RealDriscoll
Still Perfect.. and You're Not.
The Dolphins were blessed when Dan Marino fell to them in the 1983 NFL Draft. Marino was coming off a poor senior season at Pittsburgh but when he fell into the Dolphins lap it was an absolute no brainer. Dan Marino not only become a solid draft pick but he was and to this day still is the franchises best player and is in the argument for best Quarterback to ever play the game. The Dolphins were lucky to have #13 lining up for the 17 seasons they had Danny but all good things have to come to an end and the 1999 season would be Dan’s last as a Miami Dolphin. The Dolphins have spent roughly 10 years searching for that next Quarterback and suffered through the likes of Jay Fiedler, Damon Huard, Brian Griese, Sage Rosenfels, Ray Lucas, Daunte Culpepper, Gus Frerotte, Trent Green, Cleo Lemon, and John Beck. They just couldn’t seem to get it right and when the time came to grab a solid Quarterback the front office dropped the ball big-time like in the 2001 NFL Draft when they passed on a kid named Drew Brees from Purdue in favor of Jamar Fletcher or when they once again passed on Drew Brees in favor of Daunte Culpepper. Passing on a guy like Brees twice and you deserve to be in Quarterback “hell”. A team one noted for it’s great Quarterback play has suffered a decade of losing, a decade of being at the bottom of league until the division rival New York Jets released Chad Pennington in favor of Brett Favre.
Chad Pennington will never have the statistics that rival a Drew Brees, Tom Brady, or Peyton Manning but the guy just wins; not only does he win but he plays smart and is very accurate. To quote Deion Sanders, “Every time Chad throws the ball its right between the receivers’ numbers”. To my severe disbelief I have seen numerous Dolphin fans calling for Pennington’s head in favor of unproved Chad Henne. My question is Why? Why replace the best player this franchise has seen with the exception of Jason Taylor this decade? Why get rid of the man responsible for the Dolphins winning their division in 2008? Why replace #10? Is it because beat writers in the Florida newspapers are talking up the arm strength of Chad Henne and his ability to make big throws? Henne can do that but letting this guy sit and learn behind Pennington whether it is another year or another three years is money well spent because Chad Pennington is among the smartest Quarterbacks in this league. I understand that the 2008 roster was not the same roster as 2007 and that the coaching staff was different but the main reason for the Dolphins major turn around was Chad Pennington.
Too often Quarterback’s are judged by categories such as passing yards and touchdown passes but the most important statistic is Quarterback Ranking. A sad example of this is that Dan Marino practically wrote the NFL record book when it comes to Passing Records but Danny never got a ring and will not go down as a winner. Pennington will never throw for 40 touchdowns in a single season but he will get a team with more holes than a slice of Boars Head Swiss Cheese and get them believing they can win and bringing the best out of his receivers. Let’s look at Chad Pennington’s 2009 numbers and realize that Anthony Fasano, Davone Bess, Greg Camarillo, David Martin, and Ted Ginn Jr. all had career years with Pennington chucking the rock to them. We saw Anthony Fasano blossom into the upper-echelon of Tight End’s in this league. We saw our young receiver Ted Ginn Jr., make leaps and bounds while playing with Mr. Pennington. The NFL tends to agree with me as Chad Pennington was the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year and finished 2nd to Peyton Manning in MVP Voting. Not bad for a noodle arm Quarterback, eh? Chad’s number honestly were not bad at all as he threw for 3,653 yards, throwing 19 touchdown passes and just 7 interceptions. The number that shows what kind of player Pennington is was his Quarterback Ranking of 97.4. Some people question his durability but he played all 17 games that the Dolphins played in the 2008 season. Chad quietly completed 67.4% of his passes. Accurate, smart, determined, focus, winner are just some of the terms that you could use to define Chad Pennington as a player or even as a man.
I find it impressive that a guy who doesn’t usually put up huge numbers finished 9th in the league in passing yards, 1st in completion percentage, and 2nd in Quarterback Ratings. So why are we ready to let Chad Pennington walk for unproved Chad Henne? There is much more to a Quarterback than having a strong arm. With our luck the Bills will need a Quarterback and he will become a Bill and torch us. Look at what he did to the Jets.
Chad Pennington will never have the statistics that rival a Drew Brees, Tom Brady, or Peyton Manning but the guy just wins; not only does he win but he plays smart and is very accurate. To quote Deion Sanders, “Every time Chad throws the ball its right between the receivers’ numbers”. To my severe disbelief I have seen numerous Dolphin fans calling for Pennington’s head in favor of unproved Chad Henne. My question is Why? Why replace the best player this franchise has seen with the exception of Jason Taylor this decade? Why get rid of the man responsible for the Dolphins winning their division in 2008? Why replace #10? Is it because beat writers in the Florida newspapers are talking up the arm strength of Chad Henne and his ability to make big throws? Henne can do that but letting this guy sit and learn behind Pennington whether it is another year or another three years is money well spent because Chad Pennington is among the smartest Quarterbacks in this league. I understand that the 2008 roster was not the same roster as 2007 and that the coaching staff was different but the main reason for the Dolphins major turn around was Chad Pennington.
Too often Quarterback’s are judged by categories such as passing yards and touchdown passes but the most important statistic is Quarterback Ranking. A sad example of this is that Dan Marino practically wrote the NFL record book when it comes to Passing Records but Danny never got a ring and will not go down as a winner. Pennington will never throw for 40 touchdowns in a single season but he will get a team with more holes than a slice of Boars Head Swiss Cheese and get them believing they can win and bringing the best out of his receivers. Let’s look at Chad Pennington’s 2009 numbers and realize that Anthony Fasano, Davone Bess, Greg Camarillo, David Martin, and Ted Ginn Jr. all had career years with Pennington chucking the rock to them. We saw Anthony Fasano blossom into the upper-echelon of Tight End’s in this league. We saw our young receiver Ted Ginn Jr., make leaps and bounds while playing with Mr. Pennington. The NFL tends to agree with me as Chad Pennington was the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year and finished 2nd to Peyton Manning in MVP Voting. Not bad for a noodle arm Quarterback, eh? Chad’s number honestly were not bad at all as he threw for 3,653 yards, throwing 19 touchdown passes and just 7 interceptions. The number that shows what kind of player Pennington is was his Quarterback Ranking of 97.4. Some people question his durability but he played all 17 games that the Dolphins played in the 2008 season. Chad quietly completed 67.4% of his passes. Accurate, smart, determined, focus, winner are just some of the terms that you could use to define Chad Pennington as a player or even as a man.
I find it impressive that a guy who doesn’t usually put up huge numbers finished 9th in the league in passing yards, 1st in completion percentage, and 2nd in Quarterback Ratings. So why are we ready to let Chad Pennington walk for unproved Chad Henne? There is much more to a Quarterback than having a strong arm. With our luck the Bills will need a Quarterback and he will become a Bill and torch us. Look at what he did to the Jets.
