Henne should start over Penny =P

I think so too. I've always had the opinion that it would be Henne time once we are out of postseason contention. Unless Pennington was playing lights out and we were losing because of defense.

But that was based on the assumption that Pennington is the best QB on the roster. Is that still the case? Hard to tell.

 

Like I said in an earlier post I don't care who starts as Pennington has done well I think, however I think Henne has the mental toughness to survive rough games. I base this off of his being a 4 year starter at Michigan where the pressure was always on to win. Also remember that last year at Michigan the backup Mallett was challenging Henne for the starting job because Henne was having injuries and struggling a bit. "How did Henne respond?"; he went and put a beat down on Florida in Michigan's bowl game.

Although I wasn't originally thrilled when Henne was drafted (because of the pressure Mallett presented too him as starter at Michigan) he has impressed me. I think he has that special something in the confidence department and the only things I question are his overall football skills. I'll never say never because of what happened to Beck (who I still wouldn't mind getting another shot) but I think Henne could handle the pressure of being the starting QB.

 

I think this is the same thing me and you were discussing in the other thread a couple days ago. Pennington may be the best QB on the roster but is he the best fit? I don't think so.

 

Just got back from the game (after a local pub pit stop) and yes, Henne was much better, but hard to say if he got the start he would face the exact same scenario.

That said, if we are a team to trail....Pennington is not the answer...if we inflict our will an control the game, perhaps he would be best to manage, but no doubt once behind by 2 or more scores, Pennington is not what we need.

P.S. FFiC, AZFF, OrangeFF, and all the others, had a blast meeting you all. Dolphin Nation is strong and well represented.

 

After the posts i've seen today, this one is like a prayer answered.

 

Screw this talk of starting Henne over Penny. What we really need to do is re-sign Zach Thomas to play Free Safety!

 

I should qualify my earlier statement with - I would prefer for Pennington to be a full time starter this season, but with the offense being largely non-existent the first seven and 3/4 quarters of the season they need a spring to life.

 

It seems Pennington thinks too much and hold onto the ball too long in the pocket, hes too indecisive. It seems Henne knows the play and where his WRs are going to be, he throws on instinct, he gets the ball out in the hurry, before the rush can elude him, its a nice zip. Those are pretty good qualities to have at this level, they're dare I say, Marino-like.

 

The Patriots were a 5-11 team before Tom Brady was put in. And I'm pretty sure he came in when the team was 0-1.

They had Troy Brown as a vet, but their offensive line and defense couldn't have been that good if they went 5-12 prior to Brady.

Good QBs make the whole offense better (and defense). You can see exactly what I'm talking about just by watching the Pats' first 2 games and preseason. That offense looks so mediocre without Brady, but when Brady's there it breaks all kinds of records. The Oline looks better, the Receivers break records, etc. (and a good offense keeps the defense off the field and fresh)

And I agree. You can't compare Beck last year to Henne this year. The 8 minutes that Henne played today looked better than anything Beck did all of last year.

Yeah, I know it was garbage time, but he looked pretty good. He doesn't look scared and he plays calm. Remember too...This guy was a 4 year starter at Michigan in a pro-style offense. He's wayyyy ahead of where Beck was at this time last year, and ahead of Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco in terms of being NFL ready IMO.

 

I also feel that Beck was never properly prepared to start at all. He was the third string QB all of last year and never really got any meaningful time with the first string before he was thrown in.

Henne has had time with the first team. He does seem to have a mental and physical toughness that speaks well toward his ability to start now. The fact that he was a four-year starter in college helps, too.

I'm a little torn on this issue, too, but I like what I saw from Henne. Not so much the rest of the game...

 

I really don't want Henne to start yet. I'd rather that Pennington keeps starting and keeps taking the heat for a little longer. But Henne should be in on every game now. They should really go to a 2 QB system and mix and match it up. Everyone knows Pennington has a reputation for weak arm strength. No one is afraid of his deep ball and that really hurts us.

I like the idea of Pennington starting each game. He does a couple of series, gets nowhere and then Henne comes in and gets to be the big savior. I think it's a great way to boost our rookie without puttng all the pressure on him that being a starter would bring. I think Pennington should be our starter in name only. Anyway that's my two cents.

 

The sit and learn scheme seemed to work well for Aaron Rogers.

 

Everyone thought that Beck was mentally tough, also. Not saying Henne isn't, just saying that it's hard to know.

 

I don't know these guys on any type of personal level, but if I've ever seen 2 different types of personalities it's Beck and Henne.

IMO, Beck has that 'I want everyone to like me and scared to disappoint mentality', whereas Henne has that Tom Brady/'I don't give a damn, I know I'm good' mentality. The latter of which I'd rather in a QB.

 

I dont' want Henne to learn how to throw floaters out there!!!!!

 

Jeff George had that same mentality. And a rocket arm. Just sayin!

 

There's always exceptions. Dan Marino had that mentality too. So did John Elway and as much as I'd hate to say this...Brett Favre

 

I'm all for Henne starting...just not yet. And its not about hurting his psyche ( he's a lot tougher mentally than Beck) or letting the oline gell more (the oline may not be great but its good enough to stick him back there). I think he just needs some more time to learn the playbook and watch a bit more of the NFL defenses on the sideline and filmroom. By week 10, maybe sooner I would like to see us switch to our future QB

 

IMO Beck never had it to begin with. Henne on the other hand has the right mental makeup as well as the physical tools to succeed. He still has alot to work on in his game to become a good QB but he has the foundation on which you can work, whereas Beck's foundation was so shhaky it was inevitable that the house would come crashing down. That said, the time for Henne to start is still a ways off. He doesnt know enough of the playbook or have enough experience with NFL defenses to start. Give him another month or two on the bench to absorb as much as he can and then throw him in. He'll make his mistakes but at least he'll understand a bit more of whats going on

 

say what you want about Jeff George, he had some very good years with the Vikings when he finally got some talent around him.

 

I'm on the "it's much too early" wagon... to early because I think it would cause him to regress instead of move forward. He'll get his chance when the time is right... Patience is a virtue.

 

Wait a few more weeks and start him against Houston. No sense in throwing him to the wolves against NE and SD.

 

Beck never has impressed me. From last preseason on i've never seen anything special about him. Henne has impressed from the first time he took the field. He has that special something about him. i think the kid is a winner.

Jeff George would be a HUGE improvement over anything we've had going on down here for years.

 

Except that D is not the D he'll face as the starter...at the point yesterday when Henne came in, they had established the LOS and eliminated the run game...all they had to do, as a D, was keep everything in front of them...too many times, you see a young or backup QB come in and have 'success' moving the ball and it's all because the score is already out of reach..not necessarily because the QB is better than the starter...Don't get too excited by one scoring drive...Henne has a long way to go...

However, if the season continues on like this, putting him in as the starter about mid-season won't be such a bad idea, if they feel he's ready by then...

 

As I said elsewhere to me its more about the coaches having the IF to let him grow , no matter what, and stick with him once he's in that will make the difference.

For someone who was known as a QBcoach Cam's handling of John Beck was criminal and he should have been shot. Sure John had it bad against the Bills but to pull him like he did (Do you remember the look on Beck's face walking off the field, and this is just seconds after he gets the snot knocked out of him, the guy was pissed as I would have been). To top that off Cam calls a roll out for Lemon on the very first play?? and nothing like that for John the plays before. It's one thing to question your own ability but far worse when your boss doesn't back you up after throwing you to the wolves to begin with!

So if we go the Henne now road the coaching staff had damn well better not come out with 4 weeks later "We are going back with Penny because he gives us the best chance to win" BS. I will write them off as being no better than last years screw ups. In fact they will be worse because they will have last year staring them in the face all year long!

 

History dictates that Pennington will miss a couple of games due to injury at some point this season. Henne will get his chance then. He needs to watch and learn until then.

One more thing to remember is... the Cardinals had no film of Chad Henne to prepare for him. They prepared for Penne. When teams get enough film of Henne is when it's going to get tough for him, and he'll get a taste of what it's like to be a real NFL QB. You have to be able to beat 11 guys who know everything about you as a player.

Henne had a slight advantage being an unknown Sunday.

 

Still with the Beck excuses? How would we know if Cam called a similar roll out type play with Beck in the game? Beck couldn't hang onto the ball long enough for us to see what plays were called. Beck deserved to be pulled in that game. When you can't handle a snap, you don't deserve to play. I guess that's part of your point though. He wasn't ready, and shouldn't have been in the game.

 

I guess I will chime in on this...I personally think that Henne should get the nod but not till the bye week, that way Henne is able to get more time with the first string during the break. Henne will allow us to be able to open the field more where with Pennington didn't. Henne will be able to give us more options with the offense. As far as Henne Psych is concerned I think he seems to have IT. Playing in MI definitly helped him be prepared for a more Pro offense and I don't necessarily mean running the offense but rather the grits it takes to play the postion.

 

No not excusing anything except that if Henne makes mistakes, as I'm sure he will, that he doesn't get the same treatment as our other 2nd round QB pick to whom I remind you most everyone on this board, the old board and most anyother Dolphins board you can name, wanted started last year after TG went down.

If you want to call that Beck excuses, so be it, but if they throw Henne into the fire and he messes up my guess is that there will be alot of fans claming "Henne excuses" who now say he's our next Marino. Just as last year was claimed by those same for Beck.

Like it or not I've always liked Beck and I've seen nothing to change my mind about him. Talk about fumbles, balls slipping out, bad passes, and bad snaps/hand offs all you want; this last weekend alone we've seen the so call best in the game as well as future stars do the very same thing more than once that you claim are "Beck excuses" who are on much better teams than John Beck has had the fortune to play with or be coached by. So Tony Romo, Donovan McNabb, and Jay Cutler, among others need to be pulled for their play this last Sunday? Or or you making excuses by not holding others up to a standard that you only hold on John Beck? Remembering that those QBs play on way better teams that at this point in time and coached way better than John was last year.

 

Im sure its been discussed at length in this thread, but SO MANY comments made here are eerily similar to the ones regarding Beck last year.

 

I'm sorry, but comparing Beck's mistakes to those QBs you mention is just a terrible comparison and / or a huge reach. Whatever you want to call it.

First - The QBs you mentioned lost control of the ball on botched handoffs, or pass attempts. Beck couldn't and still has trouble getting the ball into his hands on the snap. HUGE difference between not being able to handle the snap and fumbling a hand off or losing the ball during a throw.

Second - All the QBs you mentioned, in the very same game, threw for plenty of yards or TDs to make up for those mistakes. Beck did nothing. Showed no flashes of potential. No deep passes, no poise in the pocket. Just a few completed check downs.

HOWEVER, I agree with you 100% that we need to be ready to accept mistakes if and when Henne gets the nod, because he will make them. I for one, have no problem forgiving rookie mistakes, as long as there are some flashes of potential and some good things mixed in with those mistakes. For instance, if Chad Henne throws a TD and has 150 - 250 yards passing, we can forgive a fumble/int or two. If he throws 2 picks, fumbles several times, and throws from 50 - 100 yards, there should be cause for concern just like there was with Beck. Of course, there's no exact science to this but you get the idea. Peyton Manning made plenty of mistakes his rookie year, but anybody watching him that year could tell that he was going to develop into something special.

 

You are right about one thing it was a terrible comparison (we could add Brett to that list), everyone of those guys have tons of experence as pros while John was a rookie in his third start on a very bad team. Shame on them!!

My whole original premise was that you can't put him in and then jerk him out just because he messes up no matter how bad unless you are willing to throw the towel in on the guy. I was using John as an example, nothing more, while stating that it would only do a disservice to Henne. Funny you should bring up Peyton as I was living in Knoxville at the time and it was widely reported that Peyton had several talks with his Dad and older brother about if it was worth what he was going thru. I think, had that HC pulled Peyton that year we would be looking at a totally different person although my guess is that, you will disagree with that statement.

 

I remember seeing Peyton here in miami in I think his 2nd year. Dannie was still at the helm and the dolphins had a solid win over the Colts. Peyton made a lot of mistakes but you could see on some throws that the kid was a gunslinger. He didn't win the game, he made lots of mistakes but he showed real potential. That is what i don't see in Beck and do see in Henne.

I think at some point this year that Henne willl be ready to be our starter. And we're still going to lose games. But I think we'll see enough in Henne to continue with him.

From the moment that Wannstache took over we've been in a slow decline. Really bad draft decisions and bad coaching and inconsistant coaching have led to this team being the worst in the league. It took us years to get to the bottom and it'll take us years to get back to respectability. But i think that Tuna and company have started making the right personnel moves to get us on the right track. now all we need is Sparano to stop making rookie coach istakes and we're well on our way.