Miami Dolphins getting a new Chad
Miami Dolphins are replacing their starting quarterback. Chad Henne is being replaced by Chad Pennington. Dolphins' coach, Tony Soprano announced the switch on Wednesday ending Henne’s stint as the number one quarterback.
Soprano praised both quarterbacks and said that each has his own strengths and weaknesses. “At this particular time, my decision is Chad Pennington's strengths might be suited a little bit more for where we need to be,” said Soprano.
Pennington is coming out to play again with surgery being performed on his right shoulder but he is in great shape and would be starting for the Dolphins when the Tennessee Titans visit Miami on Sunday. This would be the quarterback’s first start since week
3 of last season when he suffered the shoulder injury. He has been Henne’s mentor but now he would be back on the field starting for Miami.
The change hits the two quarterbacks personally and emotionally because they are close friends. “The good thing about this situation is he's on the front end of his career, and I'm on the back end of mine. So we're not two dogs fighting over the same piece
of meat,” Pennington said. Henne took the news as a true professional too. He said that he would support Pennington every step of the way. “We’re in it to win the Championship.”
The Championship is probably a lost cause for the 4-4-0 Dolphins but there is still plenty of football to be played. Henne has had a fairly respectable season. He has thrown 8 touchdown passes and gained 1,900 yards for the Dolphins. However, the overall
state of Dolphins’ offense is still terrible. Dolphins rank 28th in the league in terms of points scored, averaging just under 18 points a game. In all, they have scored just 11 touchdowns in 8 games.
Where quarterbacks are the stars of football and stand above the field, they also bear the brunt of responsibility when things aren’t going so well. Dolphins’ running back, Ronnie Brown believes that is why Henne was ‘put on the cross’ adding that the quarterbacks
usually end up facing the backlash. “But we're all responsible for what we're supposed to do,” Brown said.
In five games in his relatively short career so far, Henne has thrown more than 300 yards. Those yards come at a steep price. Playing for Miami, Henne has thrown 20 touchdown passes with 23 interceptions. Even in this season, the trend has been the same.
For 8 touchdown passes, Henne threw 10 interceptions. For a team struggling with defence that 10 interceptions are too many. “Turnovers glare at you, and some of the decision-making,” Henne said.
It’s debatable if Henne’s cut was deserved or not. Dolphins’ next foes, the Tennessee Titans though didn’t expect the change. Titans' coach, Jeff Fisher said that in his opinion at least Henne wasn’t playing too poorly. “I’ve always been a Henne fan,” Fisher
said. He also said that with the change the Titans would have to adjust their strategy to deal with Pennington.
Dolphins' coach Soprano tried to paint Henne’s situation with cheerful colours. “This is not an indictment on Chad Henne at all.” He added that Henne had improved ‘an awful lot’ but the change was necessary for the team. That isn’t the coach just being nice.
Henne is the future for the Dolphins but right now Pennington has the reigns.
Dolphins aren’t doing well at all and Pennington has been known to turn things around. With Pennington, the Dolphins rose from a 1-15 season to become the AFC East Champions. That is the kind of turnaround Miami needs at this point and if Pennington can’t
deliver who knows, Henne might just be back.
Pennington’s shoulder isn’t a hundred percent yet but he said that he felt good and gained confidence after practicing on Wednesday. “Things went really smooth,” the quarterback said. “I felt really good throwing the ball. I felt like today was my best day
throwing since I've been here.”
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