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Dan Henning

SpaceMountain16

SpaceMountain16

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Well with the off-season well under way i figured i'd go on one of my famous rants about our offensive coordinator Dan Henning, who quite frankly infuriated me at times last season. I realize he is as big apart of our success with his implementing of the Wild Cat as he is our offensive failures (some of the ridiculous calls he made all season like REFUSING to run the ball). But now that the Wild Cat is familiar to the league, i kind of worry that Henning's novelty may wear off for next season. I mean if you take away the success we had out of the trick play formations what did Henning really bring to the table?

It's easy to be an arm-chair QB and criticize/second guess all of his calls, but when you see him calling pass plays on 3rd and 2 deep in the red zone, or the infamous Joey Haynos fade route, or one call where we ran it on like 2nd and 15 right up the middle, you have to wonder is this the right guy for the job. Especially when there are very qualified coordinators out on the market who i would rather have running this offense (even the mad scientist Mike Martz).

My questions to you:
- Are you comfortable with Dan Henning running this offense heading into next season?

- If not, who would you replace him with and why?
 
SpaceMountain16 said:
Well with the off-season well under way i figured i'd go on one of my famous rants about our offensive coordinator Dan Henning, who quite frankly infuriated me at times last season. I realize he is as big apart of our success with his implementing of the Wild Cat as he is our offensive failures (some of the ridiculous calls he made all season like REFUSING to run the ball). But now that the Wild Cat is familiar to the league, i kind of worry that Henning's novelty may wear off for next season. I mean if you take away the success we had out of the trick play formations what did Henning really bring to the table?

It's easy to be an arm-chair QB and criticize/second guess all of his calls, but when you see him calling pass plays on 3rd and 2 deep in the red zone, or the infamous Joey Haynos fade route, or one call where we ran it on like 2nd and 15 right up the middle, you have to wonder is this the right guy for the job. Especially when there are very qualified coordinators out on the market who i would rather have running this offense (even the mad scientist Mike Martz).

My questions to you:
- Are you comfortable with Dan Henning running this offense heading into next season?

- If not, who would you replace him with and why?
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Sparano even admitted he probably should have ran the ball... We were 3rd and 1 if I remember correctly.. Polite would have absolutely gotten that 1st down!!!

Im willing to give him another shot this season, but if his playcalling is like what it was last season, I want him gone... Just say no to Mike Martz; basically everywhere he has been he has been a failure, as both a HC and OC... He would get Henne mauled game in and game out, even with a top tier Oline
 
dolpns13 said:
Sparano even admitted he probably should have ran the ball... We were 3rd and 1 if I remember correctly.. Polite would have absolutely gotten that 1st down!!!

Im willing to give him another shot this season, but if his playcalling is like what it was last season, I want him gone... Just say no to Mike Martz; basically everywhere he has been he has been a failure, as both a HC and OC... He would get Henne mauled game in and game out, even with a top tier Oline
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The same Martz that won the Superbowl in 99 as an OC? With one of the all time great NFL offenses that year? Dont get me wrong, I dont want hime here, but he hasnt exactly been a failure.
 
Phinja said:
The same Martz that won the Superbowl in 99 as an OC? With one of the all time great NFL offenses that year? Dont get me wrong, I dont want hime here, but he hasnt exactly been a failure.
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Mike Martz is an unorthodox nutcase, but you can't deny his success running an NFL offense. When Martz got to St. Louis the Rams weren't exactly very potent. I mean yeah it's easy to say "well look at all the talent they had" now, but Kurt Warner was an unheard of player, Torry Holt was just a rookie. Bruce and Faulk were certainly established players, but at the same time Az-Hakim had the best year of his career and was a key contributer to that team. That Rams offense came from nowhere to become one of the best of all-time for a number of years, and then Martz went to Detroit and turned the Lions into a potent passing machine (Jon Kitna threw for 4,000 yards). Not to mention Martz's work this past season with Shaun Hill and making the 49ers not DEAD last in every offensive category.

I don't like Martz, but you can't deny his knowledge of an NFL offense, especially passing. I'd much rather have him over Dan Henning, think of what Ronnie Brown could do playing for the guy who used Marshall Faulk so well.
 
I realize your upset with Henning, however you can only pick a hand full of plays he "messed up on". I was impressed very much with him. Most games, unlike miami of the past, we drove the ball. Playcalling fit the team. We didn't have that much talent on the offense, however every game we were driving 80 yard drives methodically to scores. I haven't seen that since Marino. Our offense was consistant BECAUSE he managed the game and kept defensed on the ropes. He even kept Belicheat baffled for TWO games on d this year. That is impressive if you ask me.
 
Rustedsalvo said:
I realize your upset with Henning, however you can only pick a hand full of plays he "messed up on". I was impressed very much with him. Most games, unlike miami of the past, we drove the ball. Playcalling fit the team. We didn't have that much talent on the offense, however every game we were driving 80 yard drives methodically to scores. I haven't seen that since Marino. Our offense was consistant BECAUSE he managed the game and kept defensed on the ropes. He even kept Belicheat baffled for TWO games on d this year. That is impressive if you ask me.
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I don't know about a handful, a textbook example is the 49ers game, where we struggled with them the whole game and Henning for whatever reason was refusing to run the football. Then finally late in the game he starts running it and the Dolphins march down the field like the 86 Broncos. There were several games like that where i'd be baffled as to why we weren't using Brown/Williams/Cobbs and were letting Pennington chuck it 40 times.

I'm just not confident Dan Henning is going to be able to come up with any effective NEW wrinkles for our offense, and that we may suffer because we relied heavily on those surprise attack formations.
 
The wildcat was born because of the total failure of the interior of the offensive line to get a push. All season long. The only time the interior got a push was when Smiley trap blocked to the right. How can he consistently run the ball? The wildcat allowed Henne to effectively attack the edge of the defense. If we upgrade the interior of the line, then you will like Henne's play calling. Actually, you should love that he got good rushing performance from a sub standard offensive line. The bookends are good, but boy did right guard and center perform poorly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
I love Hennings creativity with individual plays but there were certainly many times where his playcalling as a whole was pretty bad.
 
I thought Henning did a great job at OC. He was working with 3 new guys on the line and then had a rash of injuries on the line to deal with add in your starting QB doesn't get to camp until after your first preseason game. Throw in some UDFA at WR and he had his hands full trying to figure out what he had. Stat wise we finished in the top 10. Not bad for a team without any fire power. IMO you will see this offense get better in the 2nd yr.

You can always find plays during the season you didn't like. You have to look at the whole picture to really see what a great job he did with this offense.
 
I am comfortable with Dan Henning running this offense heading into next season & beyond.
 
We can keep Henning on to coach the offense, but I agree, we need to bring someone in to do the playcalling. Hell I could have picked better plays than he did at some points.
 
FinHopeful said:
The wildcat was born because of the total failure of the interior of the offensive line to get a push. All season long. The only time the interior got a push was when Smiley trap blocked to the right. How can he consistently run the ball? The wildcat allowed Henne to effectively attack the edge of the defense. If we upgrade the interior of the line, then you will like Henne's play calling. Actually, you should love that he got good rushing performance from a sub standard offensive line. The bookends are good, but boy did right guard and center perform poorly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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As painful as it was to watch us throw the ball on 3rd and short over and over and over.....and as much bitching I did about it throughout the year.....I can understand why we did it.

I agree with this post for the most part (I think RT was lackluster this year). Our interior O-line was just plain BAD. Henning knew it, and thats why he didnt run it between the tackles that often.

If we can upgrade our guards (and center possibly), we will be able to run the ball between the tackles better, and as another poster said, you will like Henning's playcalling much better.
 
Phinja said:
The same Martz that won the Superbowl in 99 as an OC? With one of the all time great NFL offenses that year? Dont get me wrong, I dont want hime here, but he hasnt exactly been a failure.
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That was 10 years ago. he hasnt done anything since really since 2001. and has been a horrible OC the past 2 years. IMO he wouldnt make this team any good. Id much rather have henning than Martz... not to mention now he whining and crying like a baby saying FO's are trying to keep him out of the league.. He WAS a good NFL OC, but for the past 3 years, he has only proven he lost what he had, to me anyways.
 
the man was calling plays with a recently constructed offensive unit, with major problems in the offensive line & a rookie receiving corp.

what do you want, Henning to walk on water?

the man is a consummate football pundit, top drawer & absolutely competent in all aspect of the game.

Besides, had the FrontOffice had an issue w/ his play calling he would be history:crazy:
 
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