Alleged No. 1 receiver Ted Ginn Jr. has been inconsistent, often ineffective, rarely dominant and never elite since being drafted No. 9 overall in 2007. He is coming off two games in which he dropped two touchdown potential touchdown passes versus Indianapolis, including the possible game-winner. And then he responded to that adversity by catching zero passes despite being targetted six times versus San Diego.
In that San Diego game, Henne misfired on several passes to Ginn. That was on Henne. But Ginn dropped two of those nonetheless catchable attempts. One hit him in the chest, the other on the hands. On another throw, Ginn ran the ugliest, most rounded off out-route I've seen in a long time by an NFL wide receiver. He just kind of looped off the route and, not surprisingly, he wasn't open when the ball came his way.
I know many fans believe Henne will bring out the best in Ginn because the new quarterback's arm can finally make use of Ginn's appreciable trait -- straight line speed.
But I would tell you that rare is the effective WR-QB combination where only one or the other player is playing to par. If you guys are hoping Ginn will suddenly start to light it up simply because Henne is in there, you are mistaken. Ginn has to get much, much, much better to begin being a viable consistent threat for Henne.
Henne will, of course, have other options in the passing game. But those players are also limited to one degree or another.
Davone Bess is a solid complementary player who might catch a ton of passes but also might never break one because he lacks break-away speed.
Greg Camarillo is a solid complementary player who might catch a ton of passes also, but let's be frank, he wouldn't start on three-quarters of the NFL's teams.
Brian Hartline is a rookie and he's still learning. Patrick Turner is a rookie and he can't get active on Sundays.
So how, exactly, can we expect Henne to be as good as Flacco and Ryan if the players around him aren't in the same conversation with the players around Flacco and Ryan?
Tell me. I want to know. And yes, I will be asking this of Henning on Thursday.
