Dolphins Trade for Thigpen as Pennington is Done for the Year

The Miami Dolphins have come back down to earth after last year’s improbable AFC East division crown. They have started the season at 0-3 and just lost their starting quarterback for the rest of the season.

It was announced yesterday that Chad Pennington would be placed on the injured reserve list for the remainder of the year as he’s elected to undergo surgery to repair a torn capsule in his shoulder, thus ending his 2009 campaign.

Pennington sustained the injury after taking a shot from linebacker Kevin Burnett after throwing an incomplete pass on third down. He was in obvious pain after the hit and once he got to the sideline, took off his helmet and shoulder pads and didn’t return to the field.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the first, or even the second time Pennington has suffered a serious shoulder injury. As a member of the New York Jets, Pennington missed three games in 2004 with a shoulder injury which he had repaired in the offseason, then injured the shoulder again in the third game in 2005, which forced him to miss the remainder of the season.

It seems a strange and eerie coincidence that it was in game three of this season that he was also knocked out for the year with a shoulder injury. Despite many people questioning if he’ll ever return, Pennington remains positive:

"I am hoping for the best and preparing for the worst," he added. "It’s not my first rodeo with injuries and experiencing things like this."

The famous Dr. James Andrews will perform the procedure on Friday in Birmingham, Alabama, the same Dr. who operated on Pennington’s shoulder in 2004 and 2005.

Adding insult to injury are the fresh stitches on his nose as a result from helmet to the face while diving for a first down in Sunday’s game.

The Dolphins didn’t waste anytime making a move to shore up the QB position. With two unproven backups behind Pennington in Chad Henne and Pat White, Bill Parcells has brought in a guy with some NFL experience in Tyler Thigpen.

The Chiefs former starter had slipped to third on the depth chart behind Matt Cassel and Brodie Croyle which made him expendable.  He was acquired by the Dolphins on Tuesday for an undisclosed 2010 draft pick.

Thigpen gives the Dolphins a veteran guy behind second-year pro Chad Henne, who is expected to make his first NFL start Sunday against Buffalo. After Pennington left the game Henne stepped in and went 10-for-19 for 92 yards.

Expect rookie Pat White’s role to increase as they will likely try to use the Wildcat formation even more these next few weeks in an attempt to keep defenses off balance and take some of the pressure off of Henne.