Pennington's arm

[arcane1229]

Ok I went to the game last night and have not been able to see it on tv yet but I did have some observations that were interesting.

1 The team Looked full of energy, confidence and a college type, want to play atmosphere.

2 Pennington looked good, I mean he just looked in shape and very quick. I have been following Pennington since Marshall and he looked like he did in 2000. From what I could see right off the field his passes appeared to have alot of zip on them. The Passes to Ginn in the middle of the field were sharp with good velocity. Penny's arm is not as strong as Henne's but it appeared not to far off. Maybe on tv you could tell the difference more. One thing that i noticed is that they didnt try and make Penny throw passes that he has trouble with, like the famous 15 yd out. If his arm is not strong enough to make that throw then why make him do it or ask him to. It looks like to me that Sporano may be thinking the same thing. If Penny throws well up the middle then take advantage of that is the outs can be made later when the CBs are to concerned about the slants and crossses up the middle. I think this offense may work better to Penny's strength.

3 Henne is the real deal, but he has alot to learn and is our future, if he is not rushed and pushed. He looked confident but you can see he was just sucking on Penny's brain everytime he came back to the sidelines. It was interesting and good to see a veteran pro teaching the up and coming.

4 Defense was aggressive and you could hear the hits. Porter makes a big difference out there. Like Penny brings confidence and swagger to the offense, Porter does it to the defense. They have a long way to go but they were getting after it.

5 Ginn already was commanding respect, CBs would not play him tight, which gives him the middle.

6 from what we saw, what opened up the middle passing game was the Jags worried about Ricky running the ball. Ricky and Ronnie are going to make Penny a very effective QB.

7 Special teams coverage and blocking suck, bottom line. They need to work on that. The kicking and punting however looked good at the game during practice and the game.

Anyway I went on and on but does Penny's arm look as weak as indicated? I tought it looked good, maybe because he stayed within himself...

[Greyboy]

Originally Posted by arcane1229

2 Pennington looked good, I mean he just looked in shape and very quick. I have been following Pennington since Marshall and he looked like he did in 2000. From what I could see right off the field his passes appeared to have alot of zip on them. The Passes to Ginn in the middle of the field were sharp with good velocity. .

Thanks for your report from being at the game...

What a lot of people totally ignore is that it usually takes around 2 years to get your strength back after the shoulder injury Pennington suffered ( and that's 2 years WITH intense rehabbing of the shoulder).

It's no surprise that when I read the Jets training camp blogs they were saying that Pennington's arm looks quite a bit stronger this season ( and whadya know, it's been 2 years now since the injury).

ps- Nice to know the team came out full of energy and confidence. Nice to hear... I would love for them to come out against the Jets in week one the same way.

[arcane1229]

Even the Jacksonville fans where were sitting were impressed. Right from the beginning of the game the guy next to me said this aint gonna be easy. It was good to see.

[tmny99]

yeah I've been reading that Pennington has been throwing the ball harder this year than he has in years. I also remember him saying that he's altered his mechanics on long throws to accomodate for that in his introductory presser.

[ltdolfan]

With all the special teams players the Dolphins picked up in off season, you would think they would show a little more improvement from last year. Hopefully things will gel prior to game 1.

[Marino613]

I didn't think porter played?

[arcane1229]

Originally Posted by Marino613

I didn't think porter played?

Yeah played and looked good, he had a couple of hits we could hear in the stands.

[Greyboy]

did you notice our O-line getting good push on Jax's D-line ?

[arcane1229]

Yeah our line looked good, they're hitting their blocks, except for the obvious wiff by Jake, from what i could see they did quite well. Jake was visibly pissed at himself. But you coulod see them gelling together as they walked off the field at the sidelines. Guys patting him on the butt as though to say dont sweat it.

[Dtronic]

Originally Posted by tmny99

yeah I've been reading that Pennington has been throwing the ball harder this year than he has in years. I also remember him saying that he's altered his mechanics on long throws to accomodate for that in his introductory presser.

On TV they actually broke down Pennington's change in throwing the ball. They showed him throwing last year and in this game. Very informative.

[MiaDolph99]

I know his arm was gonna be stronger this year, I've been raving about the pick-up ever since we signed him. Me being an avid baseball fan, i know how difficult it is at first to come back an throw full strength. The Jets made a dire mistake in letting him go IMO. He's 32 which means if his arm holds up he could possibly be our QB for the next 4-5 years. Nice to hear his arm is getting stronger though, I've been saying it all month.

[nyjunc]

2 Pennington looked good, I mean he just looked in shape and very quick. I have been following Pennington since Marshall and he looked like he did in 2000.

How would you know what he looked like in 2000 when he barely played?

Originally Posted by Greyboy

What a lot of people totally ignore is that it usually takes around 2 years to get your strength back after the shoulder injury Pennington suffered ( and that's 2 years WITH intense rehabbing of the shoulder).

It's no surprise that when I read the Jets training camp blogs they were saying that Pennington's arm looks quite a bit stronger this season ( and whadya know, it's been 2 years now since the injury).

ps- Nice to know the team came out full of energy and confidence. Nice to hear... I would love for them to come out against the Jets in week one the same way.

His arm was as strong as I had ever seen it 2 years ago and he started off the year w/ possibly his strongest arm of his career but as the season progressed he gradually lost it. That has to be a concern again.

He's never going to have a great arm, he wins w/ intelligence and accuracy. As long as he is healthy he'll give you guys a decent chance to win(provided the D is ok).

[arcane1229]

How would you know what he looked like in 2000 when he barely played?

If you're going to question me then read the post, I have been following him since Marshall, so thats what I saw back then. Seen him play with the Jets all the time, since my son is a die hard Jets fan. I know what Chad was able to do back then and I saw what he looked like after the injuries.

And your right, he did look good starting the 06 season and the arm was stronger than it had been in a long time and as the season rolled through he did lose some of his velocity. I remember my son screaming till he turned blue when Samuels got that pick 6.

What I saw Saturday was a lighter faster Pennington with more velocity than I have seen in quite a while. Look at the tape. Pennington was never known as a runner, he looked quick getting out of the pocket saturday. And the two throws two Ginn in the middle of the field were ropes, not a Favre type laser rope, but nevertheless a straight pass with minimal lob.

[nyjunc]

Originally Posted by arcane1229

If you're going to question me then read the post, I have been following him since Marshall, so thats what I saw back then.

I read that you followed him since Marshall but he BARELY PLAYED IN 2000! he attempted 5 passes in mop up duty at Oakland. You remember how his arm looked from that game?

Originally Posted by arcane1229

I remember my son screaming till he turned blue when Samuels got that pick 6.

The game was already over at that point.

Originally Posted by arcane1229

What I saw Saturday was a lighter faster Pennington with more velocity than I have seen in quite a while. Look at the tape. Pennington was never known as a runner, he looked quick getting out of the pocket saturday. And the two throws two Ginn in the middle of the field were ropes, not a Favre type laser rope, but nevertheless a straight pass with minimal lob.

Chad has always been nimbler than people think. He looks goofy running but he has always done a good job running when he had the room so that didn't surprise me at all. His arm looked decent, like it has for us the past couple of years. His lack of arm strength has been way overblown. It's not great and it never will be but his arm is more than good enough to win w/ which is why we won most of the time when he was healthy. If he's healthy he's good, if not then you are in trouble. Healthy in '02 we win div, miss almsot half of '03 we finished 6-10, healthy in '04 he led us to 6-1 start then we held on for 10 wins and nearly made the title game, missed 13 games in '05 and we went 4-12, healthy in '06 we won 10 games and made the playoffs, played on 2 torn ligaments in his ankle last year and we went 4-12. it's all about health w/ Chad.

[arcane1229]

I 100% agree with your post, the key is his health. I hope the staff here realizes they have baby his aalthy I can see aarm as the season goes on. If he stays healthy I can see this team going 500, and that will be a major accomplishment.