With their brand new signing Chad Pennington standing on the sidelines, play chart in hand, the Miami Dolphins took to the field for their first pre-season action. Can we get a mulligan? As Pennington watched, the Dolphins offense sputtered its way to 6 points in a 17-6 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Pennington no doubt watched his competition for the quarterback job perform and thought, “this will be like shooting fish in a barrel”. None of the 3 quarterbacks put in a standout performance, though Henne was the most effective of the three.

McCown, tabbed the #1 QB on the depth chart earlier this week, didn’t see action until the 4th quarter. McCown finished 5-8 for 35yds, was sacked twice and threw 0 TD passes. Beck went 5-9 for 45yds and 0 TD passes. Henne was effective, as effective as one could be leading this offense. Henne went 5-10 for 67 yds and while he threw 0 TD passes, he also threw 0 INTs and led the offense on its only two scoring drives. Henne looked the most comfortable as he managed the game well. He didn’t throw any TD passes, but more importantly he was smart with the football. He threw it away when necessary, avoided interceptions, and moved the offense.

Pennington, who signed a 2 year $11.5 million deal, could only watch from the sideline as this all unfolded. Though there are three pre-season games left, the general consensus is Pennington will end up the starter. Despite the question marks that doubtless surround his shoulder and his ability to throw the deep ball, he’ll likely be used as a bridge to the next quarterback. One can only hope that next quarterback will be Chad Henne, who will have the opportunity to learn from Pennington over the next two seasons.

Now the question becomes, who is the odd man out? The Dolphins will only carry 3 quarterbacks, so McCown or Beck will be packing his bags. The wise choice would be McCown. Beck is young and though not as talented in my opinion as Henne, he can at least learn from watching Pennington.