He has only nine receptions so far for the 2009 NFL season. From ESPN-
The San Diego Chargers have waived veteran wide receiver Chris Chambers.
Chambers must clear waivers in order to play for another team. Each team will have chance to claim him by 4 p.m. Tuesday.
Chargers coach Norv Turner said the Chargers released Chambers because of the emergence of Malcom Floyd and the need to sign a linebacker because of an injury to Tim Dobbins on Sunday. If another team claims Chambers, the Chargers won’t have to pay the $2.25 million they owe him.
Chambers had one catch for 20 yards Sunday against Oakland. He has only nine catches for 122 yards and one touchdown this season.
The Chargers acquired Chambers from the Miami Dolphins in 2007. Would Miami be interested in Chambers services? The rumors have already begun. Miami has a young and inexperienced receiving corps. If I were Dolphins management, I’d sign Chambers.
Run Ted Run! From AP-
Ted Ginn Jr. was angry, his ego bruised by an embarrassing benching.
The Miami wide receiver took out his frustration on the New York Jets, returning two long kickoffs for touchdowns in the third quarter, and the Dolphins’ defense held on for a 30-25 victory Sunday.
Ginn was the first player since Green Bay’s Travis Williams in 1967 to return two kickoffs for touchdowns in the same quarter.
One of the most questionable moves Tony Sparano has made since becoming the Dolphins coach, has been his use of other players than Ginn as return men. Ginn has always been explosive on kick returns, including when the Dolphins were stinking up the NFL at 1-15 in 2007. There is no other Dolphin who is threat to bust one for a touchdown. So why doesn’t Sparano always have Ginn returning kicks?
I think Sparano is letting his other assessments of Ginn color his judgment when it comes to his use on special teams. Ginn has problems as a receiver, he wasn’t your personnel decision, but benching him for kick returns in favor of people like Davonne Bess and Brandon London is not puzzling but idiotic instead.
Miami really was fortunate to pull out a victory yesterday.
Maybe so, especially when the Jets’ defense shut down the Dolphins’ wildcat formation and held Miami to just 104 yards of total offense compared to New York’s 378.
*****
Miami’s second-ranked running attack rushed for just 52 yards, and Chad Henne was 12-of-21 for 112 yards and a late touchdown to Joey Haynos.
Miami’s other touchdown was a Jason Taylor fumble return.
Next up for Miami is the New England Patriots. I will be surprised if the Dolphins win 9 or more games this year.
Note- In 2007 at least two Ginn returns for touchdowns were called back by penalties.
I have seldom watched a wilder football game in my life than the one played yesterday afternoon in South Florida. The outcome was depressing for Miami Dolphin fans. How could it be anything else? The team was up 24-3 but were outscored 44-10 over the last 30 minutes and five seconds of the game.
A couple of comments on the game.
With five seconds left in the first half and the score 24-3, New Orleans was about two feet from the end zone. The Saints sent their kicking crew on the field. So what does Dolphin Coach Tony Sparano do?
He calls a time out! I always thought icing the kicking is a dumb strategy and this really backfired on Miami. Given time to re-consider what they wanted to do, New Orleans sent their offense back on the field. Drew Brees sneaked it into the end zone to make the game 24-10 instead of 24-6 at halftime.
Great move Coach Sparano. NOT! I blame Sparano for last night’s defeat. He overcoached at just the wrong moment. His excuse of “We wanted to be in the right personnel, and we called a timeout to bring in the right personnel” doesn’t work in my opinion. The referees had just taken a touchdown away from the Saints, the kicking crew was on the field. Don’t ever give a team a 2nd chance to score a touchdown should be drummed into Sparano’s head by Dolphin fans for the rest of 2009.
Another duh moment happened late in the game but this time it involved the officiating crew. Joey Porter got called for a personal foul after a short gain by New Orleans. Why the flag? He pushed off on a Saint player after the play ended. That’s a personal foul? Porter didn’t level the guy or throw a punch or anything. Besides the Saint player had first pushed off Porter. The NFL and its officiating crews seem hell bent to keep the game colorless(don’t celebrate a touchdown or turnover by spiking a football or we throw a flag! Then why didn’t the officials throw a flag on the Saints after a player heaved the ball in the stands after a touchdown? Isn’t that another form spiking?) and wuss like if players deviate in the slightest from the sanitary football you want played.
Additional bad news- Cornerback Will Allen suffered a knee injury last night and will miss the rest of 2009. The Dolphin pass defense which is poor already is about to get worse.
Last night’s game was so aggravating on many levels. Miami is 2-4 and has New England up next. This is no time to rest.
What a night the second year NFL Quarterback making only his second start had tonight. 20 for 25 with 241 yards and two touchdown throws. Henne did not throw a interception.
Miami may have finally found the person to replace Dan Marino. Henne has looked more than solid every game he has had the chance to play with the exception of the San Diego game where he replaced Chad Pennington.
Miami ran for over 150 yards. With Rickey Williams and Ronnie Brown sharing the load almost 50-50. The Wildcat offense earned 110 yards on 16 plays and scored two touchdowns. People call The Wildcat a gimmick. If so, why do NFL teams have so much trouble defensing it?
The Dolphin defense and special teams still look suspect. How many times does a team run two fake punts in a game? Miami’s pass defense is getting beat far too often. There’s some talented young players in the secondary, Sean Smith and Vontae Davis, but they are rookies and prone to mistakes as they learn the league.
A few other notes-
Chad Henne was 7 for 7 with 140 yards passing and two touchdowns when Miami used play action. For 10 years the Dolphins have been looking for the person to fill the shoes of Dan Marino. Is Henne it? He played great last night and showed great poise.
I spent most of the first half flipping channels between this game and the Florida Panther-Tampa Bay Lightning game, won by Tampa 3-2. The Panthers are 1-4, their worst start in franchise history.
They also placed Chad Pennington on the injured reserve list. From ESPN-
The Miami Dolphins placed Pennington on the reserve-injured list to create a roster spot for quarterback Tyler Thigpen, who was acquired Tuesday from the Kansas City Chiefs for an undisclosed 2010 draft pick.
Pennington hurt his right shoulder in the third quarter Sunday at San Diego, an injury that leaves his career in jeopardy. At 33, he likely faces a third operation on the same shoulder — the previous two coming in 2004 and 2005.
Pennington will seek a second opinion from orthopedic specialist Dr. James Andrews, who performed the other two operations. On Tuesday, Jeff Darlington of the Miami Herald told ESPN’s “First Take” that the appointment is scheduled for Friday.
Thigpen shores up depth behind second-year pro Chad Henne, who is expected to make his first NFL start Sunday against Buffalo. Henne went 10-for-19 for 92 yards with an interception after replacing Pennington. Rookie Pat White is the Dolphins’ other quarterback.
Thigpen, a third-year pro, went 1-10 as a starter for the woeful Chiefs last year after both Brodie Croyle and Damon Huard went down with season-ending injuries. He threw for 2,608 yards with 18 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.
I think the Thigpen trade was a good one for Miami. He played well last year with a bad team. I also remember the game he played against the fins. Thigpen leading the Chiefs to 31 points, but throwing 3 INTs also. Miami won that game, 38-31.
As for Pennington, his days in Miami are almost certainly over. His contract is up after this season, and I think Chad Henne is the Dolphins QB of the future. We’ll start finding out just how good Henne is beginning this Sunday.
He was injured in yesterday’s 23-13 loss to San Diego. From the Palm Beach Post-
Injured Dolphins quarterback Chad Pennington has a torn capsule in his right shoulder and will miss the remainder of the season, a league source confirmed to The Palm Beach Post Monday.
ESPN Senior NFL analyst Chris Mortenson, quoting league sources, reported first that Pennington will miss the rest of the year. It also said Pennington will seek a second opinion from renowned orthopedic specialist Dr. James Andrews, who has operated on the same shoulder twice previously, after the 2004 and 2005 seasons.
Pennington underwent an MRI on his throwing shoulder Monday morning after leaving Sunday early in the third quarter of the Dolphins’ 23-13 loss at San Diego. Coach Tony Sparano remained optimistic at his press briefing later that morning, insisting that he had ruled anything out and “we’ll wait and see.”
Pennington’s contract expires at the end of the year; there had been no discussions reported on talk of an extension.
His absence hands the starting job to backup Chad Henne, who completed 9-of-19 passes for 92 yards Sunday, with one interception being returned 32 yards for a touchdown by Eric Weddle.
In light of Pennington’s career, a injury like this had to be considered likely to happen. Pennington has seldom been able to stay healthy two years in row.
Miami now has Henne and 2009 2nd round pick Pat White for quarterbacks. White however isn’t a pro-style QB, he’s ideal for the wildcat but not as dropback QB. So who could the Dolphins possibly dig up to back up Pennington?
Rookie Pat White becomes the backup for now, but the Dolphins are likely to seek a veteran for insurance if Henne were to go down. Among those who could contend for that job are Brooks Bollinger, Gus Frerotte and former Dolphins A.J. Feeley and Cleo Lemon.
I don’t know what’s more pathetic, those being the best options available or that the Palm Beach Post’s Brian Biggane can’t recall Gus Frerotte playing in 15 games for Miami during the 2005 season. He, Feeley, and Lemon were all on the Dolphins roster that year. Biggane regularly bungled his coverage of the Florida Panthers, so I shouldn’t be expecting much from his coverage of the Dolphins.
As for the Dolphins, their 0-3 start isn’t a shocker to me. They were the most overrated team in the NFL last year. Miami went 11-5 on a schedule full of games against Seattle, Oakland, Kansas City, Buffalo(twice), and St. Louis. Some of the NFL’s worst teams last year and Miami won their games against those teams by totals of 2, 2, 4, 13, 5, and 9 points. Hardly convincing fashion. Miami was 1-15 two years ago, their turnaround last year was helped greatly by a weak schedule. A regression to 2009 to something around a .500 record should hardly startle people. Miami will win between 5 and 8 games this year. That comes to you from a Miami Dolphin fan.
He was also one of Don Shula’s assistants during their undefeated season.The AP article fails to note that Clark was the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers for one season. This isn’t the first such omission involving AP’s sports obituaries in recent history. Does the wire service ever think about checking a football reference book or wikipedia? RIP Coach Clark.
Former Detroit Lions coach Monte Clark has died at 72.
The Lions said Clark died Wednesday night at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. He had a bone marrow malignancy associated with lung and liver disease.
Clark coached the Lions for seven seasons and was an assistant on the Miami Dolphins team that went 17-0 in 1972. He was the coach of Detroit from 1978 to 1984 and had a 63-61-1 record in the regular season.
He led the Lions to the playoffs in 1982 and 1983, the first time the club made consecutive postseason appearances since its three straight playoff runs from 1952 to 1954.
He was a tackle who spent 11 years in the league with San Francisco, Dallas and Cleveland. His last season as a player was 1969.
Too bad Joe Rose can’t play any more. From the Miami Herald-
The Dolphins still have four tight ends on the roster. But now they have only one with significant NFL playing experience.
After putting David Martin and his eight seasons of NFL experience on an injury reserve Sunday, the Dolphins claimed 6-4, 256-pound rookie tight end Davon Drew, a fifth-round draft pick who was waived by the Baltimore Ravens.
That leaves starter Anthony Fasano, a player of 48 NFL games and starter of 27, as the only tight end with more than a smidge of NFL game experience. Joey Haynos’ seven games last year put him seven games up on rookies Drew and John Nalbone. And Drew hasn’t been in camp, so he is unlikely to be up to speed by Sunday’s season opener in Atlanta.
Miami doesn’t use two tight end formations but they are terribly thin at this position. Nalbone didn’t impress in camp or preseason games and I’m surprised he is still around.
The local news media really made a mess out of Martin’s situation with the Dolphins. Two newspapers down here reported Miami as cutting Martin before correcting themselves. Getting a news scoop is great but only when what is being reported is accurate.
He left behind a pregnant wife and one child. Very tragic and RIP.
Former Tennessee Titans defensive tackle Jesse Mahelona has died after being involved in a car accident. He was 26.
Agent Chad Speck said Mahelona died Friday night after being involved in an accident about a mile from his home in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. Speck said Saturday he didn’t know any more circumstances of the accident.
Mahelona was drafted in the fifth round of the 2006 NFL draft by the Titans, where he played in 10 games as a rookie. He also spent time with the Miami Dolphins before playing his last NFL game with the Atlanta Falcons in 2007.
He is survived by his wife, Brandi, who is pregnant with the couple’s second child.
He did a prior stint with the team from 2004 to 2007. From AP-
The Jacksonville Jaguars have re-signed Ernest Wilford, giving him a chance to make the roster as a tight end.
The team also waived defensive tackle Jonathan Lewis.
Wilford, a fourth-round draft pick by the Jaguars in 2004, left Jacksonville after four seasons and signed a lucrative deal with Miami.
The Dolphins, who gave him $6 million guaranteed, terminated his contract Monday, Miami’s biggest free-agent bust in the Bill Parcells regime.
Wilford caught just three passes for 25 yards last season. He moved from receiver to tight end this year and had a 33-yard touchdown reception against Jacksonville’s reserves in the preseason opener. He had no catches in the second preseason game.
Based on Wilford’s play last year, I don’t expect him to be of much use for Jacksonville.
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