The South Florida Sun-Sentinel is reporting that Chad Pennington has been named the starting quarterback of the Miami Dolphins. This is no surprise to anyone as it was widely expected since he signed with the team. What has been a surprise to me thou is the complete disappearance of former starting candidates John Beck and Josh McCown. The job itself essentially came down to a battle between Pennington and rookie Chad Henne.
“We are a young team and I think what Chad brings to the table is management skills,” Tony Sparano said. “He manages the game really well and is a little bit calmer out there. He has seen more situations.”
The decision to start Pennington makes complete sense. The two other options Beck and McCown, to put it simply, suck. And the other option Henne is no where near ready to start at the professional level. In addition, the wide receiver play of the Dolphins has improved tremendously under his leadership. People have always joked about his lack of arm strength, but his plus has always been his accuracy and with a young group of receivers that goes much further. One could possibly expect receivers Ted Ginn and Derek Hagan to even become fantasy worthy now, as a WR3.
“Having [Pennington] back there has helped their confidence a little bit over the last week or so. It kind of got everybody excited,” cornerback Andre’ Goodman said.
After multiple years of being doubted in New York this has to be a boost in the confidence of Mr. Pennington. A new quarterback always loves to have the support of his new teammates, especially when the defense is even praising him.
Although he’s been named the starter I have to say that he is still going to have to watch his back. We originally expectied Henne to compete or even take the starting job by mid-season, and we have no reason to change that expection. Rookie Henne hasn’t been lights out and showed he still needs seasoning. BUT, he has shown enough that he could possibly be ready by mid-to-late season. Things are looking up for Miami, not even close to playoff contender, but at least Dolphins won’t have to worry about being completely run over EVERY weekend. So if you live in the area, go check out a Dolphins game!
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Tags: Miami Dolphins, NFL
Noodle arm isn’t the answer… I think Chad Henne will be good enough to be a playoff starter in 2 years.
Yea, definitely agree with you there James. All depends if Parcells gives him good young talent to build around or bring around old guys on their way out.