I think this is spot on !!!

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/01/18/2020840/chad-henne-needs-miami-dolphins.html

good article!

Nice to see there are a few more believers out there. Number 7 its up to you to pull yourself up by the bootstraps, believe in your self and prove the critics wrong.

This article rings true in many ways. No matter how inconsistent Sanchez plays, Rex Ryan always has his back. No matter how many costly interceptions he throws in tight games, Rex Ryan backs him up. When he fails to lead his offense to even a single touchdown in a game, Ryan is still behind him. It makes you wonder how Henne would look if our coaches had shown a little more faith in him. Rather than playing it safe we could have instead sent Henne out there to go for the jugular, teach the kid some killer instinct. I personally hope Henne gets another shot, I would love to see him prove everyone wrong and really shine for us in the new system. I'd love to see Henne play with a full supporting cast like Sanchez has. I'd almost be willing to bet that had Henne started out with New York that the Jets would be a better team now than they are with Sanchez. Like the article says, sometimes it takes faith and support of the staff to make a quarterback believe in himself and realize his potential. You look at all the greats, at one point or another someone believed in them enough to make them great.

What I have said all along.

Been saying for a while that this offseason will be the turning point in Henne's career if he does what is necessary. He wasn't going to fix what was wrong during the season. He needs to become the leader of the team. He played like Sparano coached...afraid of losing their job. His Wrs obviously lost confidence in him and didn't say much to support him. He needs to change their tune in the coming months.

And the coaching staff needs to trust him.

Let's all hold hands around the campfire now. Ready " kumbaya ........."

Thank you for your productive comment to this post.

I agree totally but we still need to bring in a veteran QB and give him some real competition (not Pennington). I'm not in love with anyone of these QB's in this draft to use our 1st pick with. Now if we move down some spots, get our 2nd rounder back and one of the top 4 is still around in the 20's then I say go for it so we at least have a QB for the future.

Dan Le Batard...one of the few that gets it.

i don't think the coach having confidence is henne's problem. he has a number of flaws that will put him in a long line of mediocre to average qb's.

bad pocket presence
very slow
not evasive
doesn't make necessary pre snap adjustments
locks on the receivers
has accuracy problems at times
horrible, mind numbing interceptions that always seem to come at worst time
terrible play action fake
doesn't see the field good enough
bad long ball


to me he seems a tad slow in about every aspect of his game. and in the nfl a half a second is the difference between winning and losing.

You are welcome.

He sure as hell didn't get it last week when he went on his retarded Ross/Sparano rant.

that is a good read......maybe things will change this upcoming season. Sporano is probably going to make some changes in how he coaches, and Daboll may be able to instill more confidence in Henne especially with the owner wanting the playbook opened up more?

It certainly does seem like Sanchez gets more public support from the Jets then what Henne gets from Miami.

Here are a few responses by Dolphin fans commenting on that same article that Dan Le Bartard wrote:

I am not quite as harsh, but really comparing Henne and Sanchez means nothing to me. Sanchez has won 4 playoff games, youngest quarterback ever to do so and he wins big games and in the AFC Championship back to back seasons AND this is only his second season. Henne has done neither.

See comments below.


•You are a horrible beat writer, get a new job, henne is a joke and anyone that believes other wise are nobodies and idiots. You cant see that henne is horrible, he has no winning or game winning drive capabilities, deal with it, henning did not tell him to check down every play, henne did that, and its funny how a conservative QB can find a way to still throw 19 ints and somehow a conservative QB throws the ball multiple times into double and triple coverage, he is the worst conservative QB ive ever seen, he needs to sign a contract with the CFL because im tired of watching him fumbling around and making horrible reads, missing wide open receivers, not detecting 1 on 1 coverage on brandon marshall and then when he does recognize it he still doesnt pull the trigger, im just done watching him lose miami games, time for a new start with a new QB.
(Edited by author 19 hours ago)

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32 people liked this. Like ReplyReply • TylerJames Today 09:31 AM in reply to tdub_7201

Completely well said. And honestly, what a week to write a piece comparing Sanchez to Henne. The ONLY statistic about that which counts for anything this week is the one that says the Jets are in the championship game again while we, as usual, must watch from our usual position out of the play-offs. Dan, I truly hope you are just playing devil's advocate here and not convinced that Henne is our man - if you are I'll be reading you even less than I'll be watching the Dolphins next year


Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/01/18/2 ... z1BRQqz3Uo

That comment isn't well said at all... that's a comment made by someone who clearly didn't get the point of the article...

It was a good read and I've often wondered to myself what Henne would be like if our coaching staff actually trusted him... *sigh* maybe one day we'll find out.

IamPZ, I hears ya, but I would say the vast majority of dolphin fans don't want to hear excuses or woulda, coulda, shoulda, scenarios involving Henne and there was a level of comparison to Sanchez and lets face it better completion and QB ratings pale in comparison to what Sanchez has done and accomplished vs the non-accomplishments of Henne.

Perhaps Henne will get a legit chance to keep his starting job next year as that isn't for me to judge, but I would say the bets are more towards him being on the bench with another QB in place. That might very well be the confidence that the coaches don't have in Chad Henne and especially when winning and losing is everything and whether or not Sparano will put his chips on him again.

Excellent post. Even when Sanchez was having a miserable game against Miami, he still showed a fighting spirit and made some very good throws (TD perfectly thrown that was dropped) and pocket awareness (ducking the blitz of Bell) whereas, Henne needs everything to go perfect to make a play. If his primary is covered..he finds the only place on the field he can be sacked. If he tries to scramble...he looks stuck in molasses. He takes his eyes off downfield, tucks the ball and then either gets sacked or slides 10yds before contact. While I hope he snaps out of it, it is all too characteristic of losing QBs.

lost22coast wrote:i don't think the coach having confidence is henne's problem. he has a number of flaws that will put him in a long line of mediocre to average qb's.

bad pocket presence
very slow
not evasive
doesn't make necessary pre snap adjustments
locks on the receivers
has accuracy problems at times
horrible, mind numbing interceptions that always seem to come at worst time
terrible play action fake
doesn't see the field good enough
bad long ball


to me he seems a tad slow in about every aspect of his game. and in the nfl a half a second is the difference between winning and losing.

Pretty darn good assessment of Henne.

Yep....lost22coast pretty much nailed it. Henne is a backup QB at best. The sooner the team figures that out and plans to move on, the better. Maybe they can screw up in reverse, do horrible, get the #1 pick in the draft in 2012 and get Luck for our franchise QB?

Reality is this:

Whoever we bring in for Qbs this year will not beat out Henne

We are not going to ever be able to draft Luck

Henne will be the starter and our success will hinge on the supporting cast on offense. All areas need to improve and Henne needs to gain some confidence and go with his instincts.

We can speculate on all the other FA Qbs but reality is they are no better than Henne. Orton is probably the only possible available improvement and I don't see him in a Phins uniform.

Hopefully we draft well and sign FAs that improve this team dramatically.

Dolfanar: Perhaps Henne will win out the starting QB spot, who knows that is for the coaches to determine, but I will say that in my opinion that he will really need to leap ahead of the competition to earn that right and that is assuming in the off season we bring in a starting caliber QB to compete.

There are a few names that could push him aside: Orton (starting to feel that Fox may not let him go) Vince Young and possibly Kolb, but your right in the sense that it could be slim pickens and Miami could have to hang their hat on Henne again in 2011.

I hope the guy has a light bulb go off in his head and turns into that QB the coaches, teammates and fans were hoping when he was drafted. Unfortunately, there is this huge dark rain cloud hanging over Chad's head and it is ready to burst on his career anytime now.

Let's hope that all clears up and the sun shines on his abilities.

All this love for Sanchez... yet people ignore the fact that he has worse stats than Henne...

I know stats aren't everything... but stick Sanchez in with this supporting cast / coaching staff and you could easily argue that he wouldn't do any better.

Saying that the coaches having confidence in him has nothing to do with it is just being naive. No matter if you're 5 years old or 55 years old... it makes things so much better if you know someone is there to have your back... to show confidence in you...

I have this horrible feeling we're never going to find a QB under this regime...

Henne’s strong arm didn’t help him in the long ball regard: He completed just 10 of 40 passes of at least 20 yards, tied with Alex Smith for the second-worst among starters, behind Matt Cassel (.245 percent). By comparison, Young was at 45 percent (16 for 35), Orton at 37 percent (27 for 73) and McNabb at 33 percent (20 for 60). FYI: Henne also was second-to-worst in passes batted down (16), one fewer than Sam Bradford.

http://www.miamiherald.com/201...i-dolphins.html

This is how I feel and I've never been a big Chad Henne fan. And this is why I think drafting another QB with the same coaching staff we have is a waste of money, time and people.

By Dan Le Batard
dlebatard@MiamiHerald.com

This is not fake magic with smoke and numbers. This is not statistics lying. This is the black-and-white truth measured in the only empirical way we do measurements in this sport:

In his first two years, the Dolphins’ Chad Henne has been a more accurate passer who has thrown for more yards and been statistically better than the New York Jets’ Mark Sanchez.

Sanchez has completed 54.4 percent of his passes for 5,735 yards, 29 touchdowns, 33 interceptions and a 70.2 passer rating. Henne has completed 61.1 percent of his passes for 6,246 yards, 27 touchdowns, 33 interceptions and a 75.3 passer rating.

One of them is viewed as a Sexy Winner; the other is viewed as a Boring Failure.

How?

Why?

Let’s rewind for a moment. There was another University of Michigan quarterback who was once unproven and drafted outside of the first round. But his coach trusted him in an uncommon way. The team got a lucky bounce on a rule that has since been fixed and stumbled to the Super Bowl, where it found itself tied late against the heavily favored Rams. Up in the broadcast booth, an old champion coach named John Madden implored Bill Belichick to run out the clock and play for overtime. This was wise with a young quarterback, he told the nation.

But that’s not how Belichick does business. On the biggest stage, in the biggest moment, Belichick trusted a quarterback who had thrown only one touchdown pass the entire postseason. One. And that’s the moment that Tom Brady became Tom Brady and Belichick became Belichick and the Patriots became the Patriots.

Quarterbacks, not unlike children, are products of their environment, their upbringing. They need to be nurtured when young and surrounded by support (running game, solid receivers, protection, faith). This is how confidence is built in just about any workplace, by having bosses who trust you and help you and groom you before you are ready. You have people who believe in you before you believe. Then you start stacking successes atop each other. Then you start to believe for yourself.

Compare that with how Henne has been raised here. First, just before Bill Parcells fled the scene of the crime, a couple of reporters close to Parcells reported that Parcells was very disappointed with Henne.

It wasn’t Parcells’ fault, see? The legendary Parcells, who hasn’t won a playoff game in more than a decade, obviously did his job before quitting. It isn’t his fault that the most important position in sports hadn’t been filled. It is Henne’s fault for not growing, for not being what the genius knew he should and would be. This had to make Henne feel very good, very supported, as Parcells fled the premises out the back door.

Once Parcells left, so too did the idea of job security among Dolphins management types. So what did his left-behind friends do? Ran for cover. They tried to save their own jobs by putting in Chad Pennington. This made Henne cry.

His bosses, rather obviously, rather publicly, didn’t believe in him. Gave up on him. This is the kind of thing that happens when people work like they are afraid to lose their jobs. It is hard to see clearly when scared, and it is hard to exhibit vision when you aren’t seeing clearly. The blueprint doesn’t get followed when it is in shaking hands.

The Dolphins then played scared from the top down – coaches infecting players with a conservative approach, everyone terrified to turn the ball over, celebrating field goals like Mardis Gras. The Dolphins, the last month of the season, playing at home against bad teams, led the league in whatever the opposite of swagger is. The handcuffed offense was being run in a gas station bathroom and producing a similar stench. A lonely Henne couldn’t have felt like he had a single ally.

Compare this with what was happening with the Jets. Sanchez, like most young quarterbacks, was struggling and learning. He had some very bad games. But his bosses didn’t fear for their own jobs. They didn’t go to the 18-year veteran backup after losing, 45-3.

They didn’t tighten up. They kept faking punts and going for it on fourth and short and opening up the offense late in tight games, asking their quarterback to win it for them. This management team invited pressure from the moment it talked loud on HBO’S Hard Knocks, figuring it would help the kid grow. There were reasons to doubt Sanchez as he threw interceptions in some very important games, as his boss was swallowed by a tabloid feeding frenzy, but Rex Ryan stayed with his guy and his belief.

You think Henne was bad down the stretch in the regular season? He wasn’t as bad as Sanchez. Henne threw seven touchdowns, four interception and fumbled three times in his last five games; Sanchez threw two touchdowns, six interceptions and fumbled five times in his last five games.

The difference?

Sanchez had more help surrounding him – from the top on down.

And the result?

He just had his best game of the season, beating the 14-2 Patriots on the road with three touchdowns, 194 yards and a season-high 127.3 passer rating. He now has as many road playoff victories as any quarterback ever – a young man stacking successes atop each other at an impressionable age.

This while Henne wonders if he still has a career here. In his last game against those Patriots, Henne lost, 38-7, and was yanked in and out of the game.

Sanchez doesn’t have a magical ability to win important games or key moments; no quarterback does, though too many of them get credit for that. Too many variables go into winning. As footballoutsiders.com points out, Peyton Manning is 6-5 in playoff games since 2005 and Brady is 5-5. Either Aaron Rodgers or Jay Cutler, questioned about winning when it matters, is about to play in a Super Bowl.

But Sanchez is getting faith and wins at a crucial time in his development while Henne gets yet another offensive coordinator and an extension for a shamed coach who doesn’t believe in him.

There isn’t much of a difference between the teams in a league that legislates parity. Every week, one-score games are decided by a bounce or a replay. Heck, the only game Henne won toward the end of the season was in New York over Sanchez.

Yet the Jets are having maybe their most exciting and interesting season ever while the Dolphins appear to be in disarray.

You can yell and scream at the robot at quarterback if it makes you feel better.

Or you can wonder about the short-circuiting program around which he has been built.

I'm a big believer in that all decisions come from the top. Almost all the credit and the blame goes to the Head Coach. Chad Henne could become a "winning" QB for us but it would take a sea change in Sparano.

Hopefully the new OC will adjust the foolish calling of play action passes and the lack of a running game and will put Chad Henne into situations where he can do well.

My level of hope is at almost a all time low.

We should use Thigpen and Henne to limp to another 7-9 season and then turn over a young team to a new coaching staff.

I do think Sparano knows very well that he is coaching for his job this year. The question is will he loosen up or squeeze even tighter?

He and Ross needs to get together and decide to spend whatever it takes to get as many good players here as possible.

I'm not a Henne fan but I think if we get a new OC and QB coach and Sparano leaves them alone with Henne he can be a good QB.

It was amazing the way Henne and Thigpen was used and the plays they were expected to run. You are supposed to find what a player is good at and bad at and you do what he is best at most and try not to do what he is poor at. We tended to do the wrong things with both QB's.

I complained earlier this year about our poor use of play action passes. In the last week a local reporter broke down not only do our QBs, RBs and OL barely carry out a ball fake, but they run them at stupid times. Henne had a very very high rate of interceptions during those "3rd and 8" play action passes.

Just look at how Thigpen played well when he had no reps with the first team and was not being coached or told what to do and what not to do. Marshall and Thigpen got together to talk about routes in a way that Marshall and Henne never did. The only time he had two days to practice before he played in a game, Henning had him run only the plays that were not right for him. No roll outs, no called QB runs, spread formations etc.

Normally people would say that our coaches were playing too careful and not to win but I think they really coached our team to lose.

Instead I'd add mass team speed to WR, TE and RB. In the last 3 years we passed on maybe 30 WR's that are better and faster then ours. And 15 TEs and 20 plus RBs.

We need to be able to make big plays and scare other teams instead of having them know that we will never threaten to outscore them.

In 5/7 loses at home, we had the ball at the end of the game on offense. It was up to Henne to either tie or win the game. He lost all 5.

That worries me.

Great Point. Look , I dont kniw why Sanchez's name still comes up in a Henne thread. Sure stats will bear out that they are somewhat even but while as Dolphin fans all we have to hang onto is stats because reality is something we take pretty hard. There were also questions about Roethlisberger early in his career when he started out 15-1 but only threw the ball 15 or so times a game because of Bettis & the Offensive line. While the Sanchez / Henne debate is close on stats Henne was a 4 year starter in college & had the luxury to ride the bench his first year & learn behind a great "mentor" in Pennington (remember that). While Sanchez I think had something like 15 college starts & was made the starter in his rookie year. Now I am not saying that Sanchez is Brady or Manning here but I want a guy who is clutch & who has learned to win.
To one up the great point that was made by the above post , in the last 2 seasons we needed to win 1 game of our remaining 3 to have a playoff shot. Those games were winable yet we lost all 6 & while you take a loss as a team , Henne was just awful.
I think his chances to excel as a Dolphin have been stymied by this staff & after the benching he is better suited to try to resurrect his career elsewhere.
Stats being the same if our young QB was playing in his second straight AFC championship game we would be making that point emphatically. We seem to be still making a case as fans why we should not give up on Henne & we make that point for whatever reason by always bringing Sanchez into the conversation but as fans how can we justify not giving up on Henne when our coach already has.
To the point that other teams have given their QB's a better cast to work with , why fault them for that. Alot of us have great faith in the guys who are picking the players here. You would think it might start to show in wins & losses.

Because the long ball is not necessarily about arm strength.

So Henne became a one man offense and offensive coach at the end of those games? He had to do it alone? Make all the plays and even call them?

Interesting.

Interesting article, it makes some good assessments. BUT it's only part of the equation .... as it does fail to mention that Sanchez had the added advantage of not only a solid (ranked #4) rushing attack (and therefore by definition the added bonus of play action), but he also had an offensive line that protected him extremely well. You could argue that Henne had neither, as we abandondened the running game way too early in most games this season (for one reason or another), and our 1-dimensionality on offense pretty much meant Henne was running for his life, being hurried and pressured in his throws and decision-making.

Now get the 2 QB's to swap teams (hypothetically) ... and there is NO way that Sanchez would have played any better than Henne with our Offense (and play-calling) this season.

So whilst their stats seem to be similar, Sanchez continues to gain support, confidence (and wins) primarily due to his supporting cast and game calling ... and Henne is regressing for the exact same reasons.

Yeah, I laughed at that.

Just watched some youtube videos of Henne (highlights of 2009) and a replay of the Baltimore game in 2010. Amazing to see the difference in confidence and throwing mechanics. In 2009 it he looked confident and was "throwing" the ball (even if they were mostly fastballs). In the Baltimore game it looked like he made his throwing motion more compact and was aiming the ball. Also looked jittery and did not move around as much (the 2009 video had him rolling out, avoiding pressure and making plays).

2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TERnwoqnmLk

2010

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giMXRwtc3sk

this one is funny because everything is backward and he looks like he's throwing lefty

This is a great observation. "Aiming the ball" sums it up perfectly...think of the picks by Nincovich or whatever his name is...it was ugly to watch, and not the Chad Henne I saw in 09.

Its basically what we all learn as a kids playing baseball. A nice natural throw to first base gets there accurately. Trying too hard to aim the ball distracts from your comfort zone and often times you are overthrowing or one hopping it to the first basemen. Never noticed it before but when the replays slowed it down it became obvious.