N.Y. Times Article: Pennington

Pennington Gives the Jets an Arm Up on This Season

By LYNN ZINSER
Published: June 17, 2007

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y., June 15 ? When Jets quarterback Chad Pennington fired a long pass to Justin McCareins for a touchdown late in Friday?s minicamp practice, receiver Laveranues Coles helped him celebrate with a mock touchdown dance while Pennington watched and laughed.
It was a light moment in a career nearly clouded by doubt a year ago. Now, Pennington is enjoying the first off-season in three years without rehabilitating after a shoulder operation. And his teammates are enjoying it with him.

?To me, it seems like a nonfactor because I never think about him being hurt,? McCareins said. ?He looks as strong as he?s ever thrown the ball.?
A year ago, Pennington?s second rotator cuff operation in two years had clouded his future so much that Coach Eric Mangini announced an all-out four-man competition for the starting job. Pennington won back the job, led the Jets to the playoffs and received the N.F.L.?s comeback player of the year award.

That earned Pennington at least a small break from incessant speculation about his arm strength and whether he could continue to bounce back from injuries. For now, he is no longer the lead entry in every list of questions about the Jets? chances.

It is also a break from his frustration, particularly last year, when he was trying to learn a new offense installed by Mangini while playing with a still-weakened shoulder after off-season rotator-cuff surgery.

?Sometimes in the last two years, I knew exactly where the ball needed to go, but you weren?t sure if the ball was going to go there,? Pennington said. ?Sometimes it would, sometimes it wouldn?t. That?s just some of the kinks you have to work out after you go through an injury, trying to get your body back in sync.?

Although Pennington, 30, is an eight-year veteran and secure in his starting job, he is attacking this season as if he still has much to prove. His teammates have noted Pennington?s efforts during the team?s voluntary workouts. Not many quarterbacks draw praise for their diligence in the weight room, but Pennington has all but made it his second home.

?I don?t know exactly what he went through, but I know that he?s one of the hardest workers that I?ve ever been around as an athlete,? McCareins said. ?Just watching him get himself back in top form, it?s unlike anything I?ve ever seen.?

Last year, Pennington played all 16 regular-season games for the first time in his career. He finished with 3,352 passing yards and 17 touchdowns, his second-highest total. His completion percentage, 64.5, was the third best of his career.

He was doing much of it on guts alone. He was helped by the Jets? reliance on short passes, but he was also learning a new offense after a training camp in which the medical staff counted his throws to make sure that he did not overwork his shoulder.
Last year, I was just trying to make sure I could get on the field, call the plays and make as many throws as possible,? he said. ?This year, I have all the confidence in the world I can make all the throws and all the different types of ball-placement throws we need to make.?

It should also help that the Jets plan to support him with an improved running game ? they were 30th in the league in yards a carry last season. The newly acquired Thomas Jones is set to carry the kind of workload once shouldered by Curtis Martin.

But Mangini says Pennington?s progress opens up new possibilities for the offense, running game aside.

?On the field, you can see him drawing on the experience of last year and advancing the system, not just from his position, but collectively,? Mangini said. ?He?s such a smart guy with a great memory that you tell him something once, it may have been three weeks ago, when that comes up again, he nails it.?

Through the toughest stretches of his career, Pennington has counted on Coles, not only as his top receiver, but also as one of his closest friends. Coles has always been quick to defend Pennington from his detractors.

They make an odd couple, with Coles once known as a loose cannon and Pennington leaning to the uptight end of the scale. They enjoy the contrast in their personalities, although the gap is closing. Coles has become more serious as his career has progressed, and Pennington has loosened up.

?I think with both of us being the way we are, he lightens my dark side and I lighten his dark side,? Coles said. ?When he?s always trying to be uptight about something, I?m the light side of him that lets him know, ?Relax, don?t worry about it.? When it?s me being tense, he doesn?t really tell me to relax, he just says, ?L. C., I got ya.? ?

Coles and Pennington considered taking a vacation together this off-season with their children, more of a chance to step away from their football lives. Pennington said it was unlikely that they would go on vacation this year, though Coles said he believed Penn ington had earned one.

?I?ve understood how every year has been tough for him,? Coles said. ?The guy has faced adversity his whole career. From the time he walked through the doors, people have always had things to say about him, but here?s a guy who?s still always been on the winning side of things.

?As long as he?s playing ball, I?m in his corner.?