Chad Henne is a choke artist. It doesn't matter how many nice passes he makes between the 20's, when it comes to scoring points, or turning the plays he has already made into wins, he utterly fails. I'm going to include some games where we won, because in some of these Chad nearly gave away a win through absolute and total ineptitude in the 4th quarter.
2009-
10-25- NO- we dominated the Saints for the first half, but they plugged up the holes in their defense against the running game and we tried to pass to keep our lead. Chad throws two INT's (though one could be blamed on Ginn), does pretty much nothing in the entire second half, and fails to lead a comeback drive when given the opportunity. 46-34 NO
11-08 - Facing a tough NE team, Henne actually gives the Dolphins a narrow lead in the third quarter, 17-16. The Dolphins get a 1 point lead and Henne becomes bafflingly inaccurate, coming nowhere close to his receivers the rest of the game. The Dolphins never make it past the Patriots 40 the rest of the game, even though it remains a 1 score game until the Pats seal it late in the 4th with a FG.
11-15 - Facing a Bucs team that was among the league worse, we coast to an easy several score lead going into the 4th. Late in the game, Chad does the only thing which could have given the Bucs a chance to get back in the game, throwing a pick which lead to points for the other team. A game that was not in doubt at all turned into a narrow two point victory because of Henne not making any plays in the 4th except for the other team. 25-23 MIA
11-29- BUF- Chad throws 3 picks against a clearly inferior Bills team which we had beaten by 28 points in his 1st start. 31-14 BUF
12-13- Jax - Chad goes 21-29 for over 200 yards and the Dolphins are ahead in a no doubter once again. Until in the 4th quarter, when Chad turns the ball over and leads to a Jacksonville TD. Luckily, the team still wins (final score) 14-10, but eerie how the Dolphins dominated in yardage and TOP, yet only scored 14 points and nearly gave the game away against a terrible team.
12-20 Chad Henne single-handedly digs a hole for the Dolphins with a couple picks. The Dolphins go down by around 20 going into the second half. Thanks to help for Hartline in turning what should have been a pick into a big gain, the Dolphins close the gap and force OT from what I recall. Then Chad Henne single-handedly turns the comeback into a loss by throwing a pick in OT which had the Titans in Fg position from the get go.
12-27 - Hou- the defense is completely awful in this one at the start, leading to a Houston lead that is at least 3 scores. Henne comes alive in the second half, throwing for over 300 yards in this one and drawing the Dolphins within a TD. Then when he gets a chance to mount a game-tying drive after all of his efforts, he throws a pick and ends the game.
After this season alone, there was reason for optimism with Henne, having a first year starter throwing for so many yards in some games, but many of us noticed even then that there was a disturbing trend: No matter how well he had played the rest of the game, in all but one close game Henne played his absolute worst, sometimes disastrously so, when the game was close and late.
2010- Henne starts off terribly, but the team still wins its first two games thanks to Jason Allen. Henne throws for 363 against the Jets in week 3, but still manages to only score 23 points. I don't remember the events of that game very well.
10-04 - NE - Henne and the offense started off extremely well, mounting two scoring drives and pushing for a third. With another successful drive going and a chance to take an absolutely commanding lead, Henne throws a ridiculous pick which leads to New England points. All was not lost until Henne threw another pick and New England really smelled blood. Before Henne threw his first pick, we were beating the Patriots 14-0 and nearing a third score. His picks caused a momentum shift from which not only did the offense not recover, but lead to a ST meltdown. Before the night was over, the Pats won 41-14 and a fins coach lost his job. But many remember that this should have been at the worst a 17-0 lead if Henne had not thrown his first pick.
11-07 - Bal- Henne shows that throwing picks to the Baltimore defense isn't impossible even if you have a strong arm. 3 picks, Bal 26-10.
12-05 Cle - A 6-5 Dolphins team facing a 4-7 Cleveland team should have been an easy win. Instead, Chad throws 3 picks and allows Cleveland to squek out a 13-10 win.
12-26 - Det- wow was this one bad. Facing the laughingstock of the league for the last 10 years or so, Chad plays reasonably well going into the 4th, then the wheels come off. The Dolphins are leading by 10 when Jahvid Best puts pressure back on the offense by ripping off a big TD. With the heat coming on, Chad throws a pick in Dolphins territory that the Lions convert to a game-tying FG. Getting the ball back, Chad proceeds to throw a pick 6. Detroit takes the lead 34-27 and its over.
I picked some that were just awful games and weren't end-game chokes, but I also left out several completely terrible games. I may have missed some here, as Chad was in general so awful last year that he had to be really terrible for it to stand out in my memory.
2011
9-12- The Dolphins come out looking sharp, but the NE offense looks even more sharp. Henne surprises a lot of people by throwing for 400 yards, but what stands out about this game is in a game that was an obvious shootout fron NE's first possesion, where FG's were going to be nearly useless, the Miami offense gets stalled out multiple times in the red zone. The crippling game blow came when the Dolphins were on their own 1 yard line, two scores down, and failed to score a TD. What could have been a 31-24 game became just one play later a 38-17 game. It's hard to see the Dolphins finding a way to win this one with the defense so inept, but the offense knew what it needed to do to keep up and could not even manage to gain a yard.
9-19- HOU - The Texans control the game early but in the third quarter the score is 16-10. Miami drives down and has a chance to take the lead and fails to get it done in the red zone. Carpenter, who already had missed one and had one blocked, narrows it to 16-13. It's worth pointing out that both times he had entered the game earlier, the Dolphins offense had a chance to do more and once again had to setle for FG attempt's even though they were down. Matt Schaub takes advantage of the Dolphins yet again, takes a 24-13 lead and never looks back. Henne completes barely 1/3 of his passes on the day, stalls with the game on the line, and though many will blame the game on 6 points that could have come from the kicker, these would not have made the difference.
9-26- CLE - Henne's offense controls the game all day, yet stalled on all but one attempt in the red zone. Henne is literally nearly perfect between the 20's, saving almost all of his incompletions for the red zone. Miami fails to get more than a TD on a 4th quarter drive, taking a 6 point lead. The opposing QB drives his team for the leading TD but CLE bites itself with both an excessive celebration penalty and a late hit on the kickoff. The Dolphins set up on the other team's territory with 40 seconds and at least 1 (but I think 2) TO's left, and Henne, despite being nearly perfect outside the red zone all day, fails to complete a single pass with his team needing only 10-15 yards for at least a long FG attempt. Epic fail.
I've said it in other threads, but it deserves to be in one place. It does not matter how many yards you total during a game. What matters are scoring points and, when the game is on the line, making the plays that will win the game. Now in his 4th year, we can still count on one hand, and some would say one finger, when Henne has really stepped into a high pressure situation in the 4th and made game winning plays. He has QB'd winning efforts, but in only a couple did he put his team a couple scores ahead, too far for even he to choke it way. In some of these, he mostly handed off to a succesful rushing attack, like Buffalo 2009. In other games, he has been ahead at the end, despite making almost no plays in the game at all. (NYJ, Min, Buf last year). And in others, some listed here, his team has won despite him doing the only things that could cost him team to lose, or becoming completely inept with a lead.
Henne is now 6-14 in his last 20 starts, dating back to the end of 2009. I am tired of scapegoats. There are multiple problems plagueing this team, and though Henne is not the worst player starting, he is still actually perhaps the biggest contributor to this team's problems by not bringing the offense to points (even with 11 out of 11 have executed brilliantly to be in that position), or by failing when his team has a chance to actually win.
2009-
10-25- NO- we dominated the Saints for the first half, but they plugged up the holes in their defense against the running game and we tried to pass to keep our lead. Chad throws two INT's (though one could be blamed on Ginn), does pretty much nothing in the entire second half, and fails to lead a comeback drive when given the opportunity. 46-34 NO
11-08 - Facing a tough NE team, Henne actually gives the Dolphins a narrow lead in the third quarter, 17-16. The Dolphins get a 1 point lead and Henne becomes bafflingly inaccurate, coming nowhere close to his receivers the rest of the game. The Dolphins never make it past the Patriots 40 the rest of the game, even though it remains a 1 score game until the Pats seal it late in the 4th with a FG.
11-15 - Facing a Bucs team that was among the league worse, we coast to an easy several score lead going into the 4th. Late in the game, Chad does the only thing which could have given the Bucs a chance to get back in the game, throwing a pick which lead to points for the other team. A game that was not in doubt at all turned into a narrow two point victory because of Henne not making any plays in the 4th except for the other team. 25-23 MIA
11-29- BUF- Chad throws 3 picks against a clearly inferior Bills team which we had beaten by 28 points in his 1st start. 31-14 BUF
12-13- Jax - Chad goes 21-29 for over 200 yards and the Dolphins are ahead in a no doubter once again. Until in the 4th quarter, when Chad turns the ball over and leads to a Jacksonville TD. Luckily, the team still wins (final score) 14-10, but eerie how the Dolphins dominated in yardage and TOP, yet only scored 14 points and nearly gave the game away against a terrible team.
12-20 Chad Henne single-handedly digs a hole for the Dolphins with a couple picks. The Dolphins go down by around 20 going into the second half. Thanks to help for Hartline in turning what should have been a pick into a big gain, the Dolphins close the gap and force OT from what I recall. Then Chad Henne single-handedly turns the comeback into a loss by throwing a pick in OT which had the Titans in Fg position from the get go.
12-27 - Hou- the defense is completely awful in this one at the start, leading to a Houston lead that is at least 3 scores. Henne comes alive in the second half, throwing for over 300 yards in this one and drawing the Dolphins within a TD. Then when he gets a chance to mount a game-tying drive after all of his efforts, he throws a pick and ends the game.
After this season alone, there was reason for optimism with Henne, having a first year starter throwing for so many yards in some games, but many of us noticed even then that there was a disturbing trend: No matter how well he had played the rest of the game, in all but one close game Henne played his absolute worst, sometimes disastrously so, when the game was close and late.
2010- Henne starts off terribly, but the team still wins its first two games thanks to Jason Allen. Henne throws for 363 against the Jets in week 3, but still manages to only score 23 points. I don't remember the events of that game very well.
10-04 - NE - Henne and the offense started off extremely well, mounting two scoring drives and pushing for a third. With another successful drive going and a chance to take an absolutely commanding lead, Henne throws a ridiculous pick which leads to New England points. All was not lost until Henne threw another pick and New England really smelled blood. Before Henne threw his first pick, we were beating the Patriots 14-0 and nearing a third score. His picks caused a momentum shift from which not only did the offense not recover, but lead to a ST meltdown. Before the night was over, the Pats won 41-14 and a fins coach lost his job. But many remember that this should have been at the worst a 17-0 lead if Henne had not thrown his first pick.
11-07 - Bal- Henne shows that throwing picks to the Baltimore defense isn't impossible even if you have a strong arm. 3 picks, Bal 26-10.
12-05 Cle - A 6-5 Dolphins team facing a 4-7 Cleveland team should have been an easy win. Instead, Chad throws 3 picks and allows Cleveland to squek out a 13-10 win.
12-26 - Det- wow was this one bad. Facing the laughingstock of the league for the last 10 years or so, Chad plays reasonably well going into the 4th, then the wheels come off. The Dolphins are leading by 10 when Jahvid Best puts pressure back on the offense by ripping off a big TD. With the heat coming on, Chad throws a pick in Dolphins territory that the Lions convert to a game-tying FG. Getting the ball back, Chad proceeds to throw a pick 6. Detroit takes the lead 34-27 and its over.
I picked some that were just awful games and weren't end-game chokes, but I also left out several completely terrible games. I may have missed some here, as Chad was in general so awful last year that he had to be really terrible for it to stand out in my memory.
2011
9-12- The Dolphins come out looking sharp, but the NE offense looks even more sharp. Henne surprises a lot of people by throwing for 400 yards, but what stands out about this game is in a game that was an obvious shootout fron NE's first possesion, where FG's were going to be nearly useless, the Miami offense gets stalled out multiple times in the red zone. The crippling game blow came when the Dolphins were on their own 1 yard line, two scores down, and failed to score a TD. What could have been a 31-24 game became just one play later a 38-17 game. It's hard to see the Dolphins finding a way to win this one with the defense so inept, but the offense knew what it needed to do to keep up and could not even manage to gain a yard.
9-19- HOU - The Texans control the game early but in the third quarter the score is 16-10. Miami drives down and has a chance to take the lead and fails to get it done in the red zone. Carpenter, who already had missed one and had one blocked, narrows it to 16-13. It's worth pointing out that both times he had entered the game earlier, the Dolphins offense had a chance to do more and once again had to setle for FG attempt's even though they were down. Matt Schaub takes advantage of the Dolphins yet again, takes a 24-13 lead and never looks back. Henne completes barely 1/3 of his passes on the day, stalls with the game on the line, and though many will blame the game on 6 points that could have come from the kicker, these would not have made the difference.
9-26- CLE - Henne's offense controls the game all day, yet stalled on all but one attempt in the red zone. Henne is literally nearly perfect between the 20's, saving almost all of his incompletions for the red zone. Miami fails to get more than a TD on a 4th quarter drive, taking a 6 point lead. The opposing QB drives his team for the leading TD but CLE bites itself with both an excessive celebration penalty and a late hit on the kickoff. The Dolphins set up on the other team's territory with 40 seconds and at least 1 (but I think 2) TO's left, and Henne, despite being nearly perfect outside the red zone all day, fails to complete a single pass with his team needing only 10-15 yards for at least a long FG attempt. Epic fail.
I've said it in other threads, but it deserves to be in one place. It does not matter how many yards you total during a game. What matters are scoring points and, when the game is on the line, making the plays that will win the game. Now in his 4th year, we can still count on one hand, and some would say one finger, when Henne has really stepped into a high pressure situation in the 4th and made game winning plays. He has QB'd winning efforts, but in only a couple did he put his team a couple scores ahead, too far for even he to choke it way. In some of these, he mostly handed off to a succesful rushing attack, like Buffalo 2009. In other games, he has been ahead at the end, despite making almost no plays in the game at all. (NYJ, Min, Buf last year). And in others, some listed here, his team has won despite him doing the only things that could cost him team to lose, or becoming completely inept with a lead.
Henne is now 6-14 in his last 20 starts, dating back to the end of 2009. I am tired of scapegoats. There are multiple problems plagueing this team, and though Henne is not the worst player starting, he is still actually perhaps the biggest contributor to this team's problems by not bringing the offense to points (even with 11 out of 11 have executed brilliantly to be in that position), or by failing when his team has a chance to actually win.
at that analogy
