This is a moderated phorum for the CIVILIZED discussion of the Miami Dolphins. In this phorum, there are rules and moderators to make sure you abide by the rules. The moderators for this phorum are JC and Colonel.
I don't think its so much to motivate him as it is political dancing around the fact that at the beginning of the season Pennington was the starting quarterback and he only lost the job through injury.
It is not a good message to send to your players that injury can cause you to lose your job. It tends to make players try to play carefully to avoid injury and you don't want that.
Before somebody reads too much. Obviously, I'm not saying that Henne will not be the starting quarterback. I'm just saying that the coaching staff has to do a delicate political dance around the question and not just jump up and say, "Hey, that's a no-brainer. Pennington is toast."
Like I said when the season ended; as good as Henne played, Thigpen's performance does warrant an objective look.
Last season Sparano ended the year saying Penny is the starter; but, that Henne was the future starter. That was an honest statement based on the teams state of affairs.
This year he saw Henne ( 2nd year, lots of prep and rep) and he saw Thigpen ( 3rd yr guy very little prep and rep) and both guys have starting potential.
He would be an idiot to disregard that.
Now he gets two guys busting their butts to come in and win a starting job, and he gets the confidence of every player in the locker room who feels he is giving them a fair shot.
Get Pennington back or another veteran to back Henne up. People are starting fall in love with another teams 3rd string qb (Thigpen) the way they did w/ Fielder.