Ok I have been a fan of Henne but, have lately found myself doubting him(even agreeing he should be replaced "gasp") and I decided to do some research to see what I could find on Henne.

I decided to compare his stats with that of fellow "Big Tenner" Drew Brees as I thought it had taken him a few years to develop. What I found was surprising and has actually given me some hope.

I am going to list Brees stats in order of YEAR, RECORD, TD, INT, COMP PCT & QB RATING for his first 5 years and then I will list Henne's stats in the same order.

DREW BREES

First some college history on Brees. He held several records in yards, completions & TD's (90) for the Big Ten. He led his team to their first Rose Bowl in a long time and they lost.

YEAR #1, BARELY PLAYED

YEAR #2, 8-8, 17td / 16int, 60.8%, 76.9

YEAR #3, 2-9, 11td / 15int, 57.6%, 67.5

YEAR #4, 11-4, 27td / 7int, 65.5%, 104.8

YEAR #5, 9-7, 24td / 15int, 64.6%, 89.2

CHAD HENNE

Also owns several records for Michigan and holds the second most TD(87) passes in Big Ten history behind Drew Brees. Had the big college win over Florida. In his second season Michigan was 3-3 and had been highly ranked, people were calling for Henne's head and complaining(much like I have been doing lately).

YEAR #1, BARELY PLAYED

YEAR #2, 7-6, 12td / 14int, 60.8%, 75.2

YEAR #3 ------------    TBD

If you look at Brees stats you will notice his second full year as the starter was his worst year and it wasn't until his 3rd full year as the starter that he put up some pretty impressive numbers. Why did it take so long?

I don't know why it takes some guys longer than others to develop but, I know everyone in San Diego was crying for Brees head and so they drafted Rivers. Brees has proved he is one of the best QB's in the game right now but, if someone had given up on him say after year 2 saying "he hasn't shown me that he has what it takes" wow look what they would have missed out on. In fact I bet we could find some Charger site archives that feature fan posts asking for Brees, Schottenheimer and who knows who else to be fired.

Kudos to Sparano for standing beside Henne when I have felt like jumping ship. Hopefully he will hold out hope long enough to allow Henne to develop into an All-Pro QB. If he does it will be worth the wait and we all will be glad he persevered.

So lets have some patience, give some support to Henne and Sparano and thank God that we aren't the "Buffalo Bills, Dallas Cowboys, Minnesota Vikings, Houston Texans, ect.......)