Miami Dolphins: What I'm Not Thankful For On Thanksgiving

Funny Picture, Courtesy of cartoonstock.com

Thanksgiving is here, and that means we get to eat lots of good food, spend time with family, give thanks for what we have, and watch football.

While most of the stuff you read today and tomorrow will be about giving thanks, I have decided to write a little piece on what I am not thankful for on the Miami Dolphins.

Let me just say first that I do, in fact, have a lot to be thankful for, and I appreciate what I have in life. I am not encouraging you to start thinking about things that you aren't thankful for, because that isn't healthy and helps nothing. I encourage you to think about everything that you have in your life and appreciate it because there are a lot of people that would love to have what you do. I will be writing solely about the failures of the Miami Dolphins and why I am not thankful for those failures.

So, with that being said, I have a bunch of things not to be thankful for in the Miami Dolphins Organization, and here are a few:


Dan Henning, Offensive Coordinator
Who else would you have me start off with? I have been writing so much about Dan Henning this past week that it is getting old, so I am going to keep this short and simple. Just know that he has been terrible this year in play calling, and he hasn't been able to work the offense around his players' strengths.

A .500 Record
Blame it on whomever you want, but a .500 record in a division with the Jets and Patriots and a tough conference like the AFC just isn't good enough. I expected a lot more from this team, and they have disappointed. It is incredible how little the Miami Dolphins have been able to use their weapons on offense.

This has made players like Davone Bess and Brian Hartline do well, but they haven't been able to make up for the mediocre numbers of Brandon Marshall, Ronnie Brown, and Ricky Williams.

Injuries
This is what has really hurt the Miami Dolphins recently. A few weeks ago I believed that the Dolphins still had a good shot at making the playoffs, but injuries have been consistently popping up all over the roster, and they have, pretty much, crippled Miami this year.

The offensive line has been hit the worst, though, and it really showed with a scoreless effort against the Bears on Thursday night. I am not completely sure what the Dolphins should try and do to prevent injuries from piling up so badly, but I hope they can figure something out before next year.

17.2 Points Per Game
That is 29th worst in the league. That is unacceptable for a team whose owner predicted the Miami Dolphins would be in the Super Bowl this year. With so many weapons you would think that the Dolphins would be scoring more than 28 other teams in the NFL instead of scoring less than 28 teams, but that isn't the case here. This is largely Dan Henning's fault, and it should be fixed by next year if the Dolphins want to be successful in the near future.

Brandon Marshall's Inability To Score
This goes with the 17.2 points per game, but it is still an issue of its own. Brandon Marshall is a beast, plain and simple, which is why I am baffled that Dan Henning doesn't find ways to use him more, and that he doesn't find better ways to use him.

Marshall has 58 receptions and 693 yards. How do you only score one touchdown with 693 receiving yards? I wouldn't have thought it was possible, but leave it to Dan Henning to find a way.

Special Teams
Special teams for Miami hasn't been really bad lately since the Dolphins promoted Darren Rizzi to Special Teams coordinator, but it cost the Dolphins early in the season. It cost them the game against the Patriots, and it hurt them numerous times before Rizzi came in. Miami's return game was largely useless, and they allowed a lot of long kick returns by other teams. Rizzi seems to have cleaned up Miami's special teams for the most part now.

Note that I am not including Dan Carpenter in this, because he has been great and has won the Dolphins multiple games that the offense couldn't.


That is most of what I am not thankful for on the Miami Dolphins. The Dolphins have had a couple of things to be thankful for, like the play of Cameron Wake, Vontae Davis, Brian Hartline, and Davone Bess, but not nearly as much as things not to be thankful for.

Thanks for reading, and please leave a comment letting me know if there is anything not to be thankful for that I have left out.

Subscribe to DolphinShout

Den Henning Will Most Likely Be Gone From The Miami Dolphins After This Season

He Won't Be Smiling After This Season

We finally have confirmation on what have been hoping would happen for a while now.

It has come to my attention that, according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, people around the Miami Dolphins organization expect Dan Henning to be gone as an offensive coordinator after this year.

This is finally some good news amongst all of the trouble around the Dolphins organization, and hopefully it will actually happen. What I read does not say who the people in the organization are, but they must have some knowledge about the situation or the Miami Herald would not have put it up.

Henning has been terrible this year. His play calling has been atrocious, and he is too stubborn to change the game planning around the personnel he has in.

He wasn't going to change the offense when Chad Pennington came in as the starter, which tells you how stubborn he is. He was basically admitting that he had Chad Henne playing the same offensive style as Chad Pennington, even though they have completely different styles. In doing that he admitted his incompetency to all of us, and that was a big indicator for me that he shouldn't be the offensive coordinator for the Miami Dolphins anymore.

Henning has turned the Dolphins into one of the worst scoring offenses in the NFL. Miami is at a 29th worst 17.2 points a game. He hasn't been able to use Brandon Marshall, Ronnie Brown, Ricky Williams, or Chad Henne to their full abilities. He turned a very talented offense into one of the worst offenses in the league. I don't know about you, but that pisses me off.

How does one of the best wide receivers in the NFL only score one touchdown after 10 games? People may blame Chad Henne, but I promise you it isn't his fault. Henning had Henne on such a short leash that he was rendered almost completely ineffective.

I can't wait to hear the news about his firing from the Miami Dolphins, and I look forward to letting you guys know about it.

Thanks for reading, and please be sure to leave a comment.

Subscribe to DolphinShout

Is The Season Over For The Miami Dolphins?

Let me start this off with a video that I think is a pretty good embodiment of the Miami Dolphins this season. Just click play below.



Now, on to the task at hand.

Normally, when a team is 5-5 and has as much talent as the Miami Dolphins have, that team's fans haven't given up on the season yet. There is normally still hope for that season, and the fans are excited for the rest of the season.

Normally, yes, but that is not the case with the Dolphins.

Through a combination of injuries, poor coaching, and being in an extremely hard division the Miami Dolphins seem to be all but out of the playoff race. They are still mathematically in the playoff chase, and they actually aren't that far from making it in.

They are only two games behind the Steelers, who are currently sitting in the last wild card spot. All it would take is winning the majority of their remaining games and other teams to lose a few. That is no easy task for a 5-5 team, but it is usually still doable.

It's not doable for the Dolphins, though.

A lot of people in Miami have pretty much given up on their team, and I don't blame them. The Dolphins have been extremely disappointing this year. Not many people have been performing at or above the level we were expecting them to perform at this year, and it has showed with a mediocre record.

You guys may not remember, but Stephen Ross predicted the Dolphins would make the Super Bowl this year. He also said that he hoped Chad Henne would be the franchise's greatest quarterback.

I can tell you right now that the Miami Dolphins aren't going to make the playoffs this season, and I haven't given up on Chad Henne yet, but I don't think he is going to be better than Dan Marino.

So, in my opinion, yes the season is over. I just don't see how the Miami Dolphins can come back from that embarrassing loss to the Bears and win for most of their tough remaining schedule.

There are two main reasons why, and the first is injuries, specifically to the Dolphins offensive line. The Dolphins have an injury-riddled line, and I don't see how they will be able to protect whatever quarterback is in there with the personnel we have.

Injuries can cripple a good team, and they have definitely played a part in the crippling of the Dolphins.

Injuries aren't the main reason, though.

I think you all know what the reason is, but I will still say it anyway:

Dan Henning

The man calls all of the wrong plays at the wrong times, and he does it consistently. Sometimes I think he is just trying so hard to catch defenses off guard that he is predictable in what he calls. I didn't mention it before, but when the Dolphins beat the Tennessee a few weeks ago, Titans cornerback Cortland Finnegan would tell Brandon Marshall the exact route he was going to run before the ball was even hiked.

The worst part is that Finnegan was right 80 percent of the time.

That, of course, is not Marshall's fault. It is completely Henning's fault. If you are so predictable that a corner can tell the exact play you are going to run, then you shouldn't be in the NFL.

On top of the predictability, the play calling has been atrocious this year, and it is a big reason that players with huge talent like Brandon Marshall, Ronnie Brown, and Ricky Williams have been largely ineffective.

Henning has forced Chad Henne to throw short passes, and rarely allowed him to throw the ball long, which is one of Henne's strengths. Why he had Henne on such a short leash is beyond me. Offensive coordinators that are worth their salt would build their offense around the strengths of their players, but not Henning. He forces players to run his style even when they are obviously unable to do so.

I know that I complain over and over about Dan Henning, but I am not the only one wanting him out of Miami. He needs to be fired ASAP to give the Dolphins more time to prepare for next season. Forget this year. All that matters right now is the future.

In my opinion, Dan Henning is the sole reason the Dolphins are not one of the best teams in the league. He doesn't know how to use the talent that is available to him, and it has shown with a .500 record.

Henning is like the Dolphin who comes up and hits the other Dolphin, who represents Chad Henne, in mid-air. Instead of allowing Henne to soar, Henning just gets in the way and ruins everything.

Thanks for reading, and please feel free to leave a comment. I am always checking and responding to comments, so I look forward to hearing from you soon. Also, if you ever just want to talk football, please feel free to email me at paul@dolphinshout.com. I always find it fun to just talk to other Dolphins fans about their opinions on the franchise and recent moves they have made.

Subscribe to DolphinShout