first let me say i didnt watch the game, dont get to see many in NJ. my question is will this team ever get better?? is henne our future or not? i dont know if his mistakes are his or where the passes deflected or drops or what?? can smith and davis be good enough to start or are they not good enough. i know the deal with the recievers but why is this team never able to stop teams or drive the field. I dont know maybe its the coach????

Yes this team will get better as a matter of fact is already is getting better just remember what we were in previous seasons until last year.

Even when Henne makes mistakes remember it's only his 1st season as a starting QB, I'm glad he's getting an opportunity to grow and show us what he can be.

Smith and Davis are young too it's too early to judge.

I don't have an answer on why our defence can't seem stop teams and give up big plays, guess that's an area the coaches and Parcells need to focus on next year.

It's not the coach! want Cam Cameron or Dave Wannstead back?
Sparano is a good coach he has the team competing every game which is nice to see in Miami again. no more 4-12 or 1-16 records anymore.
Bill Parcells hired Sparano and that's good enough for me.

I know this loss to the Bills is frustrating but if you told me at the start of the year we could go 3-1 against 2 of our division rivals you would take it.

fiedlerhater, the team is improving but we've taken a step back offensively. We made a mistake in drafting Pat White. We made a mistake in not trading Ted Ginn. We made a mistake in thinking we can use tricks and wildcat and average talent for yet another year and fail to build up a basic balanced offense which includes a solid running game, deep threat down the field, and reliable short passing game with outstanding tight ends with lots of YAC.

Smith and Davis will be good enough. Henne is ok, but the ultimate question has not yet been answered. I think we have a chance with him if we develop him properly and don't shuffle him on and off the field.

As far as the passing, Hartline and Fasano made some good grabs. Ginn missed a middle of the field play where he was wide open. Some passes were dropped because of just drops, but Henne was also off on his throws, many of them because he was under pressure.

Coaching - forget it. Horrible call to give up on a steamrolling running game right in front of the end zone and have Ricky throw the ball. Bad trick calls, like the Ginn reverse. As a coach you have to put your players in a position to win. It seems like in every game we don't do that. We had a lot of time to prepare for this game and they just did not seem prepared.

On the first INT, Henne was hit in the chest as he threw it, resulting in the underthrown ball.

On the second INT, the ball was tipped at the line of scrimmage, and it went right to the Buffalo defender.

The third INT was batted in the air at the line of scrimmage, and the D-lineman caught it.

There was way too much pressure allowed up the middle. On the first INT, Garner and Berger had double teamed a guy, and he still got to Henne.

There were several other missed throws where Henne got hit as he released it.

Chad is going to be fine. You can't say the INTs were the result of poor reads or inaccurate throws.

This is the 3rd year in a row that Smiley has been hurt. He's great when healthy, but he's injury prone. The front office needs to look at the G position.

We need a NT. Whenever Ferguson is out, it is extremely noticeable.

We also need at least one new ILB. I know Sparano loves Crowder. But, neither Crowder nor Adele ever make plays in the hole at the point of attack.

dolfanmark, he was asking about incompleted passes, not INT's.

And while I do think Chad will be ok, he didn't have a good game. The pressure is not going to go away no matter who we have on the O line. We harass other QB's all the time and they still burn us. There were some throws Chad made that could have been INT's and weren't. I'd like him to move around a little better and get away from the pressure. I also wish the coaches would let him work out of the shotgun. He needs to do that, not drop back to pass. It's expecting a lot from him.

This may seem overly simplistic (and I'm sure that it is) but here are the reasons for (at least some of) our troubles.

1. WR's and TE's (as a group) that can't reliably get open within the first five yards at least 80% of the time.

2. Not enough depth at key positions...yet. (NT, C, and OG) this really hurts us when injuries happen to players we can't replace.

3. Pass rush that is not consistent enough.

4. Mistakes, sloppy execution and big plays.

5. IMHO a lot of #4 results from players pressing (causing the failure make a play at all) to make a game changing play later in games.

6. Coaching schemes. (Inexplicably relaxed coverage late in games)

7. Coaching decisions. (Not blitzing enough)

8. Simple bad luck at inopportune times. (Crazy penalties etc, etc.)

9. Injuries.(Brown, Fergueson, Allen etc.)

10. Inattention (Dropped balls, fumbles etc.)

HENNE is our QB of the future. IMO he is the one that we have been waiting for since Dan. He's got a rocket arm and has the confidence to lead.

DAVIS and SMITH will best CB duo in the league soon.

Whatis missing is a BIG PLAY #1 RECEIVER. And a ILB with instincts...

We can't defend against big plays and we can't MAKE big plays. We're still dink and dunk, and there's very little YAC.

DolphinSam Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> dolfanmark, he was asking about incompleted
> passes, not INT's.
>

He also had at least 3 other incompletions that were the result of being hit while throwing the ball. And there were drops by Ginn and Bess.

There was way too much pressure up the middle. This cannot be allowed to happen. Pressure from the edge is one thing, you can step up from that. Pressure up the middle is a killer. We don't ever get a pass rush up the middle. Our only pass rush comes from the edge, and that's why QBs can step up and burn us regularly. And our pass rush is terribly inconsistent. There are too many times when we get no pressure whatsoever and the opposing QB has all day to pick us apart.

It's also a major issue that our receivers don't get separation. There's often nowhere to go with the ball. We need at least 2 new WR next season.

fiedlerhater Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> first let me say i didnt watch the game, dont get
> to see many in NJ. my question is will this team
> ever get better?? is henne our future or not? i
> dont know if his mistakes are his or where the
> passes deflected or drops or what?? can smith and
> davis be good enough to start or are they not good
> enough. i know the deal with the recievers but why
> is this team never able to stop teams or drive the
> field. I dont know maybe its the coach????


Where in NJ are you?

ranger1, i am in south jersey vineland to be exact. thanks everyone for the insight on the game. I have been following the phins for over 30 yrs and this team is a damn joke. We play at a high school level. for years now we havent had any yac i just dont understand it. Every other team for years can run a slant at any time for 15yds. we cant go vertical for 10! either our wr for YEARS have all sucked or the wr coaches arent worth a shit. Seriously how damn hard is it to get a guy that isnt stupid and can catch??? Every year our lines look like swiss cheese they never ever ever dominate, and when we do play somewhat like a football team, the cb and safety get burned. Jesus why does this team always get the a holes that get paid to do nothing?? i know i am bitter but did the great bp fill our team with 52 losers?? Thank god for ricky or this team would be nothing always was and will be better than ronny( who to me is wwwwwwwwway overrated) this team needs to clean house start over again or seriously pay somebody to kick the crap out of some loser in the locker room and help pull their heads out of their butts. I just cant believe this team has no players. Its like nobody cares just get paid.

Cool. I live in Bergen County NJ so we are on opposite sides of the state

I don't recall him really catching balls that he had to go up for or had to adjust on.

What I recall is a LOT of comeback routes which had him take off and then stop and turn around. They also had lots of outs, which isn't either of the two I mentioned, but isn't in traffic or behind, or requiring a lot of jumping.

I also think that QB confidence is needed for him to get more balls deep. Give him 2 shots a week to find his pace . The one deep ball yesterday was too short. A little longer and he would have had a shot at it without the defender being able to deflect it.

I can't point to any specifics, as I have deleted most of the games from 2007/8 from my DVR, but I just remember thinking a number of times 'wow - nice catch' and at least one time (which does not a trend make, I admit) 'wow - nice adjustment' (that one was in the Bills game where he caught for 175 yards).

I do agree that they have him do a lot of comebacks and out patterns. I've always thought that those tend to neutralize his speed, though the threat of his speed on a long ball is probably what gets him the cushion to come back. However, catching the ball while stopped or running parallel to the LOS and having to secure the catch before taking off really reduces his chance for YAC...especially since he doesn't break tackles.

I completely agree that he should be getting 2 (actually, I think more) shots down the field each week. He could have done more to fight through the defender on the one long pass (potentially getting a defensive PI call) rather than simply holding his hands where the ball looked like it would drop into them, but it was underthrown by just a bit.