Dan Henning For HEAD COACH!

Dan Henning should be our Head Coach. You heard it here first.  He knows it all after his many many years of NFL “genius” status.  Forget Sparano having one more year, forget about Bill Cowher, Jon Gruden, or any other NFL or collegiate coach, this team, the Miami Dolphins, need Dan Henning.  Nothing on this team is his fault.  Why?  Because he says so.

Today is Dan Henning Thursday which in other words means, “pass the buck” of responsibility.  Last week we got to listen to Dan “the Genius” Henning throw QB Chad Henne under the bus.  Today, we get to see him take a few swipes around the rest of the team and in doing so, indirectly chastise the very HC who he works for and the GM that holds his job in his hands.

When asked if he would retire after the season, “I know I will be here next week”.  Good for you Henning.Most of these quotes are from a Armando Salguero article in which he states that Henning agrees with him…go figure.  While his overall article is based on the “need for speed”, the quotes cover everything else too.

"“On our football team overall, we’re missing dynamics,” Henning said today. “We haven’t had a dynamic kickoff return or punt return to put the ball even on the plus side of the 50. We haven’t had a dynamic interception return to take it back for a touchdown the entire year. And we haven’t had but two or three dynamic plays on offense out of about 800 or so.  So we’re missing that. And somewhere along the line we have to find it for this team.”"

So now Henning is the know all see all coach who can sit in his coaches box and explain that his offensive problems can also be attributed to the fact that the defense and the ST’s haven’t had any “dynamic” plays but his offense has had two or three?  What two or three?  Please clarify?

Salguero asked Henning if the lack of “dynamic” plays was a result of a lack of speed?

"“There’s no question about it,” he responded. “The same people that are playing on special teams, play on offense and defense … We’re just not making the big plays. That is speed, that is ability, that is those things that come from dynamic individuals. We do a good job of catching the ball. [Davone] Bess does a good job just like he does on offense of making plays. But they’re not 50- or 60-yard plays. He’ll dramatically change a play from a 5- or 6-yard gain to 15-yard gain. A couple of weeks ago he got a 40-yard gain but that’s what it is. When you have a body of work, whether it’s one year or 15 games or whatever it is, usually, you are who you are.”"

So by his admission, the team lacks speed, which is the responsibility of GM Jeff Ireland.  Yet Ireland, and I know this for a fact, considers input from all of the coaches including the offensive coordinator about the personnel that is needed to win.  So while the team may not have any “speed” on the field, the fact is that the offensive players that are on the field are there because Sparano and Henning wanted them.  Not because Jeff Ireland said, “here take these guys and make it work”.   Not to mention the fact that at every stop Henning as been at, speed was the least of his abundance.

On what the team has done and needs to do, Henning said this.

"“I can tell you from an offensive standpoint specifically because that what I deal with,” he said. “We won the division in 2008, They were 1-15 and came very close to being 0-16. They won an overtime game. We broke down the team, we tried to deal with the personnel that was there. We let some players go that people before us had a higher opinion of but we didn’t have as high an opinion. And we elevated some people we had a higher opinion of and we won the division. We won 11 games. it wasn’t easy. It wasn’t exactly dynamic. But we had about 8.03 yards per attempt. We had 11.9 or 12 yards per completion and we had over 4 yards per carry with that team."

UH, you won the division because of the Wild Cat and the Wild Cat alone.  In fact until you pulled the WC out of DAVID LEE’s playbook you were 0-2.

"“After that season we all agreed we had a little bit easier schedule than we were going to have. If we were going to be where we wanted to be, we needed to change some things and get better. We haven’t done it. That doesn’t mean we haven’t tried to do it. But this group is not as efficient and consistent as that group was. Therefore, they’re not as effective as that group was. Basically we had the same coaches. We have some players in this group who are more dynamic than we had. But as a team, we’re not as efficient, consistent or effective as we were in 2008."

I will just say this:  Throw….everyone….under….the….bus!

"“We need speed and we need it in the areas where if you break something loose, you have a chance to take it to the house regardless of whether we’re on our 10 or their 10.”"

Sorry Henning, or Mr. Genius if you prefer, you need to call plays that will actually work.  Not rely on someone to to break one long to make you look good.  The fact is that many teams don’t win because of a lack of speed and there are plenty of teams who can win without a lack of speed.  Pittsburgh has speed at the WR position but they don’t win because of it, they win because they make good play selections that utilize the teams strengths.  Same can be said about Baltimore.  For that matter, where is the speed in New England?  The team hasn’t lost since they let go of Randy Moss…the speed of the team.

When asked about how to fix the offense, Henning had this to say.

"“What I have to say about our football team goes to Tony,” he said, “and then Tony does with it what he feels is best.”"

In other words, I’m not taking responsibility for anything.

Henning said he know about this team and it’s coaches because he has been around them for three years now.

"“I feel like I know some things about this team because I work with it all the time, I’m on top of it  with the players and so forth,” he said. “I do think there are some things that need to be done. I’ve told Tony when he’s asked me. And I’m sure he’s taken in not only my opinion, but many opinions.”"

I know about this team too and that is that until they get a new Offensive Coordinator…they are not going to win.
Henning also spoke about Tony Sparano and said he “appreciated” what Sparano said about him earlier in the week.  He gave Sparano his support.  You can read those quotes at the Sun-Sentinel.