A real question - When to bench Henne?

[Brian Fein]

guys - let's be realistic when discussing a timeline here.  Look at our schedule...

@ Buffalo - this should be a win, a good warmup game
@ Minnesota - This team took the Super Bowl champs to overtime in the NFC Title game.  In their house.
Jets - the unanimous media decision for "most improved" and some people's pick to win the AFCE
New England - Always a tough opponent and perennial title contender
@ Green Bay - Probably the best team in the NFC in their house.
Pittsburgh - good team, will have Big Ben back by then
@ Cincinnati - decent team, not the best, but not an easy game on the road
@ Baltimore - good luck against these guys, best defense in the league
Tennessee - League-leading rusher and improved play at the end of the year last year leads to a better season.

I could see a realistic opportunity for the Dolphins to start the first 9 games 1-8.  The second half of the schedule eases up a bit, but the first half is possibly one of the hardest in football.

So, let's be easy when establishing these time lines.

[jtex316]

I think they could also drop the first game @ Buffalo! On the road, new corps of RBs and an improved defense / coaching staff could see the Bills come out pumped up for their first regular season game. Don't sleep on the Bills - they've looked FAR superior to the dolphins in their preseason games.

[Spider-Dan]

Let's be sure that we understand what we're talking about, here:

Benching Henne, at this point, means you need to replace him.  Period.  I cannot recall a single instance of a young QB being handed the starter's role, being benched for his poor play in favor of a veteran backup, and then turning out to have a productive career later on.

At this point, we either need to ride Henne or trade for/draft a replacement.  Talk of switching to Pennington seems pointless.

[Pappy13]

Here are the preseason stats for Henne as far as I can tell. 

Henne 32-58 346 yards 2 TD's, 1 int, 1 fumble, 1 Spike, 2 penalties and 3 sacks in 63 plays.

While that's not stellar that's certainly no cause to call for his benching in my opinion.  Below are the breakdowns by target.  In my opinion the least productive for the number of attempts has been Marshall.  I believe that's because they've not had enough time together yet and I think that Marshall is pressing.  I expect that combination to get better as the season goes on.

Bess 5-6 61 yards.  The 1 incomplete was a drop by Bess
Brown 3-3 31 yards.
Fasano 4-8 87 yards, 2 TD's.
Hartline 5-10 44 yards. 1 Drop.
Polite 2-3 13 yards.
Williams 7-9 32 yards.
Marshall 6-15 78 yards. 2 Drops.  He also had one that was clearly a completion and fumble but was ruled incomplete on replay.  Have no clue why since he got 2 feet down.

[Dave Gray]

I'm not looking at stats.  I'm just looking about how I feel after each game, win or lose, about his performance.

I think that Henne is not doing a very good job right now of:
- touch passes
- checking through his options
- accuracy on the deep ball

In general, he doesn't seem to be getting it done, in terms of managing the offense.  I'm concerned.  And while I understand development time and that it's just preseason, at what point do these become excuses and not reasons.  He is a 3rd year player, but I don't see much improvement so far.

Again, I'm not calling for heads to roll.  I'm not unrealistic.  I just think that at some point, you have to decide whether or not he "has it" or doesn't.  ...and I think that time is fast approaching.

[Brian Fein]

I cannot recall a single instance of a young QB being handed the starter's role, being benched for his poor play in favor of a veteran backup, and then turning out to have a productive career later on.

See Young, Vince

[Landshark]

See Young, Vince

The jury is still out on him.   If he performs well this season, you can add him to that list.  Same for Alex Smith. 

[Pappy13]

Pennington 17-28 145 2 TDs, 0 INT, 1 sack, 3 scrambles, 3 penalties in 35 plays.

Pennington's furthest completion is 20 yards and that was on a jump ball to Marshall.  His longest pass to a receiver other than the jump ball is 14 yards to Moore.  And remember that all of this has been against 2nd and 3rd string.  Everyone needs to relax about wanting Pennington to start.

Bess 3-3 12 yards
Brown 1-1 10 yards, TD
Cobbs 0-2
Fasano 1-2 8 yards
Hartline 3-4 20 yards, TD
Haynos 1-1 5 yards
Hilliard 1-1 3 yards
Lumbala 1-1 14 yards
Marshall 2-4 27 yards
Martin 0-1
Moore 1-3 14 yards
Wallace 1-2 10 yards
Williams 2-2 23 yards

[Pappy13]

I'm not looking at stats.  I'm just looking about how I feel after each game, win or lose, about his performance.

But I think that can be misleading.  No, it's not just about stats I agree, but sometimes how you feel about a performance doesn't really match up with how they did when you go back and really pick it apart and study it.  I've done that with all of the games.  A lot of times it seems like Henne didn't move the ball, but when you go back and review the drive, you'll see there was a dropped pass, a penalty, a sack, a run that lost 5 yards, etc that killed the drive.  Every one of the sacks that Henne has taken were not his fault, he's getting hit well before he should have had to throw the ball and in fact there have been at least 3 times where he's had to throw the ball away to avoid being sacked.  Those are not his fault.  There have also been at least 2 passes where there was obvious miscommunication with the receiver, both times with Marshall.  It's hard to tell who made the mistake, but since Henne has been with the team for 2 years and Marshall has been with the team for a couple months, I'm giving the benefit of the doubt to Henne.

No question that Henne needs to play better, but he also needs a LOT more help from the guys around him or this offense isn't going anywhere no matter who the QB is.

[fyo]

I'm in the "if we pull Henne, we've given up on him" camp.

And, as such, the time to pull Henne is when you're absolutely convinced he doesn't have a future as the starting quarterback of the Miami Dolphins.

At that point, I'd put in Thigpen and see how urgent it is to spend a top pick on a quarterback.

(I'd want Pennington as the #2 until such a time, however)

[Pappy13]

Thigpen 28-50 373 2 TD's, 1 INT, 1 Fumble, 7 Sacks, 4 Scrambles, 1 Penalty, 2 Kneel downs on 65 plays

Brown 1-1 2 yards
Camarillo 0-1
Cobbs 2-2 20 yards
Haynos 0-1
Hilliard 4-5 28 yards
Lumbala 1-1 8 yards
Moore 6-10 89 yards, TD
Nalbone 2-2 42 yards
Pruitt 3-4 31 yards
Sperry 0-1
Turner 4-10 80 yards
Wallace 5-12 73 yards, TD

White 4-4 27 yards, 1 sack, 1 scramble and 2 kneel downs.

Moore 1-1 -1 yards
Turner 1-1 10 yards
Wallace 2-2 18 yards

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

A real question - When to bench Henne?

Any time the dolphins are on defense or playing the special teams unit. 

[Deckhand001]

Didn't it take Drew Brees a while to develop?

[bigjoe]

I cant beleave what im hearing from some of these die hard dolphin fans henne is the best qb weve had since dan you got to give him a chance compared to some of those bums we had before

[dolfan13]

at this point one of the things i certainly hope is just smoke and mirrors is the g damn wildcat. look i think it was pretty innovative at the time, and served its purpose, but for freaking sake why the freak keep do they keep running it when they now have a qb to develop?

they drafted henne, they picked him as the future of this franchise, freaking coach him up and develop him. taking him out on certain plays just screams you have no confidence in him making a big play. i don't care if you have to throw the ball to marshall 100 times a game...