

Most importantly, to me, he is acting in a horrendously classless manner as the ONLY member of this organization repeatedly criticizing players shortcomings in the media as the answer to why we are performing poorly. Specific players. And specific shortcomings. That is airing dirty laundry in public and embarrassing to players.

I think Sparano is too in awe of the old man (a Parcells hire and a senior, in all senses of the word) to ORDER Henning to stop it.

So what Henning deserves is all the players letting the media know what they think of Henning's mistakes too.

I mean, hey, if Henning can dish it out can;t he take it? There is enough blame to go around, trust me.

 

I did add a QB & RB didn't I....... and if Henne DOES suffer after an offseason dedicated to addressing his weak areas, then you'd have a QB to replace him with.

"Easier to find a QB"? Where is this coming from? With all due respect, I thought most of us understood that this isn't the greatest offseason to find a shoe-in replacement at QB...... which means it's smarter to upgrade the positions that we actually have a better shot at upgrading. This offseason and draft can make it very easy for us to upgrade our Oline, TE, WR, and RB..... which ALL will improve our offense even with Henne at the helm. At least that way a QB of the future at least has an established offense to develop in rather than this void cast that Henne currently has.

Why do we need 15 Olinemen?

Go ahead and mock me--- I don't really care. I added 2 TEs and 3 WRs who could completely transform our offense under any QB. I guess we can draft 4 LBs & 2 DBs to fix the defense but to do the same thing on offense is completely absurd huh? Just sayin.

 

and yet rumor is the roster talent is why cowher would be attracted to coming to miami. Thing is, our biggest remaining roster hole is at the most critical position on the field.

 

I am so mixed as to how I feel about the final homegame. At this point, I want a better draft pick. BUt I don;t want any more humiliation. But I want Sparano to lose enough to be forced to fire Henning and try to get a more aggressive offensive philosophy for next season. But if he loses Sparano himself may be fired. But maybe we get Jon Gruden then. But Gruden destroys QBs and players hate him. But at least he plays to win all the time, not to avoid losing.

I am driving myself crazy. When will this season end!???

 

Sadly it is true though Bpk, the roster is loaded with talent, however the only unit that is aggressive and tries to make plays is the Defense, and even then with 30 dropped interceptions they are getting in their own way, learning on the job and not quite there yet, but clearly they are the only unit that looks to attack their opponents.

That does make the situation ripe for one of the "former SB blah blah blah Head Coach" to step in and fire up the troops and create fast results..

As for Hartline being a deep threat, people don't realize that as dysfunctional as the offense has been, Hartline and Marshall were on track for 1,000 yd seasons and Bess and Marshall will break Duper and Clayton's receptions in a single season record.

 

For us it is better if we win it, if we win both games, as disappointing as this season has been we have 2 winning seasons in the last 6 yrs and 9-7 would be a good thing in the face of all of the poor seasons we have had in Miami in the last 10yrs.

One may laugh, but our improvement this offseason will not come from the draft per se, if anything I hope we land a Rb and fix the Oline, our real hope for improvement is from Ireland flipping over rocks and finding guys like that CFL Wr that was mentioned up in Club.

 

The guy sprays himself with Teflon. In a sport that so prides itself as a "team" sport he clearly missed the memo about no I in team. I can only imagine if they were doing well that he would have you believe that a deity could not have done the job he did. The guy needs a large spoonful of humility. What player would want to play for this guy?

 

i find it hard to believe you would hate playing for him. his past players have praised him everywhere he's been. he actually seems like a pretty cool guy to play for. Coming to the end of the season and now that they playoff hunt is officially over, the coaches can be honest instead of having to keep everybody positive. Thats why you see Sparano complaining about our offensive line's inability to get to the second level (ranked 32 according to football outsiders) or complainign that his speed isnt ready to get on the field, Henning complaining about Henne's inability to make proper line calls and the team's speed. The truth is everything they said was correct and there is no longer any reason to keep it quiet. The season is over and you can fairly assess what's needed to improve next year. Every player who has played for Parcells has praised him for always being hinest with players about where they stand with him. I am pretty sure the players would prefer to know the truth rather than BS them and surprise them when they are cut. This way they at least know what to work on

 

Yeah, I'm sure thats impossible to do in private right?

 

Not even Tom Brady would be good in Henning's offense with his play calling.

Belichick did it with Matt Cassell as well. You give Dan Henning Matt Cassell, and we probably have an even worse offense now than what we have.

Let's look at all the great offensive talent Belichick has to work with:

Ben Jarvus Green Ellis - Limited, straight ahead runner with no speed
Danny Woodhead - Small scat back with no speed
Deion Branch - Small receiver on the downside of his average career
Wes Welker - Small but great slot receiver with limited speed
Brandon Tate - Speedy yet one dimensional outside receiver

His best talent is his two rookie tight ends, Aaron Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski. Guess what? His passing offense is based around those two tight ends. They are the key that makes everything go. See, unlike Henning, who continues to call plays like he did when he had Chad Pennington at QB, Belichick adjusted his offense to fit the talent he has. He also took the limited talent he has at the wide receiver and running back position, and he utilizes what they actually do good and doesn't ask them to do what they can't do.

It's not all Tom Brady. Tom Brady could get injured this weekend, and Belichick would find a way for his back up to produce. He's that damn good as a head coach and overall game planner. That's why he's by far the best in the NFL, and it's probably also why Parcells never won anything without Belichick on his staff.

In Miami, we have a running back who has the best pair of hands on the team and could be one of the best receiving runners in the NFL, yet we hardly utilize him in the passing game. Conversely, we have an offensive coordinator that loves running two tight end sets, and we run two tight end sets a majority of the time despite the fact that we have no quality second tight end. We have a quarterback that plays his best when he has three receivers on the field, yet we limit his options because our offensive coordinator believes in max protection (always has, has never changed) and typically only gives him two options in the passing game. We have an offensive coordinator that ROUTINELY calls for play action on third and long when we haven't run the ball well at all this year. We have an offensive coordinator that will stall a drive because he insists on running the wildcat once we get inside the opponents 30 yard line when the young quarterback that we apparently don't have any faith in has thrown us down the field. Typically, said drive ends in a field goal attempt.

How can anyone argue that Dan Henning has gotten the most out of the talent he has been given with a straight face? Dan Henning is by far one of the worst play callers in the entire NFL.

 

look at his time in carolina, washington and miami 2008. how can anyone with a staright face say he hasnt gotten the most out of that talent. and to say he hasnt gotten the most out of the talent he has had this year is taking a leap of faith that there is actually talent to be had. If tom brady was on carolina in 2003 dan henning would probably have had another two or three rings since carolina would have become the mid decade patriots

 

look at his time in carolina, washington and miami 2008. how can anyone with a staright face say he hasnt gotten the most out of that talent. and to say he hasnt gotten the most out of the talent he has had this year is taking a leap of faith that there is actually talent to be had. If tom brady was on carolina in 2003 dan henning would probably have had another two or three rings since carolina would have become the mid decade patriots

henning designs our system around the players we have. the wildcat is a sign he doesnt trust henne enough and you would be hard pressed to argue that he's wrong. Like Mushin Muhammad said “Dan Henning, he was good for us because he knew how to take the personnel and craft plays around what he had,” Panthers receiver Muhsin Muhammad said. “That’s what he’s doing in Miami. He crafted this style, trick plays, wildcat and all this different stuff.” http://www.prdailysun.com/index.php?page=news.article&id=1258598378

as for the patriots it just proves how overrated WRs are in the scheme of an offense. something parcells and belichik both understand

 

In my experience, playing against zone is a learned thing, so with time Henne can learn to adapt as well. People seem to forget that Brady struggled against our zone for the first 5 years. Also having a TE that can threaten the seam is huge against the basic cover-2. Upgrading there would make playing against the zone easier. In general, if you want to know if a QB has enough talent you gage his play against man. If he can play against man, but struggles against a zone then its just an experience thing, not a talent thing. Then you just need to know if the QB is willing to work hard enough and is smart enough. By all accounts, Henne is a hard worker and even Testeverde eventually learned to play against a zone so the intelligence bar is low. I'm not saying that Henne is Einstein, but compared to Testeverde, Henne is at least a Rhodes Scholar. Heck, there are several species of plant life that compare favorably to Testeverde.

As for the rest of the list, I agree its too long. IMO you bring in a new OC, a #2 receiving TE and two running backs (one every down guy and one third down, speed guy). If you have a great opportunity you bring in speed WR to compete with Hartline. But I liked how Hartline was developing so I wouldn't spend big there unless it was somebody to good to pass up. Basically I would like to add two speed components to this offense. I think the TE position is so important that it should be a priority, but you could get by with a speed WR/RB type as long as the OC was clever enough to use him. The key is to get some mis-matches. That's where you get the big plays. Now I also think you bring in a QB, but I don't think this is the year to get an immediate starter. Your going to have to get a guy you develop. They're going to have to do a better job developing him and we are going to have to be patient. The smart thing to do would be to develop him for two years. Now if you see a vet who can compete with Henne, you bring him in. But IMO there isn't much out there that is likely to be much better than Henne would be with a decent OC.

 

Henning doesn't get anything out of his talent. He has a system which is based on a good to very good running game. If he has that, he does okay. If he doesn't, the offense is horrid.

 

thats like saying mike martz doesnt get anything out of his talent unless he has a QB. If you cant give Martz a QB his offenses are horrid too

it is up to the GMs to ensure that when a team hires Martz he has a QB and when a team hires Henning he has a RB and Oline that can run block

If you are hiring Martz to run a running based offense or Henning to run a passing based offense you have failed as a GM

 

Dude give it a rest. Dan Henning is stale here now. The only two people who care about 2008 now are you and the OC. You two are living in the past.
It's funny how you use 2008 as the basis for your arguments defending Henning but that offense was only 21st in scoring with 21 ppg. It is not as if they were setting the world on fire. There was nothing dynamic about them at all. You had a veteran QB who basically managed himself and got it done. When the playoffs came it was the same result. Failure.
I'm not sure you can watch this presser and still keep a straight face when looking at yourself in the mirror. This guy rants and raves about not getting it done and not making the correct changes and he is the coach of the offense. He publicly goes out and throws the Miami Dolphins under the bus in front of our eyes. He hasn't fixed anything in fact as a coach he has done nothing to help this offense be successful. Dan Henning needs to STFU and do his god damn job.
You're still defending that. Wow. I can't understand how anyone in their right mind can take that stance.
Henning is a complete fuggin' nut job.

 

Makes perfect sense because he didn't invent the wildcat, and he couldn't move the ball without it in 2008. And then when he did face teams that would dominate the wildcat, he couldn't move it in a base set (Ravens playoffs game comes to mind).

Henning comes from this nonsensical school of though:

 

Nailed it!

 

You actually said that Henning gets the "most" out of his talent. I don't know how you can say that with a straight face. He plays his system regardless of the talent. He doesn't maximize anything. Just look at the difference in Brown's production in Cam's offense vs. Henning's offense. Brown is a great receiving back so Henning takes him out on third down or uses him to block. RW is great at the counter run so Henning doesn't call many. That one long TD Williams had this year was when he ran it like a counter. Henning had called his typical off-tackle left, but RW saw the cut back opportunity and it resulted in a TD. That's typical Henning. He didn't maximize or even cater to RW's talent. In fact, Henning used him in a way where he gets the least possible out of RW's talent.

 

OMG! You mean a team coming off a 1-15 season didnt win a playoff game? Man he sucks! You and fans like you are just looking for scapegoats. The truth of the matter is building a team takes time. Grooming a QB takes time. But you and the rest of the pitchfork crowd cant be bothered waiting around because you've convinced yourselves that the Dolphins somehow are above this and arent supposed to take time finding players. Every season we are supposed to be 100% in the draft or free agency. We should have been in the playoffs this year for no other reason than its year three and if one team did it in three years we're supposed to do it in three years or its someone's fault. The truth is its no one's fault. Mistakes are made but you grade a team by whether its moving up or down and We are progressing every year and though we built our defense at the expense of our offense we are closer now to having a championship caliber team then we were in 2008 or 2009. We need talent acquisition on offense now to put us over the hump. Changing coaches is just missing the forest for the trees as John Fox found out. At least Tony Sparano gets it. He knows Henning is being set up as the sacrificial lamb to placate a whining fanbase. So be it. Hopefully he doesnt turn to David Lee and instead gets another quality Coryell run heavy, ball control offensive coordinator who has some talent in the Xs and Os department because we arent turning into a pass happy offense, we arent going to run Kubiak's zone blocking schemes, we arent running a west coast offense as long as Sparano and Ireland are here. You want that then fire Sparano and lets start the rebuilding process all over again because apparently the fanbase would rather start over from scratch every three years rather than have the patience to let things develop naturally

 

his sytem in carolina had him throwing deep to smith. his system in miami has us throwing short with henne and pennington. how is it that the two systems were played so differently if he doesnt adjust his system to the players? When he had Theisman in Washington he threw short. When he had Williams in Washington he threw deep. Tell me again how he has one system

as for ronnie and ricky, our offensive line is a mess. the thinking has to be that the counter blocking doesnt work this year soo why run it? as for ronnie, i would like to see more passes thrown to him also but I can understand why you keep him in to block. I would still throw more to Ronnie but that really comes down to how faith you have in your oline

 

he ran the wildcat in carolina when weinke was starting for an injured delhomme in 2006. That was the first time you saw it in the NFL, or at least in the modern NFL

 

Same system, QBs decided to take own shots downfield.

Please explain the lack of Ronnie getting the ball in the open field or using his receiving talents?

Please explain why we don't run 15-20 yard digs/outs/comebacks? Henne is money on those routes. If your answer is cover two, how can a 500000 year vet OC not exploit it? Everytime a player is ask why we don't go deep, the answer is "The defense ran a cover 2 and did a great job of covering us."

Henne, Marshall, Bess, Hartline ALL say it.

Why did Marshall say "Henne does a great job with the plays being called"

Why did Ricky question the play calling on-air?

I don't see how anyone can support Henning, even in 2008 he didn't do that well, our offenses would ALWAYS stall at the end of the game.

 

I'm as patient as they come but when you have a coaching staff that is going backwards it is time to make a change. You can wait till the end of time with Henning and it won't get any better. I'm the one with the scapegoat? You need to go back and watch that video again bro cause Henning is blaming everyone under the sun except himself. The guy is an egomaniac. Do you enjoy his sarcasm about about your favorite team. I don't. Not only is he incompetent as an OC he is a total jerk. He thinks he is funny while he is stepping all over the team in front of the media. Then he returns the favor and defends that moron Sparano. These two need to get a room. Go swap spit on someone else's time and stop ruining this football team. They are two of a kind. Boring and uneventful.

 

Marshall runs comebacks. I have seen outs but most of the time Henne avoids throwing them. Digs not so much but that is probably due to them taking too long to develop and Henne would be throwing to his checkdown by the time the receiver got open. i do agree about throwing more to ronnie. That is a valid complaint IMO and one of the few I have with Henning's playcalling this year also. Props to pointing it out. Most people cant complain about anything other than the wildcat or running a playaction on 3rd and ten which I find irrelevant

and you're right about the two QBs being different. Once Delhomme proved himself to Henning he opened up the playbook. So far henne hasnt proven himself to henning and the playbook remains limited

 

You had the same long patterns in both places. They were the same systems. In Miami you had a young QB that was brow beaten and buzzer conditioned into never taking a chance. If you actually watch Miami's offense you'll see long patterns. They aren't set up well and the QB is usually handicapped with useless play action, but they're there nonetheless. Basically, a QB or a RB can make adjustments if he has enough experience or instincts. But that's the point. Henning doesn't do anything to maximize his player's talent. Its all on the player.

 

the defense has arrived so i'll assume you like nolan and sparano should get half credit for that if we're being fair or 1/3 if you believe sp tms deserves its own 1/3. as to the offense, IMO you have to believe that offensive line is a good run blocking unit, our running backs still have burst and/ or Henne is really a good QB. I dont believe any of that so I cant see how you can blame Sparano or Henning for it. You simply cant make chicken salad out of chicken****

 

so why wasnt delhomme brow beaten? thats my point. henne simply hasnt shown the ability to attack deep intelligently the way Delhomme could. As for deep passes, I see them also and I see Henne checkdown repeatedly. The point however is there were more deep passes in carolina becaause they worked. there are less here because they dont work. if henne started hitting on more, more would be called. Henning has always gone with what's worked. The problem is that Henne is too inconsistent to have any play work reliably on a consistent basis. We have no gimme plays this year other than polite for a one yard gain. That ois the only play that has worked consistently all year. Every other play we run is a crapshoot and its not the cvoaching, its the execution. And I dont have a problem with it because I know it will improve as Henne improves and we add personnel. I just dont see how you can blame Henning. Was Mike Martz to blame in San Fran or was Alex Smith to blame?

 

I don't recall the buzzer being used in Carolina, so that's a factor. It could also be as simple as a personality thing that made Henning trust/like one QB over another. Whatever the reason, the fact remains that Henning had complete control over the offense and he didn't put his QB in a position to succeed. Henning was depending on a running game and when he didn't have one he called plays with almost no chance of success. When you put your QB in a situation with almost no chance to succeed then you deserve the majority of the blame. And yes, Martz is largely to blame for Alex Smith. I have no doubt that if you switched Smith and Rodgers, Rodgers would be be a considered a bust and Smith would be a good to very good starter.

 

I agree with your mentality on this.... but one of our very own ex scouts will probably tell you that 4 years at a major college doesn't necessarily translate to NFL ready experience.

With his injury, Rudolph should be there with our 1st pick if we traded back..... and DJ Williams will probably go from the mid 2nd through the 3rd, which will most likely make him available during our 2nd round pick (if afforded one). I could see Jerrel Jernigan as a 3rd rounder (Jacoby Ford went in the 4th). Little is considered a 3rd-4th rounder b/c he didnt play this year and has less experience at WR than a 1st rounder would need. I could see Hart fetching a 3rd or the 4th we used on him.

I agree that he seems inconsistent, but IMO Sims-Walker suffers from being the #1 in Jax where all the pressure is on him.... as well as coverage. With Marshall on the field, Walker wouldn't be "that" guy anymore and would probably have an outstanding year when seeing more 1 on 1s etc b/c the guy has talent (much more so than Hartline IMO).

Little will sidestep some of the developmental stage b/c he's a serious playmaker. Just like I said about Dez last year: you really just need to find simple ways to get Greg the ball and let him do the rest. The kid's a monster with unreal size, strength, leaping ability, hands, and a killer instinct. He's a WR with a linebacker's mentality who was a good RB at UNC while also playing on their basketball team as a freshman. I'd put him in between Dez and Arrelious Benn as far as 1st year production for unpolished WRs (or WRs who sat out a year). You could move him all around the field and he will produce his rookie year..... plus he's a mauler in the run game. I think he gets enjoyment out of demolishing DBs. Seriously.

The other thing about Little that I like is that he has the talent & potential to take over for Brandon in the future so that we either don't have to shell out the money to re-sign Marshall or can trade him in the least year of his contract for a pick or needed player. I try to draft for future needs as well as creatively solving future problems. I know Jernigan is possibly overkill, but he's one of the guys this draft whom I'm really fond of, and a creative OC should find ways to get all of these guys involved so that defenses have no way of truly preparing for it. If the time comes where Little replaces Marshall as the team's top WR, then Jernigan could blossom into a Steve Smith type to where Little & Jernigan are a quality 1-2 punch IMO.

I love Odrick's upside too...... but how "up" will it be if he suffers another injury to his injury prone leg and never sees the field? Someone already noted that he'll have an 80% chance of re-injuring it or something like that. I try to look at the player I might get for him rather than the round Odrick was drafted in. A 3rd round pick could be a starting RT or QB to compete with Henne. IMO signing McDaniel is a better & safer choice b/c we know what we have with McD.... and it's not like our line missed Odrick this year.

I agree with you here. I'd prefer a vet too, especially with Brandstater as our 3rd..... but if we can't get anyone in FA then a pick has to be in order.

I'd be happy with Bess in the slot as long as we could get a vertical threat like Sims-Walker as our #2..... but that would mean not getting Little as a steal in the 3rd round.... or it would mean making Little the #4 rather than a 2. It would change the dynamics of it b/c Marshall and Bess are slow, non vertical threats, so by default we'd need a legit vertical threat as the other guy if we wan't to open up the field to give Bess and Marshall space to operate in. Little isnt really that. He's close, but possibly a tad too slow. He'll probably be closer to a Brandon Marshall in that regard than a Vincent Jackson. But this is where it's fun to have differences of opinion. For me, I'd move Marshall to the slot if it meant being able to get Little in the 3rd round and field them both together. Everything that makes us fall in love with Davone Bess basically revolves around the crucial plays he makes on 3rd down. But how about on 1st and 2nd down? We don't always pass on those downs...... so on those runs, who would you rather have blocking?---- Bess..... or Marshall? My money's on Marshall. Who has the greater ability to bust a big play between the 2?.... and lastly, who has the bigger body & larger catching radius? If i could find a reason to put Marshall in the slot, then I'd love to do so. I guess the other way you could go would to be to keep Bess in the slot while Little eases into the starting role..... but at some point with Marshall, Little, and a Sims-Walker on the team, Bess is gonna take a back seat to them.

We probably won't end up with some of those studs in FA.... but there should be no excuse for not ending up with at least one playmaking TE & one playmaking WR from the draft. IMO Mankins is the key to it all so that the draft can go towards skill position playmakers rather than using an early pick on Oline.​

 

Wow...I got to hand it to you. I have never seen a fan give so much credit to a coach who has done so little!

I have seen when fans fall in love with a player who is not very good, produces little on the field but then defends that player like a family member, but first time to see it directed towards a coach.