Chad Henne Benched; Pennington To Start
MIAMI (CBS4) ― The Miami Dolphins announced a stunning move Wednesday when they said Chad Pennington will start ahead of incumbent Chad Henne. It's a rapid fall for Henne who started up to this point in the season, but could never get the Fins offense in a good rhythm.
Pennington brings a steady hand to the Dolphins huddle and while he doesn't have near the arm strength Henne does, the coaching staff, likely fearing for their jobs, needed to try something to kick-start the offense.
Henne has had a disappointing year so far. He's thrown 8 touchdowns, but also 11 interceptions. He's been sacked 12 times on the season and lost 2 fumbles through 8 games. For his career, Henne has a touchdown to interception ratio of 20-24 and a quarterback rating of 76.3.
The Dolphins offense has been stagnant under Henne, mainly in the red zone. The team's offensive MVP through the first half of the season has to be kicker Dan Carpenter, who has single-handedly kept the team in most games.
For the Dolphins, the question now is do they keep Henne on the bench and run the risk of losing his desire to stay and quarterback the Dolphins?
Fans have been clamoring for Pennington for a few weeks, but inserting him now carries big risks, not the least of which is whether he can stay healthy for the remainder of the season.
The insertion of Pennington also presents an interesting question for Dolphins fans. Pennington, a Marshall grad, used to throw to new Tennessee Titans wide receiver Randy Moss. Would Miami have taken a chance on Moss if Pennington would have been throwing to him?
Coincidentally, Pennington's first game will be against Moss and the Titans on Sunday at Sun Life Stadium.
