Hanging Chads

With four (semi) capable quarterbacks on the roster, the Dolphins are headed into their third preseason game with a bit of a quarterback controversy brewing. Only, the surprise here is that it doesn’t involve John Beck, the Fin’s 2007 second-round pick, who’s progressing as if his feet were encased in mud, or Josh McCown, the journeyman brought in to supposedly shepherd the QB position into the black. Rather, sports writers across South Florida have set to work on crafting a dramatic competition between rookie prospect Chad Henne and ex-Jet Chad Pennington. The younger Chad impressed during the Fin’s first exhibition against the Bucs, leading the team on two scoring drives, while Chad the Senior has impressed in practice, instantly transforming the team according to the Sun Sentinel’s Harvey Fialkov. He wrote last week that Pennington completed a “dizzying array of intermediate passes being caught by suddenly sure-handed receivers” during practice. Hyperbolic? Maybe, but you have to remember writers like Fialkov are simply are probably just setting up the surprise twist to their November storylines: Where they lead the chant for the 1-8 Dolphins to sit Pennington down and give the rook a shot. Meanwhile, watch the story develop live when the Fins host the visiting Chiefs this Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Tickets run $41 and up at www.ticketmaster.com, or by calling 888-FINS-TIX.
Sat., Aug. 23, 7:30 p.m., 2008