Let me preface this by saying that Henne is doing a lot of things that are very impressive out there. But It's entirely frustrating to see Henne's performance become a microcosm of the way this team has played the last two years. We now have a winning record, just like last year. But we've only broken one game open this year (vs. the Bills) when we seem to open up almost every one of our games with scoring drives and moving the ball pretty consistently after that.
For some reason, Henne has played his best ball at the beginning of games or when we are playing from behind (especially on last minute comeback drives). But, even just the last two weeks even, his production has floundered in the middle of the second half when we've really just needed a single good drive to get us in position to control the game. And these parts of the games are when we start seeing Henne uncharacteristically throwing sloppy passes, not setting up for throws and going off his back foot, not reading the defense correctly and throwing a pass right to a defender, and getting passes batted down at the line. It's like Henne senses that dominance of the game is within reach and he chokes in trying to seal the deal. Luckily for us we haven't paid for this because our defense has really held when it has needed to and Henne has been able to deliver at the last minute to win the game.
This post isn't trying to say that Henne isn't going to be an effective quarterback. I think its plenty obvious to us now that Henne is already an effective quarterback with a chance to become outstanding. He has had his moments of outstanding play in the last couple of games, but in order to take this team from competitive to outstanding Henne still needs to be able to play a complete game. Otherwise, this team (now and in the future) has merely shifted its limitations from last year and is the type of team that can prey upon mid-level teams to secure a winning record but can't seal the deal against the top-level teams in the league.
For some reason, Henne has played his best ball at the beginning of games or when we are playing from behind (especially on last minute comeback drives). But, even just the last two weeks even, his production has floundered in the middle of the second half when we've really just needed a single good drive to get us in position to control the game. And these parts of the games are when we start seeing Henne uncharacteristically throwing sloppy passes, not setting up for throws and going off his back foot, not reading the defense correctly and throwing a pass right to a defender, and getting passes batted down at the line. It's like Henne senses that dominance of the game is within reach and he chokes in trying to seal the deal. Luckily for us we haven't paid for this because our defense has really held when it has needed to and Henne has been able to deliver at the last minute to win the game.
This post isn't trying to say that Henne isn't going to be an effective quarterback. I think its plenty obvious to us now that Henne is already an effective quarterback with a chance to become outstanding. He has had his moments of outstanding play in the last couple of games, but in order to take this team from competitive to outstanding Henne still needs to be able to play a complete game. Otherwise, this team (now and in the future) has merely shifted its limitations from last year and is the type of team that can prey upon mid-level teams to secure a winning record but can't seal the deal against the top-level teams in the league.
