Miami Dolphins: 'Fins Need to Commit to Chad Henne for 2011 Season

The Miami Dolphins underachieved last season despite a promising outing in 2009. You can't blame that necessarily on the defense because that unit was stingy. You can't really blame it on the special teams because, let's be honest, after they made some personnel changes after three weeks, that aspect of the team got better. 

What this team struggled with was offense, despite a good core of receivers and a decent offensive line. 

Who gets the blame? 

The most popular position in the sport: quarterback. 

I've noticed that my counterpart (competitor?) here on the Bleacher Report argued that the Dolphins shouldn't commit to Chad Henne; that his charisma and demeanor are damning, that he lacks confidence and can't lead a team the way a good NFL quarterback should.

I'm not so sure I agree with this.

What many Dolphins' fans—and most NFL observers, really—fail to realize is that the play-calling last year wasn't exactly intelligent. Hell, it was below average. Way below average.

Consider that Dan Henning, for the better part of the 2010 season, completely limited the Dolphins' offense, strictly calling for runs on first- and second-down situations and, since the opposition sees the predictability of the play-calling, the Dolphins were usually left with third-and-long situations.

Then Dan Henning lets Chad Henne throw. 

I'm sorry, but utilizing your quarterback only on third-down situations (except when Henning called for Chad to make passes under 15 yards past the line of scrimmage) isn't smart offensive play-calling.

And as much as we all love the Wildcat (way back in the day, when it actually worked), Henning had little else to contribute to the Dolphins' offense, which has had enough talent to at least garner one winning season between 2009 and 2010.

Sadly, Henning stuck with his overly-simplistic and pull-out-your-hair frustrating game plan.

Chad Henne wasn't let loose. And in the games where he was given a little more offensive freedom, Henne played reasonably better. In the only four games where Henne threw for more than eight yards per attempt, he averaged a quarterback rating of around 91.2.

For those that love advanced NFL stats—let's be honest, though, there's not many that do—Chad Henne Deep Pass Percentage (which measures the percentage of attempts which were more than 15 yards) was the eighth worst in the league at just 17 percent. For a dude with such a big arm, that's laughable and something that Henne shouldn't be held accountable for.

Of course, half of the Dolphins' observers claim that Henne's confidence harms him. I'm sorry, but when you aren't allowed to play the game that better suits you, it's highly unlikely you're going to perform at the level people want you to and even more unlikely that you're going to walk with swagger and take command of your team in the huddle. 

It's just not that easy. Regardless, Chad Henne won't bring unprecedented play in 2011. He isn't going to have a Tom Brady-like season. He won't bring his team a shoulder to lean on when the offense can't get going. 

However, what Chad Henne will bring is an element of unpredictability. I'm not talking about his play being erratic; conversely, adding a deep-field game opens up the running game, which was already bolstered in the draft a few months ago by adding offensive lineman Mike Pouncey and running back Daniel Thomas. The opposing defense won't expect the same plays over and over.

There seems to be an agreement among the torn DolFan-nation, though: Chad Henne should be given one more chance to prove he's worthy of a starting spot in the NFL. He has enough talent around him and the monkey that was Dan Henning's offensive play-calling off of his back.

Get it done, Chad. Don't prove me wrong.

Carlos Sandoval is co-host of weekly NFL podcast, The Pigeon Toe. Look out for their most recent episode. Follow Carlos on Twitter: @CarloshSandoval.