"Bouncing to the beat of Eminem's inspirational hit Lose Yourself, Dolphins quarterback Chad Pennington proved a few things at the start of Friday's practice when he performed his infamous impersonation of the hit-making rapper for the second time in a month.

First, his future does not include a career in music. Second, his future does not include a career in dancing. Third, Miami's new starting quarterback is more than willing to do whatever it takes -- whether through focus, fury or flat-out fun -- to inspire this team.

``He needs to stick to football,'' wide receiver Davone Bess said in jest Friday. ``But, seriously, that definitely gives us a spark. It's fun. He has a sense of humor, and he knows how to use it. He knows the time and the place.''

Whether you agree with Miami's decision to bench Chad Henne in preparation for Sunday's 1 p.m. game against the Tennessee Titans, it would be difficult to disagree with the notion that Pennington provides a level of leadership like few others in the NFL.

The Dolphins are hoping Pennington's spark will invigorate an offense that has not delivered enough points during the first eight games. It is this ``spark'' that partially led coach Tony Sparano to making this decision earlier this week.

``I always see a spark when he's in there,'' Sparano said. ``He's got a lot of energy. What is most interesting is to see people still respond to that even though he wasn't the starting quarterback [before this week].''

But here's the deal: No matter how often Pennington makes his team laugh with his fun-loving attitude, no matter how many extra meetings he schedules with his wide receivers, this offense still needs more than a quarterback to lead the way.

Pennington can create the spark. But the rest of the unit still needs to spread the flames.

``I don't have a magic wand,'' Pennington said. ``I know it's just not on me. I'm going to need the help of every one of those guys in that locker room, and it's certainly going to be a team effort.''

Even the Pennington supporters need to realize the Dolphins offense didn't struggle simply because of Henne. The first-year starter certainly wasn't terrible in his first eight games of the season, ranking ninth in the NFL in passing percentage."