Miami Dolphins: Hating on Chad Henne Plummets Them Too Far in Power Rankings

Early Tuesday Afternoon, ESPN released their first Power Rankings of the 2011 NFL Season. 

The rankings seemed to be based off of a combination of last year's results, who teams gained and lost during free agency as well as the draft. Along with where each team was a comment from one of ESPN's NFL reporters. 

Predictably the defending Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers were ranked first, followed by the New England Patriots coming in second, and the Eagles, who have been credited as the winners of NFL free agency this year, ranked third.

The Miami Dolphins however were ranked 24th, with ESPN NFL writer John Clayton making this comment.

"If the Dolphins can't get Brett Favre to challenge Chad Henne, maybe they can ask Dan Marino."

If its ESPN then you know they'll have to bring in a Brett Favre comment somewhere, and as we've seen in the last two weeks, it appears the Dolphins would be Favre's go to team despite Favre himself saying he had no interest and no discussions going down between the eventual Hall of Famer and the Dolphins. 

This ranking, and the comment made about the ranking, seems to illustrate the same theme: Miami's weakness is at quarterback, and they have not addressed that weakness. This is true to an extent, however based off of the good work Henne has done in practice, as well as the presence of new Offensive Coordinator Brian Daboll and the new rapport Henne seems to be developing with Brandon Marshall, the thought that quarterback is Miami's weakness seems a tad overblown.

Now does Miami deserve the #24 ranking? Let's compare them to some of the other teams both in the AFC East and the rest of the league as well.

New England Patriots (Ranked 2nd.)

As mentioned in the opening slide, the New England Patriots were ranked second. 

I can't argue with this. On paper they look like they're the team to beat not only in the AFC, but in the NFL. There are some that probably would've ranked them first, and I include myself in that.

The Patriots not only bring back their explosive offense lead by Brady, who's the best quarterback in the NFL right now, but have also greatly strengthened their biggest weakness from last year, their pass rush, thanks to trading for Albert Haynesworth (who will be more motivated with New England) and signing Shaun Ellis away from the Jets.

To compare them to the Dolphins at this stage would be a futile exercise. Miami is closer to the Buffalo Bills on the way down than they are to the New England Patriots not just in my opinion, but also according to the rankings themselves.

New York Jets (Ranked 7th.)

This is just about right for the Jets. They should be ranked higher than Miami, and despite some questionable moves (I'd still rather take my chances with a younger Braylon Edwards than Plaxico, who's been out of football for three years) the Jets are still a playoff team that does deserve credit for beating the Patriots last year and could very well do it again. 

But I will say this: The Dolphins are not scared of the Jets.

Not one bit.

The Phins have had great success against New York, with Sparano going 4-2 against the Jets since becoming the Dolphins head coach in 2008. So while the Jets are ahead of the Dolphins on these power rankings, the Dolphins are a worse matchup for the Jets than the Patriots are. 

Buffalo Bills (Ranked 31st)

The Bills are ranked 31st, but should be ranked a little bit higher.

I know two slides ago I said the Dolphins were closer to the Bills on the way down than they are to the Patriots on the way up, however that doesn't mean they're close to the bottom of the barrel. Buffalo is close though, but not second to last close. 

I'd have to write my own separate article to pinpoint every Buffalo weakness. I'm not hating on the team, but I'm pretty sure I'd have a good ten slides for it. I will quickly point out some.

-Bad Offensive Line. If you can't win up front, you can't win period.

-Fitzpatrick is good, but not the answer. That explains itself.

-I really don't see much upside with the Bills. Even if they win the Andrew Luck sweepstakes, what would he have around him and how would they put a decent line together to make sure he doesn't get beat up in the pocket?

Now again, I don't think Buffalo will be that good. However, I don't think they should be ranked behind Washington, Carolina or Denver.

As for how they match up with the Dolphins? Well, these two teams always play each other close. It should be no different this year. Buffalo will play every team they face close and will fight for every game.

They just won't win many.  

Oakland Raiders (Ranked 23rd)

Last year Oakland was a chic pick to win the AFC West.

They would've done it too, going 6-0 in their division. However it was their out of division losses to teams like Arizona, San Francisco, and the Dolphins that did them in.

That's three games Oakland lost that should've been victories, with the Dolphins coming at home without Brandon Marshall. In a related story, Kansas City finished 11-5. That's a three game deficit. If Oakland wins those three games, plus the two they already had won over Kansas City, Oakland is 11-5 and hosting Baltimore, not sending Tom Cable to the unemployment line (although in fairness Al Davis would've fired him anyways.)

Now factor in the fact that they've lost their best defensive player in Nnamdi Asomugha, as well as tight end Zach Miller, then please tell me how you expect me to believe that the Raiders are better than a Dolphins team that beat them in Oakland last season?

I expect Hue Jackson to be a good NFL head coach, but Oakland's problem isn't with the coach, its the guy picking the players that's the issue. 

Arizona Cardinals (Ranked 21st)

Arizona is more likely to go to the playoffs than Miami, but that doesn't mean they're the better team.

Put Miami in the NFC West and I'd see them going 11-5. Buffalo would go at least 8-8 in that putrid excuse for a division.

Plus add to that the fact that Kevin Kolb literally just got there two weeks ago. Because you're fine if a highly touted, high priced quarterback who still has yet to prove himself only has about a month to work with his new team in installing an offense. I'll take that over a quarterback with a chip on his shoulder and a lot to prove who spent the lockout period leading a team that until about a week ago was unsure that he was their guy in off-season workouts and working to gain a rapport with the teams best offensive player.

If Kolb is what he's made out to be, then yes, Arizona should win the division.

But they could win it even if he turns out to be Scott Mitchell 2.0. 

Either way, why is Arizona ranked ahead of Miami?

Tennessee Titans (Ranked #20)

After mucking up the Vince Young era, the Titans have so far handled the Jake Locker era to a tee.

I had always thought that after drafting Vince Young, the Titans should've held onto Steve McNair and have him mentor and groom Vince Young until he's ready to take the reigns of the franchise. Yes this means that Vince doesn't start playing until 2007, however a year of learning the system from someone that you looked up to and who knew that system inside and out while watching him play would've done Vince Young a lot of good and the Titans probably avoid the problems that wound up happening from 2008-2010.

This time around, Tennessee has done it right.

After drafting Jake Locker, they sign Matt Hasselbeck as their quarterback for this season. The two already worked out together while Hasselbeck was a Seahawk and Locker was at Washington, so they already know each other and Locker has already been mentored a bit by the veteran QB.

Keeping this up is smart, and Hasselbeck is a safe QB option for a team that isn't expected to contend this season, as well as someone who might not have a problem handing the reigns to the younger Locker at some point in the season.

But look at the Titans, are they really better than the Dolphins?

They're on the same level if anything, but I'll say that the Dolphins are a shade better than Tennessee. 

Seattle Seahawks (Ranked #19)

Am I missing something here? 

The Seahawks finished with the same record as Miami last season. 

However they played in the NFC West, hence they got a playoff game. Ok, fine.

But ranking higher on the Power Rankings than the Dolphins this season?

Eh, I'm not buying it.

First off, I'd rather have Henne than Tavaris Jackson. I'd love to see what Henne would've done with Sidney Rice and Adrian Petersen. 

Jackson has Rice once again, along with former Raiders Tight End Zach Miller, but who's going to play the Petersen role?

And where exactly has this team really improved? 

I'm not even sold on Seattle winning their division.

And I'm definitely not sold on them being five spots better than Miami.

Miami Dolphins (Ranked #24.)

Now here we are back at the Dolphins, ranked #24.

With the defense with they have, as well as the hope of more consistency from Henne that I've seen from training camp the last few days, I think they should be a little bit higher.

However as much as it looked like I was complaining, in reality this is a good spot for Miami.

Will they compete with New England? No.

Will they compete with New York? On the field yes, in the standings, maybe.

They do have Oakland at home on December 4th, which if things hold up I could see being a Dolphins victory.

And as for the other teams ranked ahead of them I mentioned, I just don't see how they're any better than Miami.

If you're forecasting doom and gloom for the Dolphins, don't. I'm not saying this team will be in the playoffs, but they'll be in the race well into December, and maybe even have an all or nothing game against the Jets for the final spot come January 1st.

But that is a maybe. 

Now why is #24 a really good spot?

Because it just means that the Dolphins are even more under the radar now. Nothing is expected except for Ireland, Sparano and Henne to pick up their pink slips on January 2nd. But I don't see that happening.

In the end, the power rankings during the pre-season do not matter. This isn't college football.

Take a look at last year's pre-season power rankings and you'll see what I mean. 

Pittsburgh ranked #19 (AFC Champions). Chicago ranked #21 (NFC North Champions, hosted the NFC Title game and almost won it.) 

Then look at Minnesota (finished 6-10, last in the NFC North) at #3 and Dallas ranked at #4 (finished 6-10).

See what these rankings really mean?

Less than the paper you'd print it on if you were to print them.

The only rankings that do: the division and wild card rankings on January 2nd, followed by the results of the big game being played in Indianapolis in February.

So let the games begin, and let them rank the Dolphins at #24.