With Chad Henne & Chad Pennington out for the year, 26-year old Tyler Thigpen will take over as the new starting QB for the Miami Dolphins.  Thigpen has played in 2 games for the Dolphins so far this year and he has completed 6 of 12 passes (50%) for 79 yards with 1 TD pass and 1 INT (64.2 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 3 times for 17 yards (5.7 ypc) so far this year.  Thigpen has now played in 19 games in his first five years in the NFL and he has completed 242 of 446 passes (54.3%) for 2,811 yards with 20 TD passes and 16 INTs (73.6 QB Rating).  He also has carried the ball 67 times for 406 yards (6.1 ypc) with 3 TD runs so far in his career.  Thigpen has good mobility and a decent enough arm but he’s a gunslinger often throwing the ball into coverage.  He reminds me a lot of Sage Rosenfels.  With that in mind I would get back to the power running game if I were in charge of the Fins’ offense.  As far as #3 QBs go though, you can do a lot worse than Thigpen.

The Dolphins decided that they saw more than enough of Chad Henne at QB, so they have replaced him with 34-year old Chad Pennington.  Pennington has played in 19 games (all starts) in his first two years with the Dolphins and he has completed 372 of 550 passes (67.6%) for 4,066 yards with 20 TD passes and 9 INTs (94.6 QB Rating).  Pennington has also carried the ball 33 times for 69 yards (2.1 ypc) with a TD run in his two years with the Fins.  The Dolphins are 11-8 (57.9%) when Pennington starts at QB so they are confident that he can do a solid job as long as he can remain healthy.

The Dolphins traded for a franchise receiver in Brandon Marshall hoping that it would spark big time improvement in QB Chad Henne but that has not been the case so far this year.  Henne has started all four games for the Fins so far this year and he has completed 85 of 132 passes (64.4%) for 961 yards with 5 TD passes and 4 INTs (86.1 QB Rating).  On the surface those are pretty solid looking numbers, but, the Dolphins are only averaging 16.5 points per game.  Henne’s pickoffs have also come at very bad times in games often leading to scores for the oppostion.  Tyler Thigpen and Chad Pennington could see more reps in the bye week just in case Henne continues to struggle at putting points on the scoreboard.

The Dolphins are only averaging 112.0 yards rushing and 3.8 yards per carry and that just isn’t good enough with the backs they have on the roster.  Ronnie Brown has been solid with 37 carries for 199 yards (5.4 ypc) with 1 TD run.  He has also caught 5 passes for 22 yards (4.4 avg) so far this year.  Ricky Williams has been a different story so far this year.  He has carried the ball 35 times for 120 yards (3.4 ypc) so far this year.  The Dolphins need Williams to pick up the pace because they need him to be effective so they don’t overwork the brittle Ronnie Brown.

DE Tony McDaniel will miss this week’s Monday Night game against the Patriots for violating the NFL’s Personal Conduct Policy.  McDaniel has played in 2 games for the Fins this year and he has 3 tackles and 1 pass defensed.  Lionel Dotson and Ryan Baker will share time at DE in this week’s game.  Dotson has played in 2 games for the Fins so far this year and he has 2 tackles.  He has now played in 4 games in his 2 years in the NFL and he has 3 tackles.  Ryan Baker has played in 2 games for the Fins this year and he also had 2 tackles.  He has played in 7 games in his two years in the NFL and he has 7 tackles and 1/2 a sack.  The Dolphins hope that Baker & Dotson step up because the Dolphins are going to have to put pressure on Tom Brady or it could be a long night on D.

The Dolphins need more production out of the QBs in 2010 as they really missed Chad Pennington after he was injured.  The 33-year old Pennington played in 3 games for the Dolphins this season and he completed 51 of 74 passes (68.9%) for 413 yards with 1 TD pass and 2 INTs (76.0 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 3 times for 7 yards (2.3 ypc) this year.  Pennington has now played in 88 games in his NFL career and he has completed 1,631 of 2,469 passes (66.1%) for 17,804 yards with 102 TD passes and 64 INTs (90.1 QB Rating).  Pennington has carried the ball 180 times for 465 yards (2.6 ypc) with 7 TD runs in his career.  I think Pennington’s time is done in Miami because he already had a really weak arm before the surgery he underwent this year.

24-year old Chad Henne stepped in for Pennington and he was very up and down.  He played in 13 games for the Dolphins this season and he completed 274 of 451 passes (60.8%) for 2,878 yards with 12 TD passes and 14 INTs (75.2 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 16 times for 32 yards (2.0 ypc) with 1 TD run.  Henne has now played in 16 games in his NFL career and he has completed 281 of 463 passes (60.7%) for 2,945 yards with 12 TD passes and 14 INTs (75.2 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 16 times for 32 yards (2.0 ypc) with a TD run.  Henne definitely has the potential to be a good starting QB in the NFL so it will be interesting to see if he lives up to his ability as he will likely enter 2010 as the Fins’ starting QB.

25-year old Tyler Thigpen will likely slide into the #2 QB role for the Dolphins in 2010.  He played in 1 game for the Dolphins this season and he completed 4 of 8 passes (50%) for 83 yards with 1 TD pass and 2 INTs (87.0 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 1 time for 1 yard this season.  Thigpen has now played in 17 games in his NFL career and he has completed 236 of 434 passes (54.4%) for 2,732 yards with 19 TD passes and 15 INTs (73.8 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 64 times for 389 yards (6.1 ypc) with 3 TD runs in his career.  Thigpen should do a decent job as the back-up in the future but he would be too stretched out as a starter.

23-year old Pat White is not really anything more than a Wildcat Formation QB and that is it.  He played in 13 games for the Dolphins this season and he threw 5 incomplete passes.  He also carried the ball 21 times for 81 yards (3.9 ypc) this year.  I expect to see White playing a different position in the NFL as he is not really QB material.

With Ronnie Brown out for the rest of the season the Fins need 25-year old RB Lex Hilliard to step up.  Hilliard has played in 11 games for the Dolphins this season and he has carried the ball 9 times for 46 yards (5.1 ypc) and he has also caught 4 passes for 22 yards (5.5 avg).  Hilliard also has 11 tackles mostly on special teams and he will keep those jobs as well as being the #2 RB for the Fins the rest of the year as long as he stays healthy.  Ricky Williams is getting up in age so the Dolphins need Hilliard to step up the rest of the way to help keep him fresh.

24-year old Ted Ginn Jr. is really starting to look like a stiff.  He has played in 10 games this season for the Dolphins and he has caught 23 passes for 250 yards (10.9 avg) with 1 TD grab.  Ginn has also carried the ball 5 times for 36 yards (7.2 ypc) so far this year.  The only area that Ginn has really helped the Dolphins this season has been on special teams.  He has returned 25 kickoffs for 761 yards (30.4 avg) with 2 TD returns and he has also returned 3 punts for 15 yards (5.0 avg) this year.  Ginn needs to quit having alligator arms when going over the middle and he needs to quit going down so easy.  But, he’s not in the Big Ten anymore so maybe he’s out of his league.  Ginn has now played in 42 games in his three years in the NFL and has caught 113 passes for 1,460 yards (12.9 avg) with 5 TD grabs.  He also has carried the ball 14 times for 112 yards (8.0 ypc) with 2 TD runs.  Ginn has returned 34 punts for 300 yards (8.8 avg) with 1 TD return and he has also returned 120 kickoffs for 2,851 yards (23.8 avg) with 2 TD returns.  The Dolphins drafted him way too high three years ago and they should consider trading him at the end of this season if the doesn’t get tougher and start producing on offense.

The Dolphins have a real lack of talent at WR and they will need to address that position after the year is over through free agency and the draft.  Davone Bess is the leader on the team in both receptions (40) and receiving yards (334) but he is only averaging a paltry 8.4 yards per catch.  Bess would be best served as a #4 or #5 WR on a team with a good offense but in Miami he is #1 which really says something about the quality of the WR corps of the Dolphins this year.  Greg Camarillo is also a possession type WR as he has caught 27 passes for 277 yards (10.3 avg) for the Dolphins this season.  Ted Ginn Jr. has the speed to get deep but he just shows no interest in catching forward passes as he is softer than a roll of Charmin.  He has caught 19 passes for 218 yards (11.5 avg) with 1 TD grab for the Fins so far this year.  Rookie WR Brian Hartline is averaging 16.0 yards per catch this year on 12 catches for 192 yards with 1 TD grab but his upside appears to be limited.  With no one to stretch the field out of this WR corps it makes it harder on the Dolphins running game as teams walk their safeties up toward the line of scrimmage.  The Dolphins will need to bring in more talent to boost this position in the off-season if they want to truly excel offensively.

When the Dolphins drafted Ted Ginn in the first round of the NFL Draft a couple of years ago they expected him to develop into a go to WR.  But that has not happened and he is looking pretty bad this season.  He seems to have alligator arms on passes over the middle and brick hands on the longer passes.  His eyes get as big as bowling balls when a pass is coming his way but he hasn’t been catching them.  Ginn has caught 13 passes for 134 yards (10.3 avg) and he has carried the ball 2 times for 9 yards (4.5 ypc) this season.  Ginn has also returned 3 kickoffs for 55 yards (18.3 avg) this season.  Maybe Ginn will have more faith in the strong armed Chad Henne than Chad Pennington.  The Dolphins hope so because Ginn is starting to look like another Ohio State first round bust.