Filed under: Dolphins, AFC East
DAVIE, Fla. — It took a lot longer than the Miami Dolphins would have liked, but their offense finally has a bit of a swagger and confidence after completely dominating the Oakland Raiders last Sunday in Oakland to the tune of a 33-17 victory. Rushing for just shy of 200 yards, throwing for over 300 yards and holding the ball for more than 41 minutes with Chad Henne back as the starting quarterback made all the difference.
Henne, who lost his starting job following a 26-10 loss at Baltimore in Week 8 to veteran Chad Pennington, had his best outing of the season on a bum left knee. He completed 17-of-30 passes for 307 yards, two touchdowns and one interception without his top receiver, Brandon Marshall, in the lineup. His relief appearance two weeks earlier against Tennessee after Pennington injured his right throwing shoulder on the first play, was solid up until he was hit on his left knee in the third quarter.
The former Michigan Wolverine put everything he had into rehabbing the knee before the trip across the country, suiting up as the emergency third quarterback in a 16-0 loss on a Thursday night to the Chicago Bears but never stepping foot on the field. He also kept studying film and the offense with his own computer, bringing it with him to his treatment sessions so he could get some work done on the training table, and his work ethic helped convince Dolphins coach Tony Sparano he was ready.
“I think this guy is really a mentally tough guy. I knew that he was a mentally tough guy, I’ve kind of known how he’s built,” Sparano said. “I think that those two weeks were probably a real whirlwind for him there. But I think that from his hand he handled it all really professionally and I think that this kid really believes that he’s going to be a heck of a quarterback in this league.”
Third-year wide receiver Davone Bess was the main beneficiary of Henne’s precision throws against the Raiders, which was extra special because Bess grew up in Oakland and all of his family and friends were in attendance. The former University of Hawaii caught six passes for a season-high 111 yards and also returned a punt 47 yards to fire up his team and his family. He is second behind Marshall in receiving with 55 catches for 600 yards and three touchdowns.
“It just gave us more confidence and that makes us feel that we can be even more dynamic and even better with Brandon,” Bess said of the win at Oakland. “It gave us the confidence that we needed and it definitely made us take a step in the right direction as far as being able to make plays for Chad and pick up our offense. So we’re excited about it, and with the addition of Brandon we’ll just be even better.”
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