True. But on the flip side, Henne got zero prep in the offseason to be the starter in terms of reps and work with coaches, while Sanchez did. Henne got installed on the fly...
If the Fins coaches expected Pennington to remain healthy two consecutive seasons and didn't foresee Henne at least starting a few games last season then they're brain-dead.
If we are gonna say Henne was better that's fine. I only saw Henne play 3-4 times last season and I would say he was mediocre with flashes of brilliance thrown into each performance that I saw. Sanchez was all over the map, he was great, he was lost, he was mediocre. I didn't see anything from Henne that would suggest he would be better than Sanchez if they both reach their full potential. Henne has a big arm and that's where he natural advantages over Sanchez end. Sanchez is a much better athlete and I love what I saw out of him as far as playmaking ability goes. He made a couple throws last year that reminded me a lot of Brett Favre. They were throws that he probably shouldn't have made but his natural ability made them work out. The one that has always stuck out to me is week 1 he made a throw that I believe was to Cotchery over the middle with a d-lineman about to pummel him. This throw was off his back foot and had to have been made blind with the huge lineman in his face and somehow he put it right on the money. It is plays like that along with the poise and determination to get better that he displays in each interview that has me convinced Sanchez will have a better career than Henne. I know that I haven't seen everything Henne has done in his career so I may have missed some pretty convincing evidence against my conclusion but if I am wrong we will all know it in a few years.
The bottom line is both Sanchez and Henne showed flashes of brilliance in their rookie years. Now we will see who progresses and who stays put.
Henne wasn't a rookie last year. To the argument above that Sanchez was prepped to start last season: I really think that's irrelevant. He actually only got about 50% of the reps in the offseason because the Jets were still pretending that Kellen Clemens had a real shot and they were also giving Ainge some reps here and there. I think Henne had just as much of the Dolphins attention as Sanchez did of the Jets. There's no way Bill Parcells was happy going into last season with Chad Pennington as his starter, Chad had been hurt in every odd numbered season since 2003 and he was one of the main reasons the Dolphins lost in the playoffs in 2008. Henne got a full look and the Dolphins decided he was not ready yet and stayed with Pennington.
Hit the nail on the head, one of the best, non biased post I've seen yet. Agree with you 100%. Just gotta throw in the fact that Sanchez has proven he can win a big game (road playoff games). Henne has not, after multiple chances and even in college. Only thing I would like to see Sanchez do this year that he hasn't done last year is to take control of the game from behind and win. He had some chances last year and faltered, that's okay when your a rookie but let's see if he can do it this year.
Henne was also there for a full season learning from Chad. That does wonders for a young QB. It used to be very rare that a rookie was thrown right in there, and that was for a reason.
I've always loved Dilfer as an analyst. Him and Teddy Bruschi are two of the best players turned analysts i've seen in a long time. Jaws is great too, but lol @ the KC comment. everyone has their moments, doesn't detract from him as an analyst
Im not sure where you come to such a conclusion. Sanchez was not announced starter in the off season. In fact, Kellen Clemens started the first pre season game while Sanchez started the second game onwards. Fine, you can say Sanchez played with the first team for about 3 quarters and thats about it. Wow...unbelievable amount of experience with the starters. Sanchez had 4 months to soak in the offense while Henne had 16 months, but that's a fact I don't see Dolphin fans tend to agree on while Jets fans will generally admit Henne had a season marginally better than Sanchez'.
100% absolutely. Retarded to compare the two. And even then Henne took awhile to get into his rhythm and still had some god awful games at the end of the season. Henne will be a good QB, but not a pro bowl type. He might make it one time or so during his career, but you won't see him mentioned amongst the best in the league. he comes from a good program and has a good arm for the position, but he's never been that accurate of a passer and throws picks.
Sanchez was annointed the starter before the season started last year. He was getting 50% of the snaps until he won the battle and then was getting the majority. Like it or not, Pennington got the majority of the snaps in camp last year. That is fact that cannot be debated. It may have been poor plannng on the part of our coaching staff... but that's what happened. And no, they wernt just gunna go with Henne in the 2009 season, right after Pennington was fresh off an MVP runner up season. You can't. You'd lose the lockerroom immediately...
Did you read the first few words of the post you quoted. I said "very true", as in "I agree" with that statement. No doubt sitting for a year helps. However, being prepared to be the starter does help as well, in terms of reps, chemistry with the first team, and overall work with the coaches and prep time. Sanchez was getting 50% of the reps, until after the first preseason game. He got a good amount of work in the week leading up to the 2nd preseason game, and then was announced the starter shortly afterwards. Thats roughly a month of him being worked and prepped as the starter, and thats on top of getting a good amount of work and prep during the QB "competition". That extra work also really helps a young QB. I think both QBs had their advantages in prep over the other...
And yet, Henne won the last bowl game of his college career against Florida... You talking about how he never beat OSU? He didnt. But in big rivalry and important divisional games on the NFL level, hes 3-1 against the Jets and Pats, and played a huge part in those wins...
Henne avoided the multiple awful games like Sanchez had, that was the difference in the two. henne also had a year + to learn from a Pennington and he came in w/ absolutely no pressure when Pennington got hurt as Miami was already 0-3 before his first start. When he faced the pressure of having playoff destiny in his hands for Miami he played very poorly the final 3 games while Sanchez stepped up in our biggest games in January. This doesn't mean Sanchez will be better, we'll see in the coming years. I was impressed at times w/ both guys and I think both will be good NFL QBs. I never expected that out of henne coming out of college but he did impress me last year and I have changed my thinking on him but I still expect Sanchez to be better. Henne has the better arm of the two but Sanchez has him in pretty much every other category. if it was about the QB only we would have been 12-4. Sanchez had 4 awful games that he cost us in but the other losses came from the D(#1 in ranking but not a diminat D last year) and STs. henne was 1-3 in bowl games, 0-4 against OSU His lone bowl win came against an uninspired UF tea that was disappointed b/c they didn't make a BCS bowl while UM was playing to send out Lloyd Carr with a win. Put that aside b/c it doesn't matter anymore. His biggest games in the NFL were in weeks 15 and 16 and he lost them both playing poor football in each. 3-1 against the jets and Pats sounds nice but if you don't make the playoffs it is meaningless.
He also didn't lead his O to enough points against some DIII school(actually 1AA or whatever they call it now).
