A ten point lead with ten minutes to play - that's what the Dolphins had at home against the Lions. But that wasn't enough, as the Dolphins surrender 17 unanswered points to fall to the Lions 34-27 in their final home game of 2010.
As usual, the full recap post will be tomorrow morning. Three quick thoughts are below:
- Everything was going relatively well for Chad Henne - until that dreaded fourth quarter, that is. As he's done all reason long, Henne folded like a cheap suit in the game's most important quarter. I know all of the Henne supporters (and there are still some based on what people have been tweeting at me) will talk about the receivers falling down and bad play-calling. Those are also problems - I agree. But Henne still makes terrible decisions. He makes inaccurate throws. And he just continues to regress. I've seen more than enough. I'm done with him. Time to find somebody new. Period.
- What took this coaching staff so long to put Richie Incognito at center? He's clearly an upgrade over Joe Berger - who is not starting-caliber in this league. Now the question becomes if Incognito is worth a contract extension as the team's CENTER next year.
- Of course, that decision can't be made until we know who is running the show after the season. You have to imagine a 1-7 home record and home losses to the Browns, Bills, and Lions are not helping the cases of both Jeff Ireland and Tony Sparano. Owner Stephen Ross has some seriously difficult decisions to make. I still don't blame Tony Sparano so much. I mostly blame Ireland, Bill Parcells, and Dan Henning. But Sparano might be too intertwined with those guys to survive - especially with some big name coaches out there lurking.