Dolphins' Offense Thriving With Chad Henne at the Helm

Chad Henne's yet to make an NFL start on the road. Plus, despite what you might have thought about the Jets after three weeks, he's yet to play a full game against one of the league's upper-echelon teams.

But under Henne, Miami is 2-0 in 2009. It was 0-3 under Chad Pennington. And on that basis alone, it's not a huge stretch to think that the Dolphins might be better off now that Pennington's done for the season and Henne's their guy.

Henne did everything that was asked of him, and then some, Monday night. He threw short, deep and in-between. He made smart reads against the Jets' high-pressure defense. Most importantly, of course, he won, and suddenly the Dolphins are 2-3 and just a single game out of first in the AFC East.

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The fact that Henne's playing well? It's not a surprise.

Pennington's presence and steady leadership in 2008, as the Dolphins were en route to an AFC East division title, meant that Henne had to ride the pine. But as soon as this became his team, he immediately began displaying the attributes that led Miami to draft him in the first place -- good head on his shoulders, smart with his reads and decisions, extremely strong arm.

He put all of those attributes on display Monday night. With Ryan dialing up blitzes and formation shifts, Henne calmly hit on 20 of 26 passes for 241 yards, two touchdowns and an impressive 130.6 passer rating.

When the Jets took a 20-17 lead early in the fourth quarter, Henne responded with a gorgeous 53-yard touchdown strike to Ted Ginn. When the Jets answered that with a Thomas Jones touchdown run, giving New York the lead in the final 5:30, Henne -- with the help of Miami's wildcat offense -- marched the Dolphins right back into scoring position. On third-and-10 from the Jets 16 with 1:06 left, Henne rolled the pocket right and fired a perfect rocket shot of a spiral to a sliding Greg Camarillo for 12 yards and a first down.

Three plays later, Ronnie Brown scored for a 31-27 Miami win.

"We made him look like Dan Marino," Jets linebacker Calvin Pace said of Henne. "[The Dolphins] did what they want, and they did it at will."
If you're keeping track, Henne's now 34 of 48 through the air as Miami's starter with three TDs and no interceptions. The two biggest plays he made -- the TD strike to Ginn and the clutch conversion to Camarillo -- were ones that Pennington would have struggled to pull off.

In fact, during a Week 2 Monday nighter against Indianapolis, the Dolphins were unable to rally late against the Colts because of Pennington's inability to stretch the field. As Henne showed when he lofted one over New York's secondary to Ginn's waiting arms, that's not a problem for him.

"Teddy ran a great route, and they gave us the coverage we wanted," Henne said.

Miami rushed for 150 yards against the Jets, one week after rolling up 256 on the ground in a win over Buffalo. Those numbers are pretty consistent to what the rushing attack put up with Pennington around -- but Henne's presence brings the aerial attack into the picture in a way that it wasn't before.

After the Dolphins Week 6 bye, they host New Orleans, get a rematch with the Jets in the Meadowlands, and head to New England. Things are about to get a lot tougher for Henne and the Dolphins.

But, right now, they look capable of handling it.