Easy with the Henne bashing

[Sunny Fish]

I am not one of those guys who thinks Henne sucks. The guy has a lot of talent. His shortcomings however, are not ALL because he "has receivers that can't get open." There are check down routes that need to be hit from time to time. He is not doing that. I have not seen yet that he can look to 2nd and 3rd reads. Perhaps that will come with maturity. I hope so becaus if it doesn't, at THAT point he WILL suck. The other problem he seems to have is when we are up by 3 with 2:40 to go, he has GOT to get it in his head that he is going to do WHATEVER it takes to get us 2 first downs and close the game out. Why does he NEVER take off and run the ball? It seems we always have to give the ball back to the other team for another chance to stick it to us. Again, maybe that will come with maturity. Who knows? But the most important reason to quit bashing Henne is because you guys are going to have Atticus Fin crashing your thread and telling you that you "obviously don't know much about the game." That should be reason enough.

 

[Ricky_Fan34]

Henne really didn't have a terrible game. 2 of the INT's were tipped at the line. That happens to the best of QB's.

 

[PB Fin Fan]

Henne had a bad game. The majority of the team had a bad game. It is easier to count who did not suck. Oline, Ricky, and Starks.

 

[MD]

Although Henne's interceptions were caused by tips and getting hit, he is going to have games where he plays like Sanchez. This was one of them. Unfortunately, the entire team took 5 minutes off in the 4th quarter. Again.

 

[flynryan15]

The problem is we are seeing Henne making the same mistakes that he made in close games at Michigan. All the negatives about him were, stares down receivers/ tunnel vision, loses his accuracy under pressure, lacks pocket awareness, and forces passes.

Today's game showed us a lot of that and as a fan we should question it. Matter of fact he has been making these mistakes frequently this year. The question becomes will he learn from them and grow out of it.

Lets break down those 3 interceptions shall we?

1. Under thrown ball, yes I know he got hit as he released. But what you need to do is pause the tape as he releases. What happened is he stopped stepping up in the pocket and forced the throw, He has done this as far back at Michigan as I can find film on him. If he continued to move forward in the pocket he would have cleared the rush and bought himself and the receivers lots of time.

2. Pass tipped at the line, when Henne is under constant pressure he gets tunnel vision. This makes it very easy for the dline to time their jumps and clog up his passing lanes.

3. Ball batted and intercepted by a nose tackle. Anyone remember the Bucs preseason game? He rushed that ball threw it hard and low. Once again this comes from tunnel vision.

Am I bashing him? NO! However there is a pattern here. It goes beyond his interceptions today. His accuracy was just BAD in the forth qt. Hopefully as he matures he will settle down, keep stepping up in the pocket, and keep progressing through his reads.

 

[MD]

The problem is we are seeing Henne making the same mistakes that he made in close games at Michigan. All the negatives about him were, stares down receivers/ tunnel vision, loses his accuracy under pressure, lacks pocket awareness, and forces passes.

Today's game showed us a lot of that and as a fan we should question it. Matter of fact he has been making these mistakes frequently this year. The question becomes will he learn from them and grow out of it.

Lets break down those 3 interceptions shall we?

1. Under thrown ball, yes I know he got hit as he released. But what you need to do is pause the tape as he releases. What happened is he stopped stepping up in the pocket and forced the throw, He has done this as far back at Michigan as I can find film on him. If he continued to move forward in the pocket he would have cleared the rush and bought himself and the receivers lots of time.

2. Pass tipped at the line, when Henne is under constant pressure he gets tunnel vision. This makes it very easy for the dline to time their jumps and clog up his passing lanes.

3. Ball batted and intercepted by a nose tackle. Anyone remember the Bucs preseason game? He rushed that ball threw it hard and low. Once again this comes from tunnel vision.

Am I bashing him? NO! However there is a pattern here. It goes beyond his interceptions today. His accuracy was just BAD in the forth qt. Hopefully as he matures he will settle down, keep stepping up in the pocket, and keep progressing through his reads.

Nice analysis. I have not had a chance to look at the replay but I will tonight.

 

[Strangeworld]

He played well in the first half than absolutely sucked in the 4th Q.

I have yet to see any flashes of brilliance from him..

 

[Missouri-FINFAN]

Lets not forget, Henne is young and very inexperienced. What was this his 8th start ?

 

[flynryan15]

Nice analysis. I have not had a chance to look at the replay but I will tonight.

You might want to save yourself the pain!

The not stepping up in the pocket is starting to bother me. He got away with this when Michigan played the lessor teams on their schedule, but Ohio State made him pay for it. The first interception especially if he kept moving forward there was huge lanes in front of him.

 

[PB Fin Fan]

He also has the slowest release of anyone other than leftowich. They both have similar windups. This is why a lot of balls are getting tipped at the line.

 

[flynryan15]

Lets not forget, Henne is young and very inexperienced. What was this his 8th start ?

Yes, but he was groomed for a entire year. Not to mention he had one of the smartest QB's ever to play the game mentoring him. There was no bad blood between Henne and Penny, like there was Farve/Rodgers. From day 1 and still to this day Penny teaches Henne a lot. Some of these mistakes he should be past, some he will grow out of.

 

[Missouri-FINFAN]

Grooming for an entire yr. yes. But its totally diff. from practice to the real thing.

 

[Fish-Head]

Although Henne's interceptions were caused by tips and getting hit, he is going to have games where he plays like Sanchez. This was one of them. Unfortunately, the entire team took 5 minutes off in the 4th quarter. Again.

While I certainly know what you mean about Sanchez I just think that Henne looks to be a tougher competitor... He is a gamer and looks unflappable, while Sanchez has come unravelled a couple times... Though he actually played us tough.

Henne has real poise for such a young QB while Sanchez has performed more how I think of rooks at the position... Up and down.

 

[Awsi Dooger]

He also has the slowest release of anyone other than leftowich. They both have similar windups. This is why a lot of balls are getting tipped at the line.

It's a major problem. There were at least three plays today where the long delivery completely changed the way the play unfolded, including very early in the game when his arm was hit on an attempted deep ball, and also on the INT on the left sideline in the 4th quarter. It's not so much tipped balls but rushers and secondary getting that extra few tenths of a second to get there. Instead of the ball being long gone he's hit from behind on the arm or shoulder and now it's pot luck where it ends up. Normally not good.

Your Leftwich comparison is very valid. It's a combo of Leftwich/Harrington. Henne is superior to those two QBs overall, but the weaknesses of long delivery, tunnel vision, lack of pocket awareness and maneuverability, and flat trajectory all combine to limit his upside. I was one of the few who had a higher opinion of Henne a year ago than today, and nothing changed my mind in the Bills game. I think he'll be a perpetual frustration, someone who is playoff caliber but a 5th or 6th seed type. The Colts were down 17-0 today and it felt like nothing. Indeed, as soon as the Texans settled for the FG to make it 17-0, instead of a dagger TD after the INT, I concluded the game was over, an inevitable Peyton comeback. How can someone like Henne be our answer against elite players like Peyton? You need more margin for error than that.

 

[MD]

It's a major problem. There were at least three plays today where the long delivery completely changed the way the play unfolded, including very early in the game when his arm was hit on an attempted deep ball, and also on the INT on the left sideline in the 4th quarter. It's not so much tipped balls but rushers and secondary getting that extra few tenths of a second to get there. Instead of the ball being long gone he's hit from behind on the arm or shoulder and now it's pot luck where it ends up. Normally not good.

Your Leftwich comparison is very valid. It's a combo of Leftwich/Harrington. Henne is superior to those two QBs overall, but the weaknesses of long delivery, tunnel vision, lack of pocket awareness and maneuverability, and flat trajectory all combine to limit his upside. I was one of the few who had a higher opinion of Henne a year ago than today, and nothing changed my mind in the Bills game. I think he'll be a perpetual frustration, someone who is playoff caliber but a 5th or 6th seed type. The Colts were down 17-0 today and it felt like nothing. Indeed, as soon as the Texans settled for the FG to make it 17-0, instead of a dagger TD after the INT, I concluded the game was over, an inevitable Peyton comeback. How can someone like Henne be our answer against elite players like Peyton? You need more margin for error than that.

Unfortunately there is only one Peyton Manning. Doubtful we ever see another like him in this life time.

Elite QBs are hard to come by. Henne will never be elite but that doesn't mean he won't be succesful.