Addressing The Miami Dolphins' QB Situation

As you may know by now, the Miami Dolphins' starting quarterback Chad Pennington is out for the season because of a shoulder injury sustained against the San Diego Chargers on Sunday. So, I feel like I should analyze the Dolphins' "new" quarterback situation.

The most likely starter is quarterback Chad Henne, who played excellently in college for Michigan. Henne has a strong arm and has been studying under Pennington long enough to know what he needs to do. Hopefully with the added arm strength, Miami will be able to be more of a deep threat in the passing game.

When Pennington led the offense, Miami would only throw for short passes and gains. Their offense was very possession-oriented with no regard to a big gain. This offense was moderately successful, but it left too much room for error, simply because of the massive amount of plays they ran.

My hope is that offensive coordinator Dan Henning will alter our passing game philosophy to a more aggressive scheme. The run game is there, we just need a more potent passing offense to go with it.

One question is how Miami will incorporate Pat White. If they started White, then he would add a running threat that could be very dangerous for opposing defenses. White also has a stronger arm than Pennington, so that would be a plus.

With the very recent addition of Tyler Thigpen, the Dolphins have added more experience to the mix. I do not personally think that Thigpen should be starting because of the potential we have from Henne and White, but Thigpen is a good quarterback who would help the Dolphins a lot more than he would hurt them. So, I am glad that we got him.

While White, Henne, and also Thigpen will add more arm strength to Miami's offense, there is no replacing Pennington's accuracy. He leads the NFL in all-time completion percentage, and by "leads the NFL" I mean since the formation of the league.

The National Football League has never seen a more accurate passer than Pennington in its entire existence. That is pretty amazing. But, I am willing to give up that immaculate completion percentage for the more risky tactics that we will most likely have with Henne or White. It will definitely be more interesting to watch.

So, while Pennington's injury may at first look like a curse, it could end up being a blessing because of the added deep pass threat we will get from our other quarterbacks.

Now, aside from all of this conservative thinking, what I would really love to see is Pat White as a starter. We already know about his great running skills, but a lot of people forget that he was still a great passer when he played for West Virginia. People just figure that because he runs so well he must be a mediocre passer, but he is really not. With White in, Miami would have a lot of dangerous threats in their offense that opposing defenses would have to worry about. It would be an amazing thing to watch.

No matter what I say, it all comes down to the coaches' decision, though. We will just have to wait and see what happens. Hopefully Tony Sparano, Bill Parcells, Dan Henning, and whoever the other masterminds in Miami are that design everything can make this quarterback situation work out in the end.

I'll just be along for the ride.