Honestly, I'm all over the place with Henne and whether or not he can be a good QB. On one hand, the playcalling was horrendous, the offensive line took a major step back, and obviously the running game was non-existent. On the other hand, even with conservative play calling, Henne made some terrible decisions, has really bad pocket presence, and seemed to enjoy the conservative play calling (loves to check down). As for the OP's opinion on the running game, while I don't think RB and RW forgot how to run the ball, I don't necessarily think it was the play calling that held them back this year. It was the offensive line. It's was...well offensive. For a line that was talked about as a Top 5 line last year, they were terrible this year and I put all of that on Sparano. You were an offensive line coach and you cut Smiley and Grove (who were hurt, but you knew they were injury prone when you signed them) and you put your faith in Berger, a rookie RG, and a serviceable FA guard in Incognito who cannot pull whatsoever. Ronnie Brown will move on to a new team and if healthy will be a good back for someone (I'm guessing the Pats). Ricky will move on and be a serviceable rotational back for some team (I see him reuniting with the Saints). On to the Sanchez comments. The one positive I see in Mark Sanchez is his pocket presence and elusiveness. The guy can certainly move around in the pocket, for the most part knows when guys are breathing down his neck, and I actually saw him break out of alot of potential sacks and get the ball out of his hand. Outside of that, I don't see much from Sanchez in the way of a Top Tier QB. OK arm, can be very in-accurate at times, makes terrible decisions at times, etc. He had one of the worst passer ratings in the NFL for a starting QB and had a pretty good running game, very good Oline, and ridiculous weapons in the passing game (Edwards, Cotchery, Keller, and Holmes for the 2nd half of the year). Not to mention LT is still very good out of the backfield. I get a little confused when people talk about Sanchez and how much potential he has. If he can't put together a respectable completion percentage and passer rating with that offense, I just don't see how he can be something special. I'm honestly being as un-biased as I can b/c I do hate the Jets, but as I noted, I saw some good things that Sanchez does, I just also see some horrible things that I don't believe are fully correctable. Oh and he also doesn't have the prototypical QB size which is certainly more overrated then it actually means, but tipped balls at the line have alot to do with the QB's size and the trajectory of the ball coming out of his hand.
LOL I completely Understand! (I remember doing the same to the Bills in the early 90's am I awful for cheering the wide right kick? lol) Also I never had real dislike for Miami because even when you were good you were not cocky. (MINUS the perfect season squad, they still make me puke. lol) As for the Sanchez thing, I think he will be an Ok QB, but I have heard a lot of Jet fans complain about their OC as well and blaming him for their Offensive problems. That said all I know is the Jets were suppose to be UNBEATABLE this year and roll to an easy SB victory.. or at least Ryan made it sound that way. So thanks to their cocky attitude I think they replaced NE s the most disliked team in the NFL... and they have one absolutly NADA so far.. THATS IMPRESSIVE! lol
Have you actually watched him play this year? And enough with the dropped INT stat. Do you have his dropped TD's stat too? One sure one by Santonio Holmes comes to mind. Remember that one? Anyone that says he hasn't progressed at all is either a blind homer or a football idiot. No one is going to strip you of your Dolfan status if you acknowledge he has progressed from last year.
Jets have a VERY tough test this weekend in Indy.. I would LOVE see the Jets knock off the Colts as P Manning is the ONLY QB in the AFC scares me.. But I expect the Colts to win by 10.
I think people tend to forget that Sanchez is 24 years old, started only one year in college, started as a rookie, and is in his second NFL year. The most troubling stat is his completion percentage, which is 54.8%. I know people say that you can't improve upon that, but I am not so sure. If you look at the other NY QB, his completion % went like this: 48.2 52.8 57.7 56.1 60.3 62.3 62.9 Obviously Eli was able to improve in that category and I think Sanchez will as well. Bottom line is that I think Sanchez is a QB you can win with. Will he ever be an elite QB? I don't think so. But I also think that you don't need an elite QB to win a championship. Christ, Eli won one and I think he is pretty average. And you can go back and name a bunch of average QB's that have won Super Bowls, no? At this point in his career, Sanchez is not going to elevate a poor team. I agree 100% when you say he would have suffered if he was on Miami this year. He's not the only one though. For example, I don't think Flacco would have made a difference. Ditto Cassel, Schaub, Garrard, Orton or Culter. All of those guys have better stats than Sanchez and if you just replaced Henne with any one of them this year you would have had a similiar result. That's just my opinion. And for my final word on Henne? He can be a QB a team could win with too. I don't think he is terrible.....he just wasn't the type of QB to elevate a poor Miami team (poor offensively - I like your defense). And to make matters worse, your coaching staff was too nutless to just let him wing it. With the way your run blocking was this year, I would have had Henne spreading the field and throwing the ball 40 times a game. How much worse of a result can you get than 7-9? So when someone says "Henne isn't the answer at QB", they are correct to the extent that he isn't good enough to overcome the other offensive deficiencies of your team. And to blame a 3rd year (2nd year starting) QB for that is pretty rough. Again - just my opinion. Now can we get off of Sanchez's nuts please
Cassel didn't play in college at all really and he turned out OK. College is overrated!!! LOL I think Manning scares a lot of teams. But correct me if I am wrong, if Indi wins and KC wins, NE plays KC correct? I actually am rooting for KC, thats a cool story and I always liked them from when they had Okoye...the Nigerian Nightmare!!!!!!!
Thats right we would face KC, and Indy face Pitt. AND IF that happened I predict a Pitt @ NE AFCCG game.
Yes, no way KC beats the Patriots, but I hope KC beats Baltimore, that would be cool. I do not have an issue with NE winning, this is Belichik's best year coaching and Brady has solidified himself and top 5 all time, if not #1. His numbers are staggering, considering the supporting cast especially. Two rookie tight ends, a less than 100% Wes Welker, Branch was nothing in Seattle and the RBs are undrafted FAs. AMAZING!! Absolutely AMAZING!
Trust me I am enjoying these times, because when Brady and BB go we will be back down in the dumps.. I guess sort of like when Shula and Marino retired from Miami... It is going to be hard for anyone to replace those shoes in Miami as it will be for anyone replace our 2 in NE.
Thats at least 3-4 years away and your ownership is strong (I saw Kraft on the Apperntice, LOL). I think you will be OK for years to come. Unfortunately...he he.
Auburn, Very True, but I still feel the Phins are not that far away from being a very good team. Get a decent OC, and if Henne is either a Bust or broken beyond repair a good smart Young QB and I think you are 99% there. The Phins have a good to very good D. Like my OP said I can't figure out if it is Henne or the terrible play calling that made your O so bad this year. (AND FYI The wildcat fools no one anymore so stop it! lol) So I say within 2-3 years you could challenge for the AFC East (if not sooner) I think with a few tweeks you could be 2nd in the AFC East next year. Not hating on the Jets but they have a LOT of key players in FA after this year and they could have a noticeable drop off in O performance. (Not to mention the D is not as good as it was even a year ago.)
We are far away too, need a new running attack, O coordinator at least and probably new overall philosophy. The D is OK. I agree that we are closer to the Jets than the Jets are closer to you.
You just need a better O line for the running attack (IMO Of course). I agree with your O philosophy as well, it felt like the Phins always played it safe and in the AFC East with BB and Rex Ryan that will kill you!! (I am betting combined BB and Ryan went for more 4th downs than the entire league combined lol) And you are very close to the Jets IMO, and like I said no Jet haing (although I do hate them lol) they were built for a 1 year run, (Holmes,Edwards FA, Greene an Ok back, and LDT on the way down) and right now it appears that will fall short.
Yeah, that Jets unit is super combustible, and what is the over under of arrests after their 1st round game? LOL. Although they lead the league in total kids / player.
I agree with pretty much all of this. It's essentially what I think. My comments were derived from the Jets fan claiming that Sanchez took the Jets to the playoffs last year and this year. Sanchez is serviceable. Makes some good throws, like the fade to Holmes. He also has some questionable decisions, evidenced by the 13 dropped picks. Yes, he also had at least the one dropped td, but that doesn't factor into bad decisions by him. LOL
