This entire offseason, we talked about the Miami Dolphins need to upgrade the quarterback position.  We said that the Dolphins either needed a clear improvement from Chad Henne or to go out and get a veteran QB that could lead this team to the playoffs.  Full disclosure, we wanted the Dolphins to go out and acquire Kyle Orton…though we want to be clear that we weren’t bandwagon jumpers, since we first suggested in early May, in the midst of the Lockout.

The Dolphins failed in their attempts to bring in a veteran QB to challenge Henne for the Dolphins starting QB spot. Like many Dolphins fans, we were upset and annoyed by Henne’s first preseason game against the Falcons.  4 of 8 for 75 yards, 1 TD and 2 INTs?  It certainly wasn’t the way we wanted to see Henne start out the 2011 preseason for the Dolphins.  However, you have to look at what Chad has done over the past 2, more meaningful (if there is such a thing) preseason games.  He looked sharp against the Panthers and I would go as far as to say he looked great against the Buccaneers.  The Dolphins young QB has amassed a QB passer rating of 93.3 this preseason.  While that’s not elite, it’s much better than his 75.4 career average.  Yes, we know it’s the preseason and we’ll believe more in Chad once he does this when regular season starts.  But, you have to be encouraged by Henne’s performances and Brian Daboll’s new offense.

Yes, many Henne defenders have pointed to Dan Henning and the predictable, vanilla offense he ran while with the Dolphins.  Daboll’s offense is more aggressive and will give Henne more opportunities to make plays.  The new Dolphins offense also gives Henne the ability to audible at the line, something he was a bit handcuffed with under Henning.  The big key for Henne is to make the defense pay for blitzing by completing balls to his playmakers (i.e. Marshall and Bush).  As seen in the clip above, Brandon Marshall isn’t wide open, but Henne throws it up and let’s the BEAST fight for the ball….then the Beast does the rest and takes it to the house for a Dolphins TD.  Henne is showing more faith in his wide receivers, which is necessary for him to develop as a QB.

We’ve been tough on Henne, because we haven’t seen him take control of the offense and lead the Dolphins team.  Maybe the Lockout forced Henne into taking more of a leadership role….Maybe, in his 3rd season as the starter, he’s finally starting to get it….Maybe a new offense coordinator is a bigger upgrade than we originally thought.  Any way you look at it, you have to be happy with what you’ve seen from Chad Henne thus far in Dolphins camp.  Think about this for a second…what area of the Dolphins are you most concerned with today?  For us it’s the offensive line, far and away.  If Henne had a QB rating of 68.0 today, would you answer the same way?  Didn’t think so!

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