film and take an overall professional approach. While Henne saw less than one quarter of game action last season, his off-the-field education has been invaluable. In fact, the team’s been so impressed with Henne’s progress that, at the NFL Owners’ Meetings in March, Sparano revealed his quarterback succession plan: Pennington is the starter going into 2009; Henne will likely assume the helm in 2010.
Photo courtesy of Miami Dolphins and Dave Cross
In characteristic fashion, Pennington immediately diffused any potential controversy, telling reporters while attending the Sony Ericcson Open tennis tournament in Key Biscayne, “It’s not news [to me because] Coach Sparano, Bill Parcells and Jeff Ireland have been up front since day one about my future.” And for the first time this millennium, Dolphins fans can feel comfortable about the future of the quarterback position.
Topsy Turvy In this salary-cap, parity-driven era of the NFL, rags-to-riches, single-season revivals are fairly common. In fact, last season both the Atlanta Falcons and Baltimore Ravens rebounded from 4-12 and 5-11 records, respectively, in 2007, to match the Dolphins 11-win total and qualify for the playoffs – and they both did it with rookie quarterbacks starting all 16 games. The real test for teams that suddenly and dramatically improve is to not be a one-season wonder. Former Dolphins coach Jimmy Johnson used to say that “good is the enemy of great” and Sparano would appear to echo those sentiments. Of the Dolphins challenge to become a perennial contender, he recently told Dolphin Digest, “I don’t want to take anything away from what we just did, but I think the next step is a harder step. It is one of the hardest steps. I’ve been part of teams that were 13-3 and couldn’t win championships, couldn’t win a playoff game. When I look at this next step and where we need to go, it’ll prove consistency. You win at 11-5 and it’s great, but to bounce back and do it over again would really show a lot. That’s what the good teams do.” Regardless of how the Dolphins fare in 2009, long-suffering fans can take comfort in knowing that, at long last, the team is headed in the right direction. O M Ay 2 0 0 9
71