Miami Dolphins In Depth

Phillip Merling activated from reserve list

It took Phillip Merling a while and there was a detour jog in South Carolina along the way, but the defensive end's 2010 season has officially begun.

Merling was today activated from the reserve non-football injury list by the Dolphins, meaning he is now eligible to begin playing after spending the past five-plus months rehabilitating an Achilles' tendon injury.

The Dolphins made room for Merling on the 53-man roster by waiving quarterback Patrick Ramsey. The Dolphins still have Chad Henne and Tyler Thigpen as quarterbacks on their roster. Tom Brandstater is on the practice squad.

Merling, the 32nd overall pick in the 2008 draft, had hopes of finally meeting the grand potential and expectations the club had for him but he had a pretty bad offseason. First came the domestic battery arrest on his pregnant girlfriend -- an issue that was ultimately dropped because the girlfriend declined to go forward with the matter.

And then there was the injury ... away from the team practice facility ... while simply jogging.

The Merling addition means the Dolphins get a solid contributor (assuming Merling is ready to go full tilt) as a rotation player. Merling in recent years has accounted for 25-35 plays even when he wasn't starting.

The Merling return also lessens the blow of losing rookie starter Jared Odrick for the season.

Report: Davis, Smith fined for conduct detrimental

Both Vontae Davis and Sean Smith missed Sunday's start against the Oakland Raiders for what coach Tony Sparano said was a "coach's decision." This, of course, is a half-truth because it doesn't explain the reason why the coach decided to keep his two starters on the bench ...

...Until now.

According to Orlando Alzugaray of 640-Sports in South Florida, both Davis and Smith were held out of their start as discipline for being late to a meeting and have also been fined for conduct detrimental to the team. Big O is also reporting that this is "at least the third time" one or both of these players is late to a meeting this year.

It is unclear the amount of the fine. I'm working on getting that to you because there is a fine schedule that NFL teams can collect from players and that follows the collective bargaining agreement.

Both Davis and Smith entered the game following the first play in which Benny Sapp and Nolan Carroll played versus Oakland.

According to the Dolphins media release, this is the first start that Davis missed this year. Smith was the starter three consecutive games before missing this start versus Oakland. He was scheduled to start against Cincinnati, saying as much on Armando and the Amigo on 640-Sports the week prior to that game, but then did not make the start. He entered the game after the first series, replacing Jason Allen and played the rest of that day.

Henne's success is good news for Sparano, Ireland

Is there any assignment more important for an NFL general manager than picking his team's franchise quarterback? Is there any assignment more important for a head coach than developing his team's franchise quarterback?

The answer to both these questions is a resounding, not-up-for-debate, "No!"

And that's the reason Chad Henne's success is very important to Jeff Ireland and Tony Sparano.

It's simple, really. If Henne succeeds going forward, if he continues to improve and continues to make strides and continues on the path toward becoming Miami's franchise quarterback, he will be also virtually providing a guarantee for Sparano and Ireland that they will be thought of successes in their respective jobs.

Simple as that, folks.

If Henne becomes a star, there is not a ton else either Sparano or Ireland could do to endanger their Miami careers. Henne goes to the Pro Bowl, Henne becomes the franchise QB, Henne joins the ranks of the NFL's elite QBs and the two men atop the Dolphins organization are virtually locked into their spots.

Thats because, typically, finding an elite QB leads a team to the kind of success that keeps hanging Ws on the standings and that keeps fans happy, which fills stadiums, which makes owners happy, which means everyone is safe.

Can you think of one GM who picked an elite QB and got canned? Can you think of one coach who developed an elite QB and got canned? I can't.

So yes, the fact Chad Henne played well Sunday against the Raiders was good news for the Dolphins, good for Henne, and definitely good for Ireland and Sparano.

Yes, it was only one game. But better a good one game than a bad one game, I say.

The other side of that two-sided coin isn't so good for anyone.

If what we saw from Henne against the Raiders (17 of 30 for 307 yards with two TDs and one INT) is more mirage than mastery, then that is bad news for everyone, and we do mean everyone.

If Henne continues to merely tread water and follow a good game with a bad game, we have an issue. Typically and up-and-down quarterback makes his team an inconsistent team. That kind of quarterback on the edge of getting benched one week and playing well the next is only good enough to get most teams to .500

And .500 isn't good enough for job security in today's NFL.

That kind of quarterback play would cause folks to question not just the QB but the people responsible for putting the QB on the team and in the lineup.

Let's face it, the most important player on any NFL team is the quarterback so finding the right guy is the general manager's most important decision. And once he's on the team, developing that quarterback into a player who has reached his potential and reached a level of excellence is the coach's No. 1 priority.

There is no defense for failing at this.

The general manager cannot say, "I screwed up in finding us a franchise quarterback but what about the cornerback and the defensive end I found?" That kind of argument gets met with a shrug.

And no coach can say with a straight face, "I couldn't do anything with the quarterback, but what about the job I did with center and the left tackle and the strongside linebacker."

"Yeah but you screwed up the franchise quarterback," is the worst line either the GM or the coach could ever have to argue against. It's a losing proposition.

So Tony Sparano and Jeff Ireland have to be feeling pretty good about themselves right now. Chad Henne is playing well now. The guy they have tapped as their franchise quarterback is apparently pointed in the right direction toward that goal.

They both must hope and work toward the situation staying that way. Because both are undoubtedly tied to Henne.

 

Miami Dolphins defeat Raiders, 33-17

OAKLAND -- The haters will have to wait another day.

The Dolphins season, on the brink, survives today because the Miami got great efforts all around in this 33-17 victory over Oakland.

They got a great effort from Chad Henne, who threw for over 307 yards with two touchdowns and one interception.

They got a great effort from the wide receiver corps that didn't seem to notice Brandon Marshall was missing. Davone Bess had 111 yards receiving on six receptions. Rookie Marlon Moore caught a 57-yard touchdown pass.

They definitely got good work from the defense. Miami had three turnovers. And the Raiders running game was absent today because Miami erased it.

It was a solid victory. The Dolphins are 6-5.

Onward.

Dolphins lead Raiders 23-14 to start fourth quarter

OAKLAND -- The Dolphins are getting some nice work out of their depleted wide receiver corps.

Davone Bess is playing well.

Roberto Wallace just caught a nice first down pass.

And Marlon Moore had a 57 yard TD reception in the third quarter. Moore now equals the number of TD passes Brandon Marshall has caught.

So the youngsters are stepping up.

Let's see if it lasts in the fourth quarter as the live blog rolls on.

Raiders lead Dolphins 14-13 to start third quarter

OAKLAND -- The Dolphins are moving the ball. I will give them that. But they are settling for field goals or field goal tries. They connected on a 24-yarder and missed on a 52-yarder.

The Raiders, meanwhile, connected on a 44-yard bomb from Bruce Gradkowski to Jacoby Ford. And that gave Oakland the lead that they are still holding on to as we get started in the third quarter.

Here are a couple of concerns:

Chad Henne is taking a whipping. He's getting hit often.

And the Dolphins continue to get away from the running game. At one point they led 10-7. Then Henne threw an interception inside the red zone. And then offensive coordinator Dan Henning called five passes in the next six offensive plays, resulting in two consecutive three-and-out series.

Terrible.

Anyway, the live blog continues in the comments section.

Raiders lead Dolphins 14-13 to start third quarter

OAKLAND -- The Dolphins are moving the ball. I will give them that. But they are settling for field goals or field goal tries. They connected on a 24-yarder and missed on a 52-yarder.

The Raiders, meanwhile, connected on a 44-yard bomb from Bruce Gradkowski to Jacoby Ford. And that gave Oakland the lead that they are still holding on to as we get started in the third quarter.

Here are a couple of concerns:

Chad Henne is taking a whipping. He's getting hit often.

And the Dolphins continue to get away from the running game. At one point they led 10-7. Then Henne threw an interception inside the red zone. And then offensive coordinator Dan Henning called five passes in the next six offensive plays, resulting in two consecutive three-and-out series.

Terrible.

Anyway, the live blog continues in the comments section.

Dolphins lead Raiders 10-7 going to second quarter

OAKLAND -- This one started poorly for the Dolphins when Jacoby Ford took the opening kickoff 102 yards for a Raiders score and 7-0 advantage.

The Dolphins have dominated ever since.

They got a field goal on their first possession and capped their second possession with a 29-yard TD pass from Chad Henne to Patrick Cobbs.

The Dolphins are driving again. Join me in the comments section as the live blog rolls on.

Live blog of Dolphins versus Raiders set for 4 p.m.

It is nearly three hours before kickoff today and I still cannot tell you 100 percent that Chad Henne will start for the Dolphins against the Oakland Raiders. The assumption is he will start.

[Update: Chad Henne starts, the Dolphins have confirmed.]

The Miami Herald's Jeff Darlington reported today that Henne took three times as many first-team snaps as Tyler Thigpen this week in practice. That is a strong and significant indication what is about to happen today. Expect Henne.

I told you earlier this week that Joe Berger would start at center today after missing last week's game with a knee injury and a "personal issue." He is indeed set to start today. He was on the field working with the first-team offensive line already.

There is a live blog today. It begins in the comments section below. I'll be there with you. And I will come back here for the lineup update and update on inactives prior to the game.

[Update: The Miami inactives are Brandon Marshall, Reshad Jones, Ike Alama-Francis, Matt Kopa, Eric Ghiaciuc, Mickey Shuler, Ryan Baker and Patrick Ramsey is the third QB.

The inactive status for Jones is strange because he started last week and has been playing well. He had a shin injury last week but practiced full on Friday. He is here on the trip.]

Brandon Marshall goes from doubtful to out

Dolphins wide receiver Brandon Marshall will not play against the Oakland Raiders on Sunday.

He has been downgraded by the team from doubtful to out.

Marshall, who did not practice all week while getting treatment for his hamstring injury suffered versus Chicago, did not even make the trip out west with the club, I'm told.

The starting receivers will likely be Brian Hartline and Davone Bess.

Rookies Roberto Wallace and Marlon Moore and first-year player Julius Pruitt are expected to be active for the game.

Wake providing great QB pressure, Misi is not

Cameron Wake is having a Pro Bowl caliber year. I have an Associated Press All-Pro vote and I am very likely going to put Wake on my ballot. That's what 9.5 sacks in 10 games will do for you.

What it also does is cause opponents to take notice.

Suddenly, Wake isn't getting one-on-one matchups any more. Suddenly, all the slide protections are to his side. Suddenly, other teams are game-planning to stop Cameron Wake.

And that's where things can get easy or much more difficult for the team's other pass-rushing linebacker. When everyone pays attention to the weakside linebacker, you see, that makes it time for the strongside linebacker to step up his game and pick up the production slack.

If Wake is getting doubled or the slide protection is going toward the weak side, then the strongside guy should benefit and make up some of the difference.

It's good news for the Sam linebacker if he responds. It's bad news if he does not.

"Now the Sam linebacker although should be productive (you know) that guy is not really in the rush as much as Cameron (Wake) is,” coach Tony Sparano said.

True, Koa Misi doesn't get as many at-bats at the QB as Wake because the Will linebacker gets more rush opportunities than the Sam linebacker. But the Sam does get rush opportunities. No doubt about that. And the Dolphins need that player to produce.

My worry is that Misi isn't producing all that much lately.

Misi has 3.5 sacks this season. That's not my concern. My concern is he hasn't had a sack or even a portion of a sack since Oct. 24, which means it's been a month since Misi got to the quarterback.

The Dolphins have obviously noticed the drought because more and more they've used Quentin Moses in rush situations replacing Misi. And they've tried other means of creating pressure on the quarterback, which is the reason safeties Reshad Jones and Yeremiah Bell have more sacks in the past month than Misi.

The Dolphins are creating pass rush with blitzes because they obviously feel the need to do so. Misi isn't getting it done on his own.

That's a problem because if teams recognize they can solve Miami's pass-rush by sliding protections to Wake or doubling him and the guy on the other side doesn't make them pay, it makes the offensive coordinator's job easier. Misi must turn the strategy to his advantage. He hasn't been doing that lately.

Perhaps he has hit the rookie wall. Perhaps he's run into a ton of good tackles (they get paid, too). But 0-for-the past month?

But this is an issue the Dolphins clearly cannot be happy about.

Jets, Pats continue to show why they're better

Thanksgiving Day might have been a wonderful holiday for us all, but it also had to serve up a heaping helping of solemn reality for the Dolphins.

On Thursday, you see, the New England Patriots won yet again. And the New York Jets won yet again.

Both have a 9-2 record today.

That means the only way the 5-5 Dolphins can be certain of passing either of these teams is if Miami wins at least all but one of the games remaining on its schedule and those teams lose all but one game remaining on their schedule.

The chances of that happening are remote and that is being kind.

The truth is as I was watching Miami's two division rivals play on Thursday, I got the sense that Miami cannot catch either club and shouldn't catch either team because both of them are just plain better than Miami right now.

There are reasons that last sentence is true today.

The Jets are better than Miami because their personnel department has done a better job than Miami's in recent years. The Jets are better than Miami because their special teams coaching is better than Miami's and it's been that way for a long time. The Jets are better than Miami because that coaching staff seems to be able to hide the roster's flaws much better than Miami's coaches hide the Dolphins flaws.

Consider:

The Jets were not more talented than Miami in 2008. It was possible at that point to say the Dolphins were ahead of the Jets because they beat out the Jets for the AFC East title. The Jets had no quarterback. They were about to fire their coach. The defense was unspectacular.

But fast foward to today and the Jets have zipped past the Dolphins the past two years, adding star players such as Santonio Holmes and gap-fillers like Trevor Pryce alike. The Jets have been aggressive, adding not one but two former 1,000-yard receivers and trading up to find a their young quarterback.

All this while the Dolphins were slow to address the need for a playmaking receiver in 2009 and paid a premium (two second-round draft picks) for Brandon Marshall in 2010 without finding a complementary wide out to help the cause.

In the all-important quarterback spot the Jets front office is also currently holding an advantage over Miami. Right now Mark Sanchez is trumping Chad Henne because he's been able to remain on the field while Henne was benched two weeks ago.

I'm not saying the Jets have drafted better than Miami of late. The opposite seems to be true, in fact. But the Jets have made better trades and have picked up free agents that are bigtime contributors -- with LaDainian Tomlinson and Antonio Cromartie coming to mind. Miami has added notable free agents in Karlos Dansby and Cameron Wake, but others such as Jake Grove and Gibril Wilson and Justin Smiley flopped badly and set the club back.

The Jets are a flawed team. They cannot get a pass-rush without generating it through schemes and blitzes. The quarterback is still inconsistent. And the running game is not as dominant as it was previously.

But the Jets have overcome the pass-rush woes with their coaching schemes and it has worked so far. They are managing Sanchez to the point where they haven't had to bench him. And they are nonethelesss milking production from the running game. They never seem to have a problem abandoning the running game or, as Miami offensive coordinator Dan Henning would say, letting the running game abandon them.

So bottom line, the Jets have done and are continuing to do better work than Miami. It is not perfect work. But it is inarguably better work.

The Patriots are better than the Dolphins because, let's face it, their quarterback is head-and-shoulders better than any player on Miami's roster and better than any player on Miami's roster the past decade.

There's not much today's Dolphins coaches, players or front office could do about that.

But there is more to the Patriots than Tom Brady.

They, too, get better special teams coaching than Miami. They, too, get better offensive line coaching than Miami to the point where New England was without Pro Bowl guard Logan Mankins the first two months of the season and it didn't seem to ruin anything. The Dolphins, meanwhile, have spent three years trying to figure out their interior offensive line problems.

The Patriots are rebuilding as we speak and are still winning and beating fine teams such as Pittsburgh and Baltimore. In a rebuilding year!

They're doing this by throwing the ball to Danny Woodhead and Wes Welker and handing off to BenJarvus Green-Ellis. If those names don't scare you it's because they're not scary. These are working class players that the New England coaching staff is getting more production out of than anyone thought was possible.

Meanwhile, the Miami coaching staff is getting less production out of Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams than anyone thought possible.

The Patriots personnel department drafted a pair of rookie tight ends that look to be keepers and are already better than Anthony Fasano. Do you think the Dolphins would trade Fasano for Aaron Hernandez today? In a heartbeat. Would the Pats make that trade? Never! So why is it the Dolphins always address the tight end position on the cheap -- continually bringing in players discarded from other teams and acting like they've found some sort of treasure?

The interesting thing in comparing the Dolphins and Patriots is that Miami has a better defense. The Dolphins have more talent on defense.

Yet the Patriots still have twice as many interceptions as Miami (perhaps because their guys can catch the football) and their overall turnover numbers are better. In games against great offenses, such as San Diego and Indianapolis, that unimpressive defense seems to respond. And the Patriots stop the run better than Miami, which simply boggles my mind.

Inferior talent. Yet they are holding their own. How is that possible?

Guess it's all part of being better.

The Tony Sparano Thanksgiving Day update

I hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving Day. The Dolphins worked today.

Brandon Marshall missed practiced again today while he continued to get treatment for his hamstring injury. Chad Henne again took limited first-team snaps at quarterback as he pushes for a return to the starting lineup despite his sprained knee.

Cornerback Sean Smith did not practice because he was excused as he became a new daddy.

And, curiously, several of the questions during coach Tony Sparano's press conference were centered around the brand new idea that the Black Hole in Oakland is a strange venue for visiting teams.

(On how he would assess Chad Henne’s mobility) – “I think it’s pretty good, so. It’s getting better. Getting better every day out there, so. He moved around pretty good today we’ll see.” 

(On Sean Smith not being at practice today) –“No, he was excused.” 

(On if Brandon Marshall pretty much the same) – “Yeah, Brandon (Marshall) did not practice.” 

(On if Sean Smith have a child today) – “To be honest with you I really don’t know what it was…I’m not positive what it was but whatever it was decided that it was going to peak it’s head at about 3:30 this morning (laughter).” 

(On if he would say that Cameron Wake deserves consideration for the Pro Bowl this year) – “(I mean) I think that most of the time those outside linebackers that make it (you know) it’s usually a numbers thing (you know) obviously that’s what’s happened recently so I think Cameron’s numbers are going to be pretty good, so. I would say he should get consideration, yes.” 

(On what else Cameron Wake provides the team outside of the obvious meaning other than the numbers) – “Well I mean I think from my perspective when you’re a line coach and you go out there and you’re playing against some of these teams that don’t have that dominant pass rusher—that guy that can rush the passer well enough—I think it makes your job a whole lot easier during the week from a game plan standpoint. So I think with Cameron and he (you know) I don’t want to say this wrong—I mean I think he’s a pretty darn good pass rusher. I think there’s some things that Cameron can get better at and he thinks there’s some things he can get better at. So, that being said, people have to pay attention to him and they are. When you watch the games, sometimes there’s tight ends and tackles at him…there’s backs chipping on him plus tackles—So, I think that they’re trying to pay attention to him which means he’s bringing a little bit more into their meetings than most and I think that helps us (you know) it does when there’s more guys paying attention to him…I think that (Koa) Misi and (Kendall) Langford and some of the guys (you know) Tony McDaniel that have been able to get some pressure as of late have been able to do that because they’re paying a little bit attention to Cameron (Wake).” 

(On if he expects big sack numbers out of Cameron Wake’s position since he puts him there) – “Yeah, it doesn’t always work though. In other words, you put some people over there and you don’t always get the numbers. Sometimes the nature of the position says yes and that’s what you expect from that guy in that position. But you could quickly figure out that you have the wrong there. I think as you go through this if that kind of production doesn’t happen….and I’m starting to feel like we got a pretty good guy there.” 

(On what does he expect to see out of the guys on typical Thanksgiving day practice) – “Well, you would hope that it would be all business and all focus. I mean the guys really focused pretty good today to be honest with you. I mean they had a lot of energy and it was a lot of jawing out there which was good—(you know) that usually tells me they’re in good spirits, so. They put work first today and then worried about (you know) the holiday which sometimes doesn’t always happen.” 

(On the Oakland crowd being rough) – “I mean they’re rough. I remember my first, first couple years in the league went out there, probably shouldn’t say this but I was a young line coach and I’m in the end zone and you’re up against it pretty good there, up against the back line and I had my back turned to the fans here and of course they know you by name. Now I mean they’re getting after you pretty good and I’m coaching the guys and kind of sending them out and I get a tap on the shoulder and I wasn’t sure, why would anybody be touching me? And then I turned around and it was this Darth Vader guy with a sword (laughing).” 

(On his moving away from the fans after he was touched) – “I got away and I’m, I started to look for protection yeah, whether or not these guys were going to protect me and they were gone.” 

(On the environment being hostile) – “Yeah it is and they’re passionate fans; I mean it really is, it’s kind of a neat environment. I really, I really enjoyed playing down there the couple times that I’ve been down there and I mean there’s obviously great tradition there. It’s a hard place to play. Now I mean they’re loud; I mean it gets loud there. One of the louder places that I’ve been.” 

(On Jason Taylor always having to remind himself the fans were all attorneys and accountants) – “(laughing) They’re going through, there’s a heck of a transformation happening.” 

(On whether he sometimes wants to laugh when he sees the fan’s outfits) – “It’s interesting; I mean they get all booted up. They’re behind their team and they support their team and I’ve been down there you know when it hasn’t been going real good for them and you still have that kind of support. Right now they’re really excited about what’s going on there so it’s going to be, it’s going to be loud and you’re on a holiday weekend so I’m sure it will be, it will be a big loud crowd mostly dressed in black and silver.” 

(On whether he has taken any steps to help Chad Henne’s psyche after being benched) – “You know he’s been really, he’s been really good. He was good last week in preparation. He was good against Tennessee in preparation. I think he’s had a couple interesting weeks obviously back to back here. One where he’s A) told he wasn’t going to start and then the next thing you know he’s in the game in four plays. That was, from his end that was a really hard test in that if he mailed in the work week you didn’t get the result and he’s a major factor in why we won that Tennessee game. I mean the guy really did come out and play well for us coming off of the bench there. Then he goes through a week when he’s down and still prepares, I mean prepares and now he’s in a spot this week where he has to juggle his preparation with his treatment, and he has this laptop that just doesn’t leave his side. I mean it’s like it’s got all the film on it and all that stuff and the guy is, is really grinding around the clock. I’ve been impressed with what he’s done and the way he’s handled it and he hasn’t changed to me at all. The good news is when we handled this I was, I was up front with him and we had an open conversation and that was it. The lines of communication have been really good.” 

(On what he is thankful for) – “Oh I mean first of all I’m thankful for my family. My family is, they’re tremendous supporters and love them dearly. I’m thankful for the guys in that locker room, my coaches, our fans, the people in this organization that work as hard as they work, so really thankful to have this opportunity.”

Thanksgiving 2010: Still reasons to cheer

We awake on this Thanksgiving Day 2010, blessed by God in so many ways, it is impossible to begin numbering them. The Dolphins also have plenty to be thankful for this day.

This team you love and follow with passion is 5-5 and that's not good enough for some of you while it is acceptable to others. Whatever your perspective, the Dolphins are a team still in the fight.

They might not win the fight. But they're still in the fight. 

They are working today. They are preparing for Sunday's game at Oakland. As they do their work, they should know they have plenty to be thankful for.

For instance: 

Thankful for two healthy and fresh running backs 10 games into the season.

Thankful both backs want to be very tired by the time Miami plays 16 games.

Thankful for Jake Long who played through a sprained knee earlier this year.

Thankful for Jake Long who is playing through a dislocated shoulder now.

Thankful for Jake Long who could play through a nuclear attack if he had to.

Thankful for Vontae Davis, who gets it and plays like it.

Thankful for Karlos Dansby, who has been worth every penny the Dolphins paid him as a free agent.

Thankful for Dan Carpenter, who is a field goal kicking machine.

Thankful for not always having to resort to the field goal kicking machine because, you know, sometimes the offense scores touchdowns.

Thankful for modern medicine and Jim Mandich's fighting spirit.

Thankful for the Edwin Pope pressbox.

Thankful for the schedule-maker who put the game at Green Bay in October.

Thankful for the schedule-maker who didn't put that game in December.

Thankful for rookie Reshad Jones and his ability to catch interceptions.

Thankful for Cameron Wake and his ability to corral quarterbacks.

Thankful for Paul Soliai apparently growing up.

Thankful for Paul Soliai no longer growing out.

Thankful for Kerry Collins being 0-5 vs. Miami.

Thankful for Kendall Langford's quiet consistency.

Thankful for Chad Henne's quiet resolve.

I am personally thankful that you regularly come to my blog. This has been a record-breaking year here and your keen interest in the Miami Dolphins is the reason. I am thankful for that.

I wish all of a you a prosperous and joyous Thanksgiving Day.

Be blessed.

Dan Henning not worried about job security

Dolphins offensive coordinator Dan Henning was asked today during his weekly gathering with the media if he's concerned about his job security.

Henning, 68, has been retired twice before and will likely be heading that direction after this season. So the question of job security doesn't phase him much.

"Job security? You understand I've been retired twice. So job security is not something I worry about," he responded. "I worry about trying to take what we have and doing the best we can with it. Now, to give you a comparison, when we first came here in 2008, we have only four players left from the team we first picked up here.

"We have one lineman, we have three backs and we don't have any of the same quarterbacks, we don't have any of the same receivers, we don't have any of the same offensive linemen except for the one and we don't have any of the same tight ends."

(In interrupt to say that I don't think Henning's facts are correct. Anthony Fasano is a tight end and he was here in 2008. Davone Bess is a wide receiver and he was here in 2008. But I digress.)

"But that first year we were able to put it together and we were efficient, effective and consistent on offense," Henning continued. "We got a tremendous boost by having a quarterback drop out of the sky who was a tremendous leader for us. So that's what you're trying to do, get the best out of what you have. Now, we're not hitting on all cylinders right now. That's as obvious as you can get.

"We can say, 'We had this injury, we had this injury.' [The Bears] got after us pretty good. We went into the game and had 12 sacks and then they had six in that game. And they didn't blitz us. There were four-man rushes and twists in there. And then you have Tyler [Thigpen] in there trying to make the right decisions but he's a little bit later with the thought process than [Chad] Henne or [Chad] Pennington was at this point in time. So some of that blossoms on itself."

Henning wasn't done answering, although he already answered in his first two sentences. So he continued ...

"And then the running game, I hear you guys, and I hear fans and I hear coach [Tony] Sparano on occasion say, 'Why don't we run the ball more?" We'll we didn't abandon the run, the run abandoned us. In the first four series we ended up with a second-and-18 or second-and-20 and that's not the type of thing that makes for good run situations. Before the score was 16-0 we had 16 opportunities first-and-10 or second-and-6 minus and we attempted to run the ball on ninth of those. There was a 10th call that was a run that we killed to a pass.

"I'm not worried about that part of it. I'm worried about being effective. Efficient. And we're not doing that right now. And we're commited to getting back on track,whatever it takes, because you have no chance to do things when you put yourself in second-and-20 or second-and-18. First four drives we had three penalties, we had a fumble and we had two sacks. You can't operate that way."

I'm not sure what all that last part means. I guess it means Henning isn't worried about his job. But does blame others for Miami's offensive issues.

All Dolphins players (except for Marshall) practicing today

The Dolphins are back working this morning and based on the view of things during the open portion of practice, it is clear receiver Brandon Marshall is the biggest injury uncertainty the club is dealing with this week.

And that includes quarterback Chad Henne, who is practicing and aiming for a return to the lineup Sunday versus the Raiders.

Henne, nursing a left knee injury that relegated him to No. 3 status versus Chicago, is wearing a thick-looking black brace today as he took his snaps in the portion of practice open to the media. I cannot, under Dolphins media policy, tell you if Henne was taking first-team snaps or not. I also don't know if Henne was limited in practice or not.

But I can tell you the idea this week is for both Henne and Tyler Thigpen to take first-team snaps in practice, thus preparing both to play against the Raiders.

Marshall is scheduled to spend much of his day in treatment for his hamstring injury. He was not on the field during the open portion of practice.

Everyone else was on the field. Joe Berger (knee) seems fine as he was on the field. I have reported previously that he is expected back to his starting center job versus Oakland.

Jake Long is working so it seems logical to believe that whatever consideration coaches gave to shutting Long down because of his lingering shoulder injury, has been done and the idea is to let him play for now. 

[Come back later and I'll update you on what coordinators Mike Nolan and Dan Henning, as well as head coach Tony Sparano had to say. I'll also tell you what's happening in the locker room.]

Prediction: Good week will follow bad week

Amid a metldown week for South Florida's sports (unthinkable Dolphins home shuthout, Canes home loss, Heat lose two in a row including at home to Indiana) I wish to remind you not all is lost.

The Dolphins play the Raiders this weekened in Oakland. They leave for this trip Friday. I predict they will return with a victory -- that, by the way, doesn't mean anything because I stink at predicting, if you remember 2007. Nonetheless, I would think the Dolphins should beat the Raiders. If they don't, this season is truly lost, folks.

If they do win, the season lives!

Anyway, the Dolphins return to work today for that Sunday game. I'll update the blog this afternoon after the coordinators speak at around 12:45 and then again afterward if warranted.

In the meantime, you should know what some Dolphins players spent their off day doing Tuesday. They handed out Thanksgiving Day meals to families so that tomorrow would be a celebration of giving thanks that it will be for many of us.

Enjoy the pictures: Punter Brandon Fields helps Miramar resident Sharon Robinson with her family meal while below club CEO Mike Dee does a good deed.

 

 

 

Dolphins production chart opens eyes

Tony Sparano likes to get inside of the numbers for his football team because, I assume, the digits sometimes can confirm what he sees on tape or perhaps on rare occasion present a different revelation that isn't necessarily shining through on tape.

So in the last couple of days while his players were off, the Dolphins coach was crunching numbers on a player productivity chart.

"One of the things I did with the football team the last couple of days is I put together a production chart of the last three games at every position including special teams and then we ranked them all via their production," Sparano said Monday.

"My figuring with the three games is we've kind of been on a roller coaster the last three games. So going back seven, eight games you'd be looking at some players that aren't even on the football team right now. The last three games we are 1-2 starting with the Baltimore game which was a staple game for us at that place, and then we really needed to win the game against Tennesee and we really needed to win the last game.

"When you're back's against the wall as it is right now -- we know our margin for error is a lot slimmer than it is for the Jets or New England -- so going back three games I figured this is crunch time and our backs are against the wall, so let's look at the producers. Let's look at some of those things and throw it out there and see what we come up with."

Sparano is not throwing the production chart results out there that I know of. (Memo to the coach: If you'd like to e-mail it to me, I won't say nothing just send it to asalguero@miamiherald.com :-))

But this being a blog and all, and me being paid to give my opinion and all, I'd like to share with you the top three or four producers I see off the last three games the Dolphins have played. There is a serious surprise in the bunch.

I would say Miami's top producer the last three weeks has been Karlos Dansby. If you don't agree, you go argue with the man. He'll be taking you to the streets like LeRon McCLain. Dansby recorded 8 tackles, 10 tackles, and 10 tackles in the last three games. He has a sack, he has a pass defensed, and he's forced a fumble. It is rare when Dansby takes a bad angle to ball carrier -- something his running mate Channing Crowder could learn to improve -- and at least two of those tackles I just told you about stopped potential first-down gains.

The second most productive player was tougher to pick because both Yeremiah Bell and Cameron Wake are doing work in that three-game span. Wake's tackle total was eight against Baltimore, six against Chicago, but only one against Tennessee. He had three sacks in the three games, with two coming against the Ravens. He had one forced fumble in the three games. Obviously, the Titans game makes Wake seem more ... human. He was hurt during the game. He was handled by Tennessee's tackle combo. But does that erase the other two outings?

Yeremiah Bell is on pace to just about equal his numbers of a year ago when he went to the Pro Bowl but something has been missing. Oh, I know, he hasn't had to chase down from behind three or four ball carriers that plowed over Akin Ayodele or Gibril Wilson like he did last year. Bell collected five tackles at Baltimore, eight verus the Titans and five more against Chicago. He has a forced fumble. He has a pass defensed, he has a sack -- all in the last three games. That's productive.

And now I'm going to stun you.

Brian Hartline is one of Miami's most productive players the past three games. He caught four passes for 85 yards against Baltimore for a 21.3 yards per catch average. He caught five passes for 98 yards and a 19.6 yards per catch average against Tennessee. He had five receptions for 70 yards for a 14.0 yards per catch average versus Chicago.

Hartline has been Miami's most productive and most reliable receiver the last three games. Not only is he producing but he has (for whatever reason, including a bad throw from the QB) missed only one targetted throw in each game. In other words, if Miami QBs are throwing to Hartline the last three games, they are getting results for the effort rather than drops or incompletions of another sort.

No, Hartline does not have a TD in the last three games. Guess what? Neither does any other Miami wide receiver.

This is just my list while I await Sparano to e-mail me his. (asalguero@miamiherald.com).

But it should tell you something about Miami's issues when neither running back Ronnie Brown nor Ricky Williams could be considered as having been highly productive recently. It says something that no Miami QB is highly productive in that time, and in fact, Chad Henne got benched during that time. It should say something that alpha receiver Brandon Marshall has not been exceedingly productive in that time, particularly when you balance receptions with drops and penalties.

So who am I leaving out? Who else has been productive? And who hasn't been?

Can Dolphins catch teams in front? Stay in front of Bills?

Week 10 of the NFL season is complete for AFC East teams. And what we have to report today is that the Dolphins middle-of-the-pack status is so engrained right now, it's tough to escape.

The Dolphins are three games behind the division leaders with six games to play. The Dolphins are three games ahead of the division cellar-dweller with three games to play.

We're mediocre so far!

The troubling thing about that is I see few signs the Dolphins can rise from their current status. In fact, there are just as many signs the Bills might catch the Dolphins as their are signs the Dolphins might catch the Patriots and Jets.

Seriously, it was depressing on Sunday watching New York quarterback Mark Sanchez engineer a fourth-quarter rally -- his third late-game rally of the season -- and not believe he's getting progressively better. Sanchez has shown the improvement in his second year as a starter (15 TDs, 7 INTs) that Miami hopeful Chad Henne was not able to show before he was benched. Henne currently has 9 TDs and 11 INTs.

It was also a little eye-opening to see a young, rebuilding New England defense that scares no one continue to improve week-to-week to the point they gave up a bunch of yards (396) and four touchdowns to Peyton Manning, but also snatched three interceptions, including the one that sealed Sunday's victory.

The Pats are rebuiling. And they are 8-2.

So how do the Dolphins make up three games on these teams in the season's final six weeks? It's like asking a baseball team to erase a 10-game deficit in the season's final month. It is a difficult assignment, don't you agree?

It will also be difficult for the Dolphins to get caught from behind by the Bills. The Bills, you see, are a seriously flawed team.

But they are playing better than the Dolphins right now.

The Bills have won two consecutive games.

The Bills are showing signs of a running game. Fred Jackson gained 116 yards and averaged 5.5 yards per carry against Cincinnati.

Miami starting RB Ronnie Brown hasn't gained 116 yards in the last three games combined and hasn't gained over 100 yards in a game since October 4, 2009. Ricky Williams hasn't had 116 yards in the last four games combined and also hasn't had a 100-yard game this season.

The last time the Dolphins did not have any 100-yard rusher in an entire season was 2004, the year Williams skipped out just prior to the season.

Most troubling, perhaps, when you weigh whether the Bills can catch Miami is that they are getting better QB play than Miami. Let me repeat. The team that benched and then cut its opening day starting QB is now getting decent play from backup Ryan Fitzpatrick.

Fitzpatrick has thrown 18 TDs to 9 INTs in 8 starts this season. The folks in Buffalo insist Fitzpatrick is not a keeper, that he's not a starting-caliber player. Maybe not.

But if the Dolphins had a QB that threw twice as many TDs as interceptions and was averaging more than two TD passes per game, we'd have a name for that.

Heir.

Good news! Center expected back for Oakland

After starter Joe Berger missed Thursday night's game and backup Cory Procter left the game with a knee injury, the Dolphins might on the surface seem to be dealing with something of a crisis at the center position today.

Relax. They are not.

Berger, who started Miami's first nine games of the season after beating out Jake Grove for the spot, is expected to return to the lineup against Oakland when the Dolphins visit the Black Hole Nov. 28. It's not so much that Berger is expected to recover in time from the knee injury the team listed for him in declaring him out last week, although that apparently should be the case.

It's that, according to a club source, the "personal issue" that Berger is attending to should be sufficiently resolved by the week of the Oakland game. 

The source declined to specify what issue Berger is dealing with but it seems clear that it as much as the knee is the reason the player missed Thursday's game. And again, the club expects the issue to be handled when Berger, who has been away from the team for a time, returns to work.

So the Dolphins don't necessarily need to go shopping for a starting center. They don't have to worry about continuing to play left guard Richie Incognito at the center position as he did much of Thursday night.

The team should be fine once Berger handles his business.

Follow me in twitter. No, really ... follow me.

Rapid reaction of Bears 16-0 wipeout of Miami

If you want my take of what we saw Thursday night, go here. Here's a hint: I wasn't thrilled with the Dolphins' effort versus Chicago.

The vital stat of the night during this 16-0 whitewashing of the Dolphins?

Third down conversion, of course.

The Chicago Bears converted 10 of 18 third down plays. The Dolphins converted one of 11 third down plays.

"... We didn’t get out of our own way on offense," coach Tony Sparano said. "…couldn’t help ourselves there and really couldn’t get off the field consistently on defense. Now, we left the defense out there on offense but we didn’t get off the field on defense either."

No lie.

The Bears held the football 37:51 to Miami's 22:09.

"It's definitely frustrating in a game like this when it was so close," cornerback Sean Smith said. "You definitely have to get off the field, for our defense out there as much as we were, it's never going to be good for us. We take pride in getting off on third down and that's something we could have been a little better at today."

This shutout was the first at home for Miami in nine years. The Bears gained only 268 yards and churned only 19 first downs.

"It's a team game. Defense could have won the game. We lost as a team," cornerback Vontae Davis said. "You gotta keep working, man. In this league, anything can happen. We've got to keep working, keep fighting and come together as a team."

Starting center Cory Procter, playing for the injured starter Joe Berger, was on crutches after the game. His knee was in a sleeve. He said it was the worst pain he's ever felt and he's suffered MCL injuries before.

The offensive line was a turnstile to the QB for Chicago. The Bears had six sacks. Julius Peppers had three sacks. Julius Peppers had only two sacks in the previous nine games.

"They're a good defense and we just couldn't get it going today," Jake Long said. "We have to get in the film room, watch it, correct it, and it will definitely get better."

Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams combined for 11 yards on six carries. Can someone please explain to me how it is in a game that you start your third-string quarterback, you give the ball to the starting running back (Brown) three times?

Offensive coordinator Dan Henning needs to answer for that.

Another issue the coaches need to answer for: The team had no energy. They were flat. There seemed to be no urgency. How does this happen in a big game at home?

"It's disappointing," safety Yeremiah Bell said. "This is a game we knew we had to have. We came out flat and just didn't get it done. It's disappointing from that aspect. We could have put ourselves in good position, but we didn't."

Brandon Marshall, who didn't play the second half because suffered a hamstring injury in the second quarter, was in street clothes on the sideline. Not good on the injury front. Not good on the production front, either, by the way. He caught three passes. Dropped two passes. Was flagged once for a 15-yard taunting penalty. 

Bottom line?

Cameron Wake said it best: "... everyone didn't come out and do their job and they kicked out butt."

Bears lead Dolphins 16-0 to start fourth quarter

The Dolphins had a terribled third quarter.

They did nothing on offense and the defense yielded a touchdown drive that took part of this decade.

Oh, and Brandon Marshall is out of the game. He's on the sideline in street clothes.

Miami needs three scores to win this one, assuming they don't give up any more points.

It looks bleak but ...

Well, let's see what happens. The live blog rolls on.

Bears lead Dolphins 6-0 going to third quarter

What can you say? It's not good enough right now.

The Dolphins offense isn't working. Quarterback Tyler Thigpen is 6 of 13 for 78 yards with one interception and no touchdowns. He's not having a good game so far.

The running game also hasn't shown up. Thigpen is the leading rusher with 14 yards on three carries.

The defense, meanwhile, has struggled to stop the Bears on third down. The only saving grace is that Miami is in bend-but-don't-break mode and the Bears haven't been able to break the plane of the goal line.

So we're at 6-0 after two Robbie Gould field goals for Chicago.

The live blog continues in the comments section below. Maybe life changes in the second half.

Bears lead Dolphins 3-0 to start second quarter

The Dolphins defense is playing well.

The Dolphins offense isn't.

New quarterback Tyler Thigpen is struggling in that he's thrown an interception and had a couple of passes batted at the line of scrimmage.

The Bears lead 3-0. The live blog continues in the comments section below.

Live blog of Dolphins versus Bears tonight

There sure are a lot of Chicago Bears fans here tonight. I was walking through the parking lot a couple of minutes ago (6 p.m.) en route to to the media entrance and it felt like more Bears fans than Miami fans.

Obviously that is not the way it'll be here tonight at Sun Life Stadium ... I hope. But I am simply reporting what I saw.

This is game is important, guys. I don't have to tell you that. The Dolphins were two games over .500 earlier this year but came back to the pack after four games and haven't been able to climb out of the mediocrity box since. This is the opportunity to climb out of that box with an extended rest period coming up and winnable games versus Oakland and Cleveland following to set up their AFC East competition in late December and January.

At some point this team needs to stop just treading water if it is going to be a contender. The thing is the assignment of gaining some traction comes with a third-string quarterback at center, with a backup center, and a left tackle that is nursing a bum shoulder. Oh, and there is that little factoid of the rookie starting free safety.

So here's the deal: The Dolphins' coaching staff better come with good work tonight. If they can put together a game in which backups and injured players can help the team to an important victory against a division leading opponent, that is worth respect and applause.

Do you believe they can do it?

I must tell you, I'm not all that upset about Reshand Jones starting at free safety over Chris Clemons who is out for the game with a hamstring injury. Jones does something neither Clemons nor previous starter Gibril Wilson would do -- he caught the ball.

Those other two dropped numerous interceptions. Against a quarterback that threw 26 interceptions a year ago, you want your free safety catching the football. Jones did exactly that last week versus Tennessee.

As you know, there will be a live blog here at kickoff. Please join me in the comments section for that. And come back here in a bit for the latest updates.

[Update: The inactives are Roberto Wallace, Chris Clemons, Nate Ness, Matt Kopa, Clifton Geathers, Joe Berger and Jeron Mastrud. The third quarterback is Chad Henne, who is in uniform and just ran out onto the field.]

Below you can find a video by the Herald's Jeff Darlington of Chad Henne warming up prior to the game. Judge for yourselves how far he's come in the four days since he was knocked from the game against Tennessee on Sunday. Henne is No. 7.

 

Thigpen is Miami's 15th starting QB since Marino

On January 15, 2000, Dan Marino played his final game for the Miami Dolphins, ending an 17-year era of unprecendented and unbelievable quarterback play for the franchise.

Tonight, more than a decade after Marino threw his final pass, the Dolphins will hand their offense's reins to the 15th different starting quarterback since Marino. Yes, after a decade and so many starters and so many failures, the Dolphins are still looking for the franchise quarterback to succeed the franchise's all-time best quarterback.

Tyler Thigpen is the man under center tonight against the Chicago Bears.

Dolphins fans are optimistic. They're excited about what Thigpen might bring to the team, if comments on this blog and phone calls to my Armando and the Amigo radio show are any measure. Folks are expectant because Thigpen has shown an ability and desire to throw down the field and salvage bad plays with his running and scrambling.

So we shall see whether those optimistic expectations are realized.

Me? I've seen all those post-Marino QBs come, and go, and mostly fail. So 'm a little cautious about expecting great things anymore. I've been disappointed too many times.

Consider the list of successors:

Jay Fiedler (2000-2004): He was gritty and as much a winner as one could hope. But he simply didn't have the arm of an elite QB and the Dolphins never really gave him a star receiver to work with. He got beat up a lot and played hurt a lot. So after five years, a battered Fiedler moved on.

Damon Huard (1999-2000): Jimmy Johnson loved him. Dave Wannstedt didn't. Huard was a fine deep thrower and did well at avoiding mistakes. But he seemed to operate just a tad slow for the NFL when he was here and never anchored himself as a starter anywhere else, either. Good backup, however.

Ray Lucas (2001-2002): Great guy. Great confidence. Then he threw that first, second, third, and fourth interception, and suffered that first and second fumble. And it happened in one meltdown game against Buffalo. There went the confidence. Lucas started six games for the Dolphins in 2002 and while he was never as bad as he was in that first game, he was never really good. He was gone after that season.

Brian Griese (2003): He had a good year or two in Denver before falling out of favor. And once the Broncos recognized he could not be the next John Elway, the Dolphins soon realized he also was not the next Marino. I remember sitting in Rick Spielman's office and him showing me film of Griese getting rid of the ball way early because he seemed unwilling to take hits. It didn't help the offensive line Spielman constructed for the Dolphins was not too good at that point.

Sage Rosenfels (2004-2005): He was a solid looking player but never more than a backup. That's the way it was and remains today.

A.J. Feeley (2004): Everything Fiedler had in the leadership dept., Feeley lacked during his Dolphins days. He would complain that Miami's offense was not as good as Philadelphia's West Coast scheme. He also threw a lot of interceptions and that made the second round pick the Dolphins gave for him a waste. He lasted only one preseason when Nick Saban arrived. Saban didn't have much use for losers.

Gus Frerotte (2005): Another great guy. He had an OK season (18 TDs, 13 ints, 52 percent completion) during Saban's first year. But everyone, including Saban, knew Frerotte was a backup working as a starter. After the season, Saban went quarterback shopping. He offered Frerotte a backup contract and no shot to start. That offended Frerotte so he left town as a free agent.

Daunte Culpepper (2006-2007): An interesting guy, to say the least. He had this love-hate relationship with the media, and his coaches and the organization. First time I met him, he told me he expected to throw at least 30 TDs for the Dolphins in the 2006 season. Didn't quite work out. The knee he had shredded with the Vikings the year before was not completely healed in 2006, although the Dolphins thought it was -- until the regular season began and Culpepper couldn't get out of his own way. Then he got into that expletive-filled argument with Saban during a practice. Then he got benched. Then Saban left. Then Cam Cameron was hired and he had no intention of keeping Culpepper on his team.

Joey Harrington (2006): Smart guy. A little goofy. Very enthusiastic with coaches. Not much respected by teammates. I admit, when I saw Harrington play in the Fiesta Bowl, he made one throw about 30 yards down the seam -- a rope to a tight end over an unsuspecting linebacker's helmet -- that I thought was amazing. I thought he had NFL written all over him. But I didn't know what kind of an interesting character he was. Harrington was proof that sometimes a great arm and book smarts do not translate on a football field.

Trent Green (2007): "Scrambled eggs." That's the quote Jason Taylor gave when asked what he thought when he learned Green had been acquired by the Dolphins. Green, you see, had missed a significant portion of 2006 for Kansas City because of a serious concussion. But Cameron wanted him. I remember asking Cameron if he was certain Green could return to his pre-concussion form. "Absolutely," Cameron said. Um, not so much. Green got clocked in a game at Houston and suffered another concussion. That was that.

Cleo Lemon (2005-2007): He came from nowhere in that he wasn't drafted and was actually out of football when he fought his way onto minor league team rosters and eventually the San Diego roster. He was traded to the Dolphins for A.J. Feeley. He had more spunk but not a whole lot more talent.

John Beck (2007-2009): Nice arm. Always seemed afraid and overmatched.

Chad Pennington (2008-present): He was never expected to be the long-term solution. But when he took the Dolphins to the playoffs in 2008, he forever found a place in the heart of fans that needed help forgetting the 1-15 season of 2007. By the end of that season, however, fans had already realized Pennington's arm was not elite. From a leadership standpoint, however, right up there with anyone I've ever covered -- yeah, including Marino.

Chad Henne (2008-present): Maybe he'll be good. Maybe he won't. Will he ever be elite? No idea. That is a troubling place to be after 21 starts. Drew Brees did it. Troy Aikman did it. They had unimpressive starts to their careers and became elite QBs. Many others also had an unimpressive start s to their careers and, well, remained unimpressive. We'll see.

That brings us to Thigpen.

Good luck to him.

 

 

Is Sparano showing desperation? I sure hope so!

Tony Sparano left his press conference Tuesday shaking his head and muttering under his breath in disbelief.

I've never seen that kind of reaction from Sparano because he handles the media about as well as I've seen any coach do that in my time covering the Dolphins -- and that is a looong time, and that includes Don Shula.

But I guess Sparano was never asked a question before like he was asked Tuesday. He's never before been at the stage where anyone is openly asking him (even in a round-about manner) if he's worried about his job.

We reached the starting line of that point Tuesday.

Sparano was asked Tuesday if he is coaching "urgent."

Now, I don't know what coaching urgent means exactly. There are two ways to go here:

A coach can have an urgent approach, as in we have to get something done immediately because time is running out in the game so let's speed things up or get a little more aggressive with our play calls on offense and take more chances on defense. There is that.

But there is also urgent as in desperate, as in concerned, as in trying to prove something to someone. There is urgent as in trying to guard or save one's job.

I'm not certain which one of these two the question was meant to explore. I get the feeling Sparano felt it was a little of both because the context was him making a QB change from a long-range prospect (Chad Henne) to a short-term option (Chad Pennington), among other things.

“I wouldn’t say I’m coaching urgent," Sparano said. "I would say that my job is to evaluate as many ways as possible for us to be able to win football games and I don’t think you can ignore signs.

"I think you got to be smart to the signs. Now if that’s urgent then that’s your phrase. To me if you continue to ignore signs and turn your face to them, you’re going to have a problem somewhere down the way, the road. It’s going to catch up with you and in my mind I think we didn’t sign up here to come in eighth place, ninth place, twelfth place; we signed up to try to be the best.

"So it’s my job to try to push as many of the buttons as I possibly can to do that.”

It is interesting to me that some media and fans have seen Sparano makes changes in the lineup, get more aggressive with flea-flickers or other trick plays, move on from waste-of-time or stopgap players such as Jason Allen, and decide it's a sign of desperation.

The blogs (other inferior ones, not this one), and local radio shows (other less knowlegable ones, not mine) are filled with conspiracy theories about Sparano being worried about his job and departing from the early-season course because he's under pressure to save his job.

Let me offer another idea:

Sparano is making changes, exploring options because the Dolphins are a freakin' fracking mediocre team and the coach is supposed to try to milk some excellence out of mediocre. And if he continues doing what he did previously all he will get is mediocre. And if he doesn't do something different, all that makes him is mediocre.

And nobody wants mediocre!

Would anyone rather Sparano sit on his hands and do nothing? Would anyone want him to do the same that he's been doing as the team got to 4-4? Is that what anyone would define is good coaching or the proper approach?

I want the coach to feel like there's no better time to win than now. I want the coach to pull strings, change lineups, jack up assistants, shake everyone up, in search of something better than 4-4 or mediocre.

If a coach doesn't do that he's worse than a bad coach. He's a spectator.

How can anyone see it any other way?

 

Special teams game plan vs. Hester: 15 men on field

One of the interesting matchups you'll see play out Thursday night when the Dolphins play the Bears is how Miami's special teams will handle Chicago punt returner Devin Hester.

Hester is averaging a whopping 16.7 yards per return and has returned two punts, including an 89-yarder, for touchdowns this year.

So how will Miami's, ahem, challenged special teams deal with one of he best special teams playmakers in the business?

"The game plan is probably to try and sneak three or four extra [players] out there on the field and see if we can have any success," coach Tony Sparano told the Chicago media today. "He's been a great player for a long time and I think the guys that go back there are fearless to catch the ball the way he does and run the way he does. So we've obviously got to pay special attention to him when you're putting together the game plan."

Sparano is obviously kidding about the extra players on the field. And, truth is, Miami hasn't been bad on punt coverage. The Dolphins are ranked No. 10 in the NFL in that category.

But special attention?

How's this for special attention:

Do. Not. Kick. It. To. Hester.

H



Jake Long to require shoulder surgery

While much of the injury news coming from the Dolphins on Monday was positive -- Chad Pennington out for the season notwithstanding -- very little was actually said about offensive tackle Jake Long's dislocated shoulder.

Several reports say he will play against the Bears Thursday night, and that is indeed quite possible. Everyone knows Long is a tough guy. But coach Tony Sparano was coy about giving specific information on the topic and didn't actually say Long would be in the lineup against the Chicago Bears.

“You got no shot. I know what you’re trying to do," Sparano said when asked whether Long could play, basically, with one arm. "I mean Jake’s a pretty tough guy; we’ll see where we go."

Where it is going is that Long's injury is serious. Make no mistake.

He will require surgery -- sooner or later -- because his shoulder will not heal 100 percent without it, according to a source. After the surgery, which is an arthroscopic procedure, Long will require 3-6 weeks of healing and another 3-6 weeks of rehabilitation to regain full strength.

My source declined to say exactly what the surgery would address. But I believe I can provide a clue. ESPN reported last night that Long "suffered damage to his labrum" when he dislocated his shoulder against Tennessee Sunday.

Long is hoping to hold off the surgery for later, with later being defined as after the season. But there is also a possibility Long might try to play with his injury and need to shut things down based on the fact, once again, he cannot be completely healthy without surgical correction.

Long is expected to try to make it through Miami's final seven games. He wants to give it a try even though it will put him at a disadvantage even if he wears a harness. But none of that guarantees he will be absolutely available for all those games.

Cortland Finnegan says he knew Miami's plays

Lost in the strange and compelling game that was Sunday's 29-17 victory by the Dolphins over the Titans was this item in my friend Jason Cole's column for Yahoosports.com that should tell you a little something about the offense the Dolphins currently run.

Now, that offense had a good day on Sunday, rolling up more points than any other game this season. But we know that very offense has been under fire for not producing this year.

We know the statistical rankings are bad. And we know, that several players have been borderline frustrated with that lack of production.

You saw an open and obvious show of that frustration Sunday when Brandon Marshall caught a pass and then slung the ball to the sideline when he got up from the turf.

So why was Marshall, who didn't talk to the media after the game, needing to release that emotion? Maybe it was the fact he caught only three passes for 34 yards against Tennessee cornerback Cortland Finnegan.

And maybe it was that Finnegan says he knew exactly what play the Dolphins were about to run and what pattern Marshall was about to run -- before it happened.

"Sometimes I would be calling out his routes because they told me I would have a chance to follow him around all game, play him one-on-one," Finnegan said. "So I felt like I needed to be prepared and we would laugh sometimes because I would be calling his routes out based on the formations and the splits."

Cole apparently asked if a cornerback should be able to indentify what's coming before the snaps and Finnegan suggested he could before admitting why he could readily decipher Miami's coming play.

"OK, I know, but I watched every single game Miami played this year and the formation doesn't lie unless they're trying to trick you," Finnegan said. "The formations don't lie and he didn't like that."

Finnegan had five tackles, four passes defensed and an interception against the Dolphins, but that is not the point.

The point, indeed, the concern is that one player can spend one week of film study watching the Dolphins and apparently diagnose what offensive coordinator's Dan Henning's offense was about to run simply by looking at the formations and splits.

Really?

Are you kidding me?

By the way, I have seen this before. It happened in 1997 when the New England Patriots figured out Miami's offense to the point defensive players were signaling calls on the field before Dan Marino snapped the ball. It was partially the reason Jimmy Johnson fired then offensive coordinator Gary Stevens.

I'm not suggesting Henning is about to be fired or should be fired. (He's probably going off into retirement after the season anyway from what folks are whispering.)

But maybe it would be a wise idea to change a couple of things here and there so that enterprising defensive players don't continue to yell out Brandon Marshall's coming patterns before, you know, he runs them.

Just sayin'.

Oh, and while I'm on the topic: Cole's column also addressed Randy Moss and his first game with the Titans. That leads me to an item in a local story last week that got blown into news that folks are actually believing despite the fact it isn't accurate.

It was reported that Moss or his representative or his camp made it clear to the Dolphins the receiver didn't want to play in Miami and so the Dolphins, previously eager to get Moss, backed off.

Um, wrong. Again.

The facts are Moss very much would have welcomed playing for the Dolphins. He liked the idea of coming to Miami. He has a house down here somewhere. He is friends with Chad Pennington and considers the Dolphins to be contenders.

The truth is the Dolphins studied Moss and had an initial interest in Moss but once they dug deeper, decided not to claim him. It had nothing to do with an understanding from Moss or others that he didn't want to come to Miami if the Dolphins claimed him.

Moss didn't want to play in St. Louis. But Miami?

He had no problem with that.

The injury picture clarifies a bit for Dolphins

The injury news filtering out of the Dolphins today is better than most folks thought and definitely better than some media reported yesterday.

To recap:

Chad Pennington is indeed out for the season with a right shoulder injury. That was reported by everyone, including the Miami Herald yesterday. Coach Tony Sparano confirmed that today.

"At this particular time it looks like Chad Pennington's injury is going to be long-term," Sparano said.

Pennington will be placed on injured reserve as early as tonight and no later than Tuesday. It is expected that free agent quarterback Patrick Ramsey will take his spot on the roster by Tuesday.

[Update: ESPN is now reporting the Ramsey signing as fact.]

The news is better everywhere else.

Chad Henne spent this morning and afternoon getting treatment on his left knee and is hopeful he can be ready to play again at some point this season. He hasn't even been ruled out from being available for Thursday's game against Chicago, although that is a seriously optimistic view of things.

As to the idea Henne can play again this year, Sparano said, "This year? Yes. I'm hopeful."

"I'm proceeding under the assmption that we are day-to-day."

Sparano suggested there is a possibility Henne might take some repetitions at practice starting Tuesday.

I asked Sparano directly if the report that said Henne is likely out for the year is inaccurate?

"I would say at this particular time that is not accurate," Sparano said.

The reporter who wrote that article chimed in "more than likely," apparently not realizing that "more than likely" is stronger than simply "likely" because it is, well, more. Sparano apparently got a kick from that.

"You notice how nice I said that, Armando?" he asked. "I noticed the little back-biting."

Anyway, we move to more facts.

Cameron Wake, who sustained a hip injury Sunday, is apparently fine, according to The Herald's Jeff Darlington. He was sent home with aspirin and an ice pack and is expected to play Thursday, Darlington reports. So that's good.

As for Jake Long, the offensive left tackle that is nursing a dislocated shoulder, the coach is being coy about his status. I'm told the team is hopeful Long can play Thursday although that is asking a lot from him, including going on the field against the likes of Julius Peppers with, basically, one arm tied to his side.

"Jake is a pretty tough guy," Sparano said, "We'll see where we go."

Offensive linemen Pat McQuistan and Lydon Murtha have both worked at left tackle this year and would be available if Long cannot start or finish the game Thursday. Sparano said he played "in and out a few times, mostly in," against the Titans after the injury happened.

The Dolphins will release an injury report this evening.

The injury roundup from a very costly victory

So to recap Sunday's episode of M*A*S*H:

Starting quarterback Chad Pennington suffered a serious right shoulder separation and is all but done for the season.

Backup quarterback Chad Henne suffered a left knee injury that may have included a partial dislocation of his knee cap. It is serious. But it is not necessarily season ending. Henne went for an MRI Sunday evening but was not told the results. He is holding out hope he can play again at some point this season. His status for the game against the Chicago Bears on Thursday is doubtful.

The Dolphins are expected to sign, not one, but two -- count 'em -- two quarterbacks as early as today. That will be even if Henne is not done for the season.

The bottom line is the team needs two healthy players behind Tyler Thigpen so they were contacting a handful of players Sunday. Among the throwers Dolphins considered: Patrick Ramsey, JaMarcus Russell, Tom Brandstater, Todd Bouman, Sean Canfield, Brian St. Pierre.

Me? I'm wondering why not Jeff Garcia? I'm wondering why not Daunte Culpepper? Both are playing in the UFL, so they're in shape. Both would require buy-outs from that league. So? Is the rest of the Dolphins season worth $250,000 or not?

Back to the injuries:

Jake Long suffered a shoulder dislocation. It is serious. He played with the injury Sunday. He hopes he can continue to play with the injury. That is not a certainty. He will go for an MRI this morning to see if there is any structural or nerve damage. He is neither absolutely done for the season nor absolutely available.

Cameron Wake suffered a hip injury. He missed much of the second half. After the game he was moving without any apparent difficulty. But he was in some discomfort as he dressed. He declined to talk about the injury, which should get him some sort of prize from the team. He is not done for the season so it's not as serious as some of the other injuries. But his status for Chicago is questionable at best.

Chris Clemons came into the game with an assortment of bumps and bruises but the biggest issue is his left knee. He missed much of the second half on Sunday. It is not serious in that he's not done for the season. His status would probably be questionable if the Dolphins played Sunday. But because they play again Thursday, the Dolphins might need to get comfortable with the idea of rookie Reshad Jones starting at free safety.

Yeremiah Bell is still slowed by some sort of foot/toe injury. He finished the game, but he is visibly slowed. He is trying to tough it out and has been for a couple of weeks now.

 

Jake Long has a dislocated shoulder (not good)

And the hits just keep on coming.

An NFL source confirmed to the Herald's Jeff Darlington that offensive lineman Jake Long suffered a dislocated shoulder during today's victory over Tennessee.

Miami's franchise left tackle is scheduled for an MRI on Monday morning.

This is not a season-ending situation. Long may be able to play with the injury. The MRI is supposed to make sure that there is no structural damage that would make playing a hazard to Long's career in the long term.

If that is not the case, it is possible Long can secure the shoulder and play -- although it will be painful and he will be somewhat limited in his movement.

The Dolphins, however, may elect to keep Long out.

It is poor timing for Miami that they are suffering this rash of injuries -- Long, Henne, Chris Clemons, who left the game benged up -- as they have only four days to recover and play Chicago.

Source: Dolphins want to work out JaMarcus Russell, others

The Dolphins are exploring other quarterback options now because Chad Pennington is expected to be out for the remainder of the season, and one of the names prominent on Miami's list of replacements is former first overall selection JaMarcus Russell, a team source said Sunday night.

No workout has been set up yet. But Russell is on Miami's list and the team is expected to reach out to him in the next 24 hours. Russell recently had a tryout with the Redskins. He weighed in excess of 260 pounds when he worked out with the Redskins two week ago despite the fact he is being mentored by former NBA player and coach John Lucas.

The Dolphins have other QBs also on the list and will go through those names as well. The team, obviously, can also look at quarterbacks currently on other team's practice squads.

Other QBs that will be under consideration are Patrick Ramsey, Todd Bouman, Sean Canfield, and Brian St. Pierre. This is obviously not a complete list as the Dolphins aren't calling reporters and sharing their intentions.

Ramsey, it must be remembered is represented by Jimmy Sexton. Sexton represents Bill Parcells and Tony Sparano. Hmmm.

ESPN is reporting former Broncos QB Tom Brandstater will be among the players Miami will try out.

No, Pat White is not an option. Yet.

Pennington shoulder injury likely season ending, Henne going for MRI this evening, Thursday starter unclear

Dolphins starting quarterback Chad Pennington, making his first start at quarterback in over a year after suffering a shoulder injury in 2009, suffered a severe right shoulder injury that likely has ended his season prematurely.

The injury happened on the first play from scrimmage for the Dolphins offense versus Tennessee.

After being hit but not driven to the ground on the play, Pennington stayed in the game one more play. In the huddle, one Dolphins player said, Pennington was asking teammates to pull on his shoulder and pop it back into place.

After the second play, he realized he could not continue.

Pennington has had three right shoulder surgeries. While the Dolphins did not rule anything in or out for him, it seems clear the team is making plans to go on without him. Pennington did not speak after the game, but rather expects to talk to the media in the next few days.

"He doesn't want to be a distraction," a team spokesman said.

"For him to have another shoulder problem, it's tough," teammate and second-stringer Chad Henne said.

Henne came into the game on Miami's third offensive play. And he went out of the game in the third quarter when someone rolled his left knee and the knee cap was somehow twisted with great force.

"I have to get an MRI at 6:30 and we'll see what happens from there," Henne said. "It doesn't feel good. But for me, if I can stand and I can run on it, I'm going to be playing. So whatever happens, we'll see.

"It didn't feel good enough to come back. But I'm not going to be one to baby my knee. If I can be in there, I'll be in there."

So where does that leave third-stringer Tyler Thigpen?

Working toward the uncertainty of either starting or not against the Chicago Bears on Thursday.

"Phyiscally I'm ready to go, mentally I feel I'm ready to go," Thigpen said. "But it would be nice if I am named the starter this week due to injury to get the timing down with the guys.

"It's going to be extra long hours in the facility this week, but you have to be a professional. We have three days to get ready."

Dolphins beat Titans 29-17 on a crazy day

The Dolphins got more points today than they had all season. They had their second-highest passing day of the season. And they did it by using all three of their quarterbacks.

That was not initially the plan.

But starter Chad Pennington lasted only two throws before suffering a shoulder injury that seems to be severe. Then Chad Henne, the starter the previous eight games of the season, came on and was solid. He completed 19 of 28 passes for 240 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

And then Henne injured his knee. The team fears it, too, could be serious.

So Miami finished with third-stringer Tyler Thigpen, who completed 4 of 6 passes for 64 yards and one TD. The Thigpen TD pass sealed this victory.

If that's not nuts enough for you, consider the Dolphins had a fourth player throw a pass today. Brandon Marshall had an incompletion off a Wildcat formation.

The Dolphins used flea-flickers. They used the Wildcat. They used the safety blitz with Reshad Jones at least twice. They played newly acquired Al Harris a lot at cornerback.

It was, in a word, fascinating out there.

 

Dolphins lead Titans 20-17 to start fourth quarter

It has gotten a little crazy here today.

Vince Young replaced an injured Kerry Collins to start the third quarter. Collins has a calf injury. (No word if that injury happened when Jeff Fisher kicked Collins in the calf after a terrible first half.)

The Dolphins also have quarterback issues. They put in Chad Henne to replace Chad Pennington. And now they've lost Henne -- at least temporarily -- because he left the game with knee injury. His return is questionable.

Tyler Thigpen is now in the game.

The live blog continues. Check us out.

Dolphins-Titans tied at 10 to start 3rd quarter.

We have a tie.

It's a tie in that neither team is getting exceedingly good QB play.

It's a tie in that both teams haveone turnover.

It's a tie in that the scoreboard reads 10-10.

Kerry Collins, starting for an injured Vince Young, has completed only 9 of 20 passes for 51 yards. He's overthrown a handful of open receivers.

Chad Henne, playing because starter Chad Pennington hurt his throwing shoulder in the first series, has completed 10 of 17 passes for 138 yards and one interception. Pennington went into the locker room after the injury and has not returned to the field.

The crowd here is not exactly standing room only. In fact it's filled with patches of orange seats. Truth?

I'm feeling like we're mired in mediocrity.

Titans lead Dolphins 10-7 to start second quarter

Chad Pennington was supposed to bring a spark to the Dolphins offense. That hope lasted only two plays before he was injured throwing his first pass of the game.

Chad Henne entered the game and here we are.

The Dolphins have a TD on their first series because they recovered a Bo Scaife fumble inside the Tennessee 30 yard line. With Henne running the offense, they score a TD.

Then the Titans answered with a scoring drive of their own, highlighted by a 33-yard pass intereference penalty against Vontae Davis.

Then something weird ...

Tony Sparano called a fake punt from inside his own 30 yard line. The Dolphins needed two yards. They got 1 yard. And that led to a Titans field goal.

That's where things are, 10-7, as we start the second and continue the live blog. Join me

Live blog: The recovery from 4-4 possible

Welcome to the second half of the 2010 NFL season.

As you know, despite their 4-4 record, the Dolphins have been guaranteed a playoff spot courtesy wide receiver Brandon Marshall. But as I write in my Sunday column, a lot of things have to change beyond the starting quarterback for that guarantee to be fulfilled.

Check the list I outline in the column and tell me if you agree with it and can think of any more areas Miami needs immediate improvement in to make that playoff reach.

(One need I missed is that Miami must learn to overcome the home field advantage of their opponents at Sun Lifeless Stadium.)

Miami's assignment of recovering from a 4-4 record to make the playoffs will be difficult. But not impossible. According to the NFL, since the 2000 season, 27 teams have finished the first half of the season with a .500 or worse record and still made the playoffs -- with at least one such team making it happen in every season.

In each of the past four seasons, at least three teams started 4-4 or worse and rebounded to make the playoffs. Last year, three teams worked that trick -- Baltimore, Green Bay, and the New York Jets.

I remind you one, you will see one of the previously mentioned 27 teams play today. I remind you in 2008, the Dolphins were 4-4 and then, voila, they went 7-1 in the season's final eight weeks and not only made the playoffs, but won the division.

Have I mentioned there is a live blog today?

There is a live blog today.

It starts in the comments section below and then moves to the new posts I file at the start of every quarter. So be there. And come back here 90 minutes before the game to get the inactives and starters (want to see who starts at QB for Tennessee) for the teams.

[UPDATE: The inactives for Miami are Roberto Wallace, Nate Ness, Matt Kopa, Clifton Geathers, Lydon Murtha, Mikey Shuler and Tyler Thigpen is the thrid QB. For the Titans, Kerry Collins will start at QB, not Vince Young.]

Sean Salisbury: Henne won't ever be elite

Well, as long as I'm telling you what former NFL quarterbacks and current pundits are saying on radio shows about the Miami Dolphins quarterback situation (see previous post), I figured I'd give you Sean Salisbury's take on Chad Henne.

Salisbury visited my radio show, Armando and the Amigo, this week prior to Henne's benching in Miami. And he basically said Henne will be a solid quarterback in this league.

But never an elite quarterback.

Salisbury, as you can hear on the audio file below, agreed with me that Henne is hard to define because of all the problems that have been happening around him during his 21 games as Miami's starter.

"You and I have pretty much been on the same page," Salisbury said. "I got a message this week from a friend and we were talking about it, and I know the people in South Florida are on Dan Henning and the rest of it. But with Chad, I said the same exact thing almost to a T. I said, 'You know what, the jury is still out.' ... I DVR all the games I can't watch live and I watch and then re-watch them during the week. And, you know, at times I look at Chad and say this is a superstar about to happen. And then the next week I say, 'Is he going to be a star? Is he even going to be able to hold down a job? Is this their future?

"And you know, you guys know me, I'm not a fence-sitter. If I thought Chad sucked I'd say, 'They gotta get a new quarterback.' They need to say that in a bunch of different places. I thought he was going to be great, but I don't know. I've watched him enough. I've seen him make enough throws to know the guy can play. But I've also seen him do some things and make some decisions and make some throws and make some boneheaded decisions to say, 'He's a backup in this league.'

" ... So put it this way, Chad Henne is not ever going to be a guy that carries a franchise on his back like Miami's been used to a whole bunch of years ago when No. 13 was there -- that whenever everything else was going wrong, the quarterback will carry you. I think Chad is a really, really good player when he's got people around him that are making plays, also. So if that makes sense, he's not a Kurt Warner. Kurt Warner could carry a team in Arizona. He leaves and they go to hell in a hand basket. There's quarterbacks that can do that. But there's also quarterbacks you say, 'Ok, this is a guy that's good for us. He's going to go 18 out of 27, throw a touchdown, and we're going to be efficient.' I think Chad can be that guy with an every-now-and-then 300-yard spectacular performance.

"I don't believe you're ever going to look at him and say, 'We're going to load it on [his] back and that's going to be on him.' Chad needs to have a team that runs the football and is going to have guys make some plays for him. I don't think he's going to be that guy you say, 'We're going to franchise him or he's worth $50, $60 million.' I don't think he's that quarterback. But I do think he's a starter in this league."

You should listen to the audio:

SeanSalisbury

Salisbury addressed other interesting things during the interview. For instance, he believes the Dolphins are going to be a factor going forward.

"I can assure you they will disrupt the playoff picture before they're done," he said.

And, of course, if you are the mood, you can always listen to me live on Armando and the Amigo weekday mornings from 6-10 a.m. on 640-Sports in South Florida, or live streaming online here or off the podcast that is available on iTunes and the site (check the site for the link.)

You can also follow me on twitter.

Namath has 'love' for Pennington move

Joe Namath knows about playing quarterback from his days with the New York Jets and Los Angeles Rams (yes, many years ago). He knows Chad Pennington from the current Miami quarterback's days with the Jets.

And Namath apparently has "love" for the move coach Tony Sparano made earlier this week when he benched Chad Henne and promoted Pennington to the starting quarterback job. At least that's what Namath said today on the Broadway Blitz, his show on Sirius NFL Radio.

“I gave that a lot of thought and I love the move," Joe Willie said. "Not just love it because I’ve got so much respect for Chad Pennington. Hey, man, he’s owned up every time he’s given a chance. The only problems he’s had is that Lady Luck biting his right shoulder now and then, his injuries. 

"But as far as this change, I can see coach Sparano to a degree, and I don’t know if he thought about this, but at this point the team, to me, has to be questioning Henne. You know, when they look at the replays of the games and the snaps and the things that aren’t done that you’d think your quarterback might be able to get done more consistently, that might be catching more eyes with the players than in the past."

Hadn't thought of that and it is a good point. And Namath believes the timing is right for the change.

"Now they have a tough opponent coming in this week.  Now is the time to change because they can go back to Henne some other time. I believe Pennington, dealing with any NFL defense, is as good as it gets when it comes to the mind analyzing, knowing what to do, where to go. So he’s giving that offense a better chance … That season is not lost for the Dolphins just because they are changing quarterbacks at this point.  That defense is still good and they are still in the hunt.”

Follow me on, as Jets fans pronounce it, twittah.

The situation according to Dan Henning

Dan Henning talked to the media during his weekly presser on Thursday. This week, I assume, everyone is more interested in what he has to say based on the fact stuff is happening (and, unfortunately, not happening for the offense in some cases).

So here are the most interesting bits of tid that came out of Henning's exchange with the media:

Q. How would Henning rate his offense at the midpoint of the 2010 season?

A. "We haven't been as efficient as we'd like. We have done some pretty good things but we haven't been as efficient as we'd like. We have not as many touchdowns as we'd like. We've gotten the ball seven times between our 48 and the goal line and out of those seven times we have a touchdown and six field goals. But we only have gotten it on the plus side of 50 twice and that was the Pittsburgh game and we weren't able to get touchdowns there. We've had a lot of long drives for touchdowns. We've had a lot of long drives for field goals. But we haven't executed the way we'd like when we did have the opportunity. If you look at the stats, our opportunities in the red area are way off from a lot of other teams' opportunities in the red area.

"So, overall, we're not doing as well as we'd like. And if we were doing as well as we'd like maybe we'd have a better record. So we're 4-4 and we have to be better than that, obviously, especially in the division we're in and the conference we're in if we want to get to where we want to be at the end of the year."

Q. Does Chad Pennington have greater freedom to call audibles than Chad Henne and does the list of plays change based on the quarterback change?

A. "Same. Same. The list of plays are based on who we're playing. I don't think we'll have a different scope of things. You obviously know different people see things differently. They read things differently. When it comes down to the quarterback you have judgment that takes place so you might see him do something that you didn't see [Henne] do. You also might see him do something that Chad did do that might not be as good. That's what you live with whenever you make that type of change."

Q. Does the fact you didn't throw deep much with Henne mean the offense is better suited for Chad Pennington?

A. "No, I don't think the reason we've not thrown as deep much with Henne is Henne as much as the defenses we're playing against. They're trying to stack up against Brandon and the few times we have thrown deep, we've only been successful a couple of times. Like last week we hit Brian Hartline on a pump down the sideline for about 35 yards. And we opened up the Vikings game and we got over the top. As soon as we got over the top on the Vikings, they're going to shut that off.

Q. So does that aspect of the offense change? 

A. "There will be times when the shots will be there and when they're there, we expect them to be hit."

Q. How does the QB switch affect Henne's standing in the league and ability to come back?

A. "I think if you go back through history, I saw a graphic on this somewhere. When Elway came out in '83, he didn't win as many games as Henne has and he had a lot more interceptions than touchdowns. Steve Young came into the World Football League and flopped to Tampa. After Tampa he got traded to San Francisco. He didn't really start starting until his ninth year. He was pretty good. This guy has come out of the box and he's done some very good things. He hasn't dropped any balls, missed any blocks or missed any tackles. And he has done some things he'd like to have back, so to speak. I've said it before and I'll say it again, there's no reason this guy can't be a good quarterback in this league. He's got the tools. He's got the work ethic to the Nth degree and he is a very tough guy. He's a sensitive guy -- doesn't show that very much. But he is a tough guy and he'll come back from this."

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Brandon Marshall guarantees playoff berth for Dolphins

Brandon Marshall just guaranteed the Miami Dolphins will be in the playoffs this season.

"Oh, yeah, absolutely," Marshall said when asked if he was guaranteeing a playoff berth.

"I don't know how many wins it's going to take," he continued, "but we'll be there at the end."

Marshall is not blind. He recognizes the team is struggling. The Dolphins are 4-4. And Marshall characterized Miami's offensive performances so far as, "up and down."

But ... the confidence. The ever-loving confidence peeks through eventually.

"Any minute now, we're going to put it all together," he said.

By the way, wise guys, Marshall meant he guarantees a playoff berth this year, not some day. Just in case some of you get cute.

By the way, Marshall isn't the only person in the NFL exuding confidence today. At New York Jets training facility, coach Rex Ryan was back to his old Hard Knocks ways.

"We have more talent than anybody," he said during his press conference. "I expect to win every game."

Which one is more likely to be true?

 

Veterans Day 2010: More important than football

If you're looking for more words about Chad Pennington and Chad Henne or Dan Henning and Jason Allen, I don't have those for you here this morning. You can read my column in The Herald on the topic if you like.

Today this blog pauses to remember, to celebrate, to honor those that defended my right to write and speak those words without fear of reprisal from any despot or tyrant -- no, not Nick Saban. This morning this blog honors the fighting men and women of the United States armed forces and all the veterans who served therein.

This blog honors these people on Veteran's Day 2010 because they are more important than most of the fanciful, frilly things you come to this blog to enjoy. You come here to debate. You come here to exchange ideas. You come here to speak your minds. That is a freedom you should not take lightly.

That is a freedom I do not take lightly. You see, I come from a country where people don't have the basic fundamental freedoms of free speech, or liberty or the pursuit of happiness.

So perhaps I value those who preserve those freedoms here more than the next person. Forgive me if that somehow causes you any inconvenience. You have a right to your opinion so you can think me too sappy if you wish. Isn't that wonderful?

You have a right to your opinion.

People fought and died for that right. And for that reason, this morning, this blog is dedicated to our veterans. I will update with football information this afternoon. But for now, please acknowledge the service of people worthy of much respect. 

Pennington: 'Now it's time to roll ...'

Chad Pennington just got done talking to the media at Dolphins camp. That's what the Miami Dolphins starting quarterback does every Wednesday around this time, so yes, you should know by now that Pennington is the starter.

He got a text from coach Tony Sparano Tuesday, asking when he was coming to work. Pennington texted back, saying he expected to be in by 10 a.m. Then he asked if Sparano needed him earlier. The coach said, "sure, a little sooner."

"I'm on my way," Pennington texted back.

After meeting with the coach for 45 minutes, he was returned to the job as the Dolphins starter. Pennington left the facility and took his dog to the groomer, which also conveniently gave Sparano an opportunity to speak with Chad Henne about being benched.

Then Pennington returned around 11 a.m.

"Chad and I talked for about an hour, got teary-eyed because we have a good relationship and we're good friends," Pennington said. "And it's a situation that's not fair. I've been there before. I've been benched when it wasn't really my fault. I understand every emotion he has and I understand everything he feels. He has every right to feel everything he has. We talked about it.

"I told him he needs to be ready to play. I made sure in the practice and the scripts we have, he gets some reps, because you're never sure what's going to happen. Just like he had to get ready to play three games in last year. It was a tough day for both of us, probably one of the hardest days for me as a professional."

All that behind them, Pennington can now get down to business.

"But now, it's time to roll," Pennington said. "It's time to focus on winning a football game."

Pennington replaces a player who threw for 1,900 yards the first eight games of the season. But the Miami offense lacked something -- aside from touchdowns, wiseguys. Pennington hopes to bring part of what has been missing.

"I just think as an offense, we've got to make sure we create a spark," he said. "Offensive football is about energy, it's about momentum. It's about synergy. It's about a feeling you have. And none of that happens with stats, it's not a statistic you can throw at it. So we have to find a way to create sparks during games. And when there's a chance to stick a dagger in a team and take their heart out, we got to do it. And when there's a chance to make a big play and get our crowd involved, we've got to do that. It's really important our crowd comes and supports us and so our we. So we have to create sparks and create energy and feed off that."

The Dolphins haven't done that. It's hard and wrong to blame Henne for the offense failing to do that. That would mean this change was easy. It was not.

But it is a fact and so Pennington is hoping to avoid the kind of offensive offense we've seen part of the past eight games.

"Sometimes we get in our own way ... We miss a block, we miss a throw, we fall down on a route, we've gotten in our own way," he said. "I think that's a fair assessment and we need to clean those things up. Just play better team football and that takes championship individual performances."

Henne benched; Pennington starts vs. Titans

Dolphins coach Tony Sparano has announced today that Chad Pennington will start for the Dolphins at quarterback on Sunday against the Tennessee Titans.

Chad Henne has been benched.

"After making long evaluations of all the details involved, what I've decided to do here as we move forward is Chad Pennington is going to be the quarterback," Sparano said. "Took a lot of things into consideration, weighed an awful lot of options out. This is not an indictment at all on Chad Henne. This is not an indictment on his future.

"This player has gotten an awful lot better right now. He's come two-fold from where he was. But this is something I need to do. At this particular time as I look ahead, my decision is Chad Pennington's strengths are a little bit better suited for where we need to be right now."

Sparano said Henne is disappointed. No doubt. Henne found out Tuesday (his day off) when he came into work to study for the Titans game.

And with that the Dolphins go back to 2008 when Pennington was Miami's starter and took the team to the playoffs. Henne goes to the bench, having failed at his opportunity to show he is a consistent quarterback, much less a franchise quarterback.

If you look at this move along with the adding of soon-to-be-36-year-old cornerback Al Harris, it says the Dolphins coaching staff, front office, everyone, seems to be in win-now mode.

Interesting because this move also makes the team's decision not to add Randy Moss last week seem curious. One could understand the idea of not claiming Moss because he might somehow negatively impact Henne's growth.

But Pennington is another story altogether. Pennington is a veteran and a former teammate of Moss at Marshall University. The two are friends and so one excuse reason for not claiming Moss goes out the window.

Of course, that would assume the Dolphins had a plan to make today's quarterback move. They did not.

And that isn't great news, either. They're flying by the seat of their pants now. They're in win-now mode now. Suddenly that building toward something, that going forward always with an eye on the future is just noise.

As for Henne, don't fret on his behalf. Sparano was careful to say Pennington is the quarterback for the Titans' game. He didn't name him the starter for the rest of the season.

Pennington has been known to be injury-prone in recent years. And while he did great work in leading the Dolphins to the 2008 AFC East title, he was also the starter the first three games of 2009 when Miami was 0-3.

So is Henne cooked in Miami? I don't believe so, yet. He will likely get another shot down the road but that is unclear.

But was his first crack out of the gates a success? The answer to that is quite clear.

NO.

How else to describe it when he's benched?

Harris for Allen doesn't mean things got better

The Dolphins signed cornerback Al Harris and waived cornerback Jason Allen today. And in the coming hour you'll hear how coach Tony Sparano feels that Harris is a good player that can help the team the same way you heard him say Allen was playing really well earlier this year.

Throughout talk radio and on this blog's comment board you see people extol the virtues of this exchange -- cutting a first-round bust for a player whose playing his final NFL days -- as improvement.

I don't care about any of that. That is just people's opinion.

This is a fact: The Dolphins today have cut a player they thought was good enough to start seven games for them. They cut a player who still leads the team with three interceptions. The Dolphins, in thinking this guy was good enough to start one week and cut two weeks later, just told you how terrible their cornerback situation has really been.

If you are cutting a player that you said was pretty good and you were starting most of the season, you are admitting that player really wasn't all you said. You are admitting he wasn't good enough to keep around, particularly if the reason you're cutting him is all about his performance rather than some strange chemistry or police blotter reason.

Then there's the other side of this coin -- the adding of Harris.

Harris was cut by the Green Bay Packers this week. They cut him not because he's a problem child or because he's in a contract dispute. The man has been an outstanding NFL cornerback for 12 years. But that changed in year 13.

So the Packers cut Harris because he's going to be 36 years old next month. They cut him because he hasn't played sinced Week 11 of last season. They cut him because his knee problems hadn't allowed him to be 100 percent healthy so he could get on the field this year.

The Packers cut Al Harris because they realized he cannot help them anymore.

And so this is the player that can help the Dolphins?

What does that say about the desperation of Miami's cornerback situation?

Well, combined with the cutting of a player who was starting, this tells me the Dolphins are in some desperate times. And their response to desperate times is this desperate measure.

If that shakes your confidence in this team's defensive backfield, then you're on point. Remember that according to coaches, Allen was the best answer at one cornerback spot up until last week's game at Baltimore. But, by the same token, he was only good enough to kick out the door.

(By the way, this blog has known Jason Allen wasn't the answer to any question that had anything to do with defensive back play about two two years ago.)

So what does Allen's ability to hold off Sean Smith for a starting job in seven of the past eight weeks say about Smith? Remember, the coaches believed Allen was better than Smith up until last week. Now we're supposed to believe all is well?

And we're supposed to believe that Harris could be a viable, solid, good answer if he gets his chance?

The Dolphins are basically trying to patch leaks now. Allen wasn't the long-term answer. Harris isn't the long-term answer. It can be argued whether Smith is a long-term answer.

Point is nothing about this move suggests things are improving. I'm not hating the move, but rather giving you what the move means. It means the Dolphins are trying not to drown. They're just hoping to tread water.

And that doesn't instill a lot of confidence.

 

Dolphins face second straight team that enjoyed a bye

That guy that authors the NFL schedule? Slap that dude if you see him in the next couple of days.

That person, you see, is the genius that scheduled the Dolphins to play the Baltimore Ravens last Sunday ... after the Ravens enjoyed a bye week.

That person also scheduled the Dolphins to play the Tennessee Titans at Sun Life this Sunday ... after the Titans enjoyed a bye week.

And following those games played at a clear disadvantage, the schedule guru decided the Dolphins should play a Thursday night game Nov. 18 followed by a cross-country trip to Oakland Nov. 28. In all, the Dolphins will play three games in 14 days starting on Sunday.

Thanks. Thanks a lot NFL scheduling guy.

This, by the way, has nothing to do with the quality of the opponent. Let's face it, no one in the NFL plays an FCS team. It all evens out in the end if competition is the measure so I'm not whining complaining about the difficulty of the games. But convenience and strategic advantage?

The Ravens enjoyed that against Miami and the Titans enjoy it this week.

Interestingly, I have to wonder how much the Titans pressed that advantage. For example, receiver Randy Moss was acquired off waivers last Wednesday. But Moss wasn't asked to report to the Titans until they gathered for Dolphins preparations on Monday.

Um, what happened to Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday? Did Moss need those days to hitch-hike to Nashville?

The truth is even if Moss had wanted to show up for work immediately, he would have found himself all alone. That's because Titans coach Jeff Fisher used the extra week to rest his team. They were off over the weekend and running back Chris Johnson (thigh) and quarterback Vince Young (ankle) were rested last week along with several of Tennessee's limping defensive players.

Wide receiver Kenny Britt (ankle) will miss Sunday's game so no amount of rest helped him.

We should note the bye week was the launch of some very good football by the Titans in 2009. You'll remember they opened the season 0-6 before their bye. The Titans won five consecutive games following their bye week and 8 of 10 games. The Titans beat the Dolphins, 27-24 in overtime during their 2009 post-bye run.

So once again, thanks NFL scheduling guy. Thanks for scheduling the Dolphins to play the Titans immediately following their bye. 

The reasons Chad Henne must remain at QB

You folks really must stop e-mailing me. Post your comments below in the comments section instead because it's getting crazy and I cannot possibly reply to everyone, although I would love to do so. Normally, I just reply to the folks that call me a fat, moron, frick because, dang it, I'm not a frick so I feel the need to defend myself.

Anyway, most of your e-mails Monday were about one of two topics:

1. Fire everybody.

2. Bench Chad Henne.

I can assure you the Dolphins are not about to fire everybody. This post will attempt to explain why the Dolphins should not bench Henne.

I watched the 26-10 loss to Baltimore and I'm not about to do a coach Tony Sparano and give you an "all is well, there's nothing to worry about," speech. As this Miami Herald story points out, Henne threw 5 TDs and 4 interceptions the first four games and 3 TDs and 6 interceptions the past four games.

Bottom line is the Dolphins were beaten pretty soundly at Baltimore and there is a pattern they follow in that they cannot beat very good teams. So all is not well.

But in watching Henne's worst game of the season, it becomes evident there are glances that you must admit are present before you summarily dismiss him as your quarterback.

Did you notice that Henne completed 9 of his first 10 passes against the big, bad Baltimore defense? That is correct, he was 9 of 10 to start the game.

Nobody noticed that because the one incompletion was an interception by Baltimore's Ladarius Webb. And, true enough, an interception does overshadow nine other completions if those completions are TD passes. But this interception was more the wide receiver's fault than Henne's.

Fact is Brian Hartline stumbled and was on his knees when the ball came to him on the sideline. Webb simply stood where Hartline was down and caught the pass. If Hartline had been on his feet that pass is either an incompletion or a completion. Not an interception.

There were two other picks Henne threw. He had one that led Brandon Marshall a hair too far and the Miami receiver didn't necessarily go above and beyond to stretch for the catch because Ray Lewis had Marshall's ribs in the cross hairs. The tipped pass went directly to Ed Reed.

Interception No. 3 was Henne's biggest mistake, that in the fourth quarter when he threw inaccurately and the defensive back on Davone Bess simply caught the errant pass. I put that one on Henne. But Bess had zero separation. And Bess didn't exactly dig hard back toward the pass. Fact is the DB made a stronger break toward the ball and came away with it. Bess does better work, that interception also becomes an incompletion.

The point I'm making is Henne didn't exactly get a ton of support. And I didn't even mention the Anthony Fasano drop. The Brandon Marshall drop. The Ronnie Brown drop.

I do have to mention the terrible pass to a wide open Fasano in the end zone near the end of the first half. That was, in my humble, Henne's worst pass of the day and it cost Miami four points or the difference between a touchdown and the field goal the team kicked.

So did all that spell out a 26-10 loss? No.

The Ravens did not score after Webb's interception. They got a field goal after the second interception. And the final pick came with 42 seconds to play and Baltimore merely took a knee to end the game after that turnover.

So Henne's terrible day cost the Dolphins a touchdown -- the field goal plus the difference between what might have been a TD and FG to end the half.

The Dolphins lost this game by 16 points, folks. It wasn't all on the QB.

Now, maybe you think benching Henne is still the move because, well, you just want to stir things up. Or maybe it's because you don't like Henne's robotic approach to playing. Or maybe you just hate Michigan.

I would say the Dolphins must stay with Henne because if nothing else happens this year, they must, must, must, find out if he is the future or not. The Dolphins aren't a playoff team right now. They are not playing playoff-caliber football.

But if they finish the 2010 season with a conviction one way or the other about Chad Henne, at least the season was not in vain. If, on the other hand, the team replaces Henne with Chad Pennington and makes a playoff run only to find out that still isn't the answer, we're back to 2008 and we've wasted two seasons.

Coach Tony Sparano's contract runs out after 2011. He cannot afford to find himself back at the end of 2008 while the calendar says its 2011 and his contract says it expires in 2011. We need to know if Henne is the future at quarterback or not.

That means you might have to endure some growing pains and setbacks. But to back-track now to Chad Pennington in search of some short-term fix is taking one step forward but finding yourself two steps back. 

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