The Phinsider Perspective

He is definitely more of a leader now than he has ever been and he’s been enjoying the chance to call audibles. Brian Daboll, our new OC, has put a lot of faith in Henne. Under our previous OC, Henne had to stick to the plays even if he knew the defense was well prepared for it. He spoke of his frustration about the offense being limited earlier in the offseason. I’m not expecting him to make a huge leap (like GGN thinks Sanchez may take), but I do think Henne will be fine if he isn’t constantly under pressure.

I think he still may be forced into bad throws when he’s under pressure, but he’s done a good job of moving in the pocket and making the correct reads this preseason.

Sorry for the shameless jab to Sanchez, but it is tiring how much Jets fans talk him up…

Not because I disagree (except with one minor point) but to represent some of the variety of opinions we have over at our site.

Henne has looked better, of that there is no doubt. The real question is how much and whether it will manifest in a real game. Some people still strongly criticize him, and not just due to irrational hatred.

My opinion and observations are:
 He certainly has more confidence, looks to have more control of the huddle, shows emotion yelling at guys who screw up, he has called audibles which he didn’t last season (due to Henning), he is lighter on his feet and had some positive scrambles for yards. Morover,( and my mild disagreement), he has managed pressure decently well. He had a few plays in the preseason where he shook off defenders Big Ben style to try and make plays down field (2 plays in particular, one a dropped pass, the other a big play to the TE). he has taken more shots downfield and connected on a couple of deep plays. While his accuracy is still not great, he had a few beautiful passes (like one drop to rookie Clyde Gates between defenders). His pre-snap reads seems to have improved in that you actually see him scanning the field and not giving away the play before the ball is even snapped.

On the other hand, to the extent one can judge these things, his post-snap reads don’t look so good (although others will debate this), You will still see him missing open receivers, keeping his eyes to one side of the field once the ball is snapped. He still doesn’t have great touch on most of his passes, which will limit some of the usefulness of Bush who has dropped balls (he should have caught but…) that were thrown a little too quickly. His ball placement is still too often off the mark as well.

I think, though, despite these conerns, he can play above average. If the playcalling is good and works to his strengths, I think we have talented receivers (Marshall and Bess obviously, Bush out of the backfield, and solid guy in Hartline. Gates, if he holds on to the bal and starts running better routesl, is a burner).
Just my two cents.

Miami looks like they may try to move their WRs around a little bit more this season and if they do, Marshall will be the one Miami looks to move around to create the best mismatches for them.

Miami also has a FB/TE role player with Charles Clay who can eventually cause mismatches with his athleticism in the backfield. He is a player that could be trouble in the middle of the field as a TE and his presence could create headaches for teams, especially when they’re already concerned about Bush. I don’t think Clay will be a factor this week though. He has a lot of growing to do and he’s been going through an injury over the past week. He may be a player to watch when Miami visits New England.

You won’t find many other mismatches on Miami’s offense. Hartline and Bess are fine WRs, but they’re not going to surprise you. They’ll succeed on finding soft spots in zones and running solid routes, but the defense won’t really have to be concerned about who they line up against them.

This guy creates mismatches all over the place. In frustration, and fear, of Bess on third downs, teams would place their number one corner on him. He has burned Revis and Asomugha on a couple of plays (tape doesn’t lie). He is also capable of making ridiculous catches; recall that TD catch when the Pats blew the phins out in week 17. He can also be pretty dangerous when he does get the ball in his hands with his shifty quick moves. It may be easy to forget, but in the two games last year Bess had 11 receptions for 121 yards and 2 TDs against the Pats, not a bad little stat line.

The two guys that you really shouldn’t be worried about are Hartline and Fasano. They are both fairly sure handed, but unspectacular.

Reggie Bush and Brandon Marshall are the mismatch machines, and really don’t need introductions. Interestingly, we have seen Daniel Thomas making receptions out of the backfield for big gains all preseason, so it would be worth keeping an eye on him.

We haven’t seen very much from Clay this preseason, but apparently Sparano saw enough of him in the preseason to cut Lousaka Polite. I am hoping he is something we have been keeping under wraps and we will see a heavy dose of him in the first game.

Also be looking out for Clyde Gates. The guy ran a 4.31 40 at the Combine with a pulled hamstring. He has been as advertised so far, he is constantly getting behind DBs. I was surprised at how well he has been able to get open without using his speed as we have been led to believe that he can only really run one route(9 route). While he has definitely shown that he can run the 9 route better than anyone we have had in Miami in a long time, including Ginn. Where Ginn was fast but not quick, Gates is fast and quick. He can also catch the ball which is a skill that escaped Ginn, and he hasn’t made a run for the sideline once during training camp. He dominated against lesser competition at Abilene Christian, and we are all hoping that he will be the steal of our draft.

Miami had problems with Henne and the OL last year too, but Henning was very stubborn. Henne didn’t have the opportunity to change the plays when they should have. The only option he had was that if he saw a blitz, he could put the offense in max protection. This helped make their offense more anemic than they already were. Play calling was always suspect too. He pulled Henne off the field when he was in a rhythm for Wildcat plays and called run plays, even WC plays, on a 3rd and 15.

I won’t say Henning was the only problem, but I think he was the largest of them.

that CBs would line up on Brandon Marshall and tell him what route he was running based on the formation. I can only imagine how much this would frustrate a guy as competitive as Marshall. It is really hard to fake a defender out when they know where you are going to end up.

     I made a few comments last year that we seemed to run an end around in every single game, and not with any real plan, we gave it to guys like Brandon Marshall and Patrick Cobbs, neither of which would be able to outrun any defense on a play like that. With all the “trick-plays” we never once lined up in a formation andhad Marshall run 2 different routes. Had we done that, it would have kinda been like a “trick-play” but it would not have been nearly as risky… or in the backfield….

He definitely looks to be the franchise center for a long time. Physically, he can match up with well with NTs and he also has good athleticism to pull.

I won’t say he will handle Wilfork or Haynesworth because they can beat the best of centers in the NFL at times. He has a very tough task in dealing with both of them.

For Monday, my main concern about Pouncey isn’t about his physical talent, but about making the righ calls for the offensive line. The coaching staff said Pouncey has been doing good at making the correct calls, but there is a difference between training camp, preseason, and the regular season. Now comes the time when defenses are masking their schemes much more often.

I hope you are right about the right

Now, how come your guys were not cramping left and right like our DBs?

I think it’s called Gatorade. It was invented by a university in Florida. If you’re in the neighborhood….

That and Belichick probably did a little better job of conditioning them (he keeps them in hot water all the time).

The Dolphins are going to be fun to watch this year. A few kinks to work out, but who doesn’t?

They decided to add one just for me after getting rid of Butler, I’m convinced of it.