And that concludes the portion of our program known as the Chad Pennington Era. The five years since the Jets, in desperation, handed their offense over to Pennington mainly because he wasn't Vinny Testaverde have vanished. Soon a new regime will hand the ball to Kellen Clemens for pretty much the same reason: the simple fact that he is not Chad Pennington. And why not? There really is no other way to spark a comatose football team than to change quarterbacks, and no way to gauge the ability of a new quarterback other than to simply throw him out there. There is no batting order to shuffle, no other impact player to bench. It may not be fair. It may not even be effective. But in the NFL, it is reality. Team loses, quarterback sits. In the blink of an eye, Pennington's time came and went. Soon it will be his turn to sit. It is no longer a question of if, but when. Whether it ends Sunday in Cincinnati or the week after at the Meadowlands, or opening day of next year, it has become obvious that the modest, and modestly talented, kid out of Marshall University is not going to be the answer to the question that has haunted the Jets for 38 years now. Namely, how do we get back to the Super Bowl? Since Joe Namath brought them there in 1969, no fewer than 16 men have tried to bring them back. Every one of them -- Al Woodall, Babe Parilli, Richard Todd, Matt Robinson, Pat Ryan, Ken O'Brien, Tony Eason, Browning Nagle, Boomer Esiason, Bubby Brister, Frank Reich, Neil O'Donnell, Glenn Foley, Ray Lucas, Rick Mirer and Testaverde -- failed in the attempt. To that list, add the name of Pennington, the latest quarterback incapable of following in the tradition of Broadway Joe. In fact, Pennington and those other guys are the Jets' tradition. Namath was the exception, the one name that doesn't quite fit. What the Jets have accomplished since 1969 is as remarkable in its own way as what the Pittsburgh Steelers pulled off in the 1970s, what the Dallas Cowboys did in the '80s and what the New England Patriots are in the process of doing now. In today's NFL, in which every team seems to get its turn, it probably is more difficult to miss out on the Super Bowl 38 consecutive times than it is to get there two years in a row. It is almost equally impossible to be the franchise that boasted the first superstar quarterback of the modern era and then spend the next four decades failing to find his replacement, even by accident. The Patriots stumbled upon Tom Brady. The Cowboys took a chance and found Tony Romo. Even the Giants rolled the dice on Eli Manning. By now, we all know Pennington is not the second coming of Joe Montana, or even Joe Kapp. Whether because of the injuries that robbed him of so much of his five-plus seasons as a starter or because of the lack of firepower Mother Nature provided his right arm, there is no doubt he has gone as far as he can with the Jets, and vice versa. Whether it happens next week or next year is no longer the issue, although with the 2007 season a lost cause, this is as good a time as any to throw Clemens out there to see what he's got -- just as the Jets did in 2002, when it was clear that they had seen enough of Testaverde. Incredibly, Testaverde, nearly 44, might have a better chance of starting an NFL game next week than Pennington. Although Eric Mangini's one-word answer to the question of whether he is considering a quarterback change -- "no" -- sounded definitive, his later "I'll have to look at the film" response when asked for a critique of Pennington's performance indicates he still might change his mind. Pennington was not the reason the Jets lost yesterday -- the absence of tackling accounted for that, but you can't bench missed tackles -- but he did nothing to help them win, not even when given not one but two golden opportunities in the final 13 minutes of the game. Five years after his debut, Pennington turned out not to be another Joe Namath. Like everyone who preceded him, Pennington instead turned out to be just another Joe. Reported by Wallace Matthews Newsday * Maybe Mangini will read this*
I am absolutely positive the last thing anyone even vaguely related to the jets organization plans to do for the rest of the year is read any articles or listen to any radio shows. Mangini's press conference yesterday, where he blamed our loss on the few parts of the team that have actually stepped up and gotten better as the season's progressed have cemented me in that thinking - he really doesn't care what anyone thinks but himself, Others here has said it, he's looking a whole heck of a lot like bellicheck in cleveland recently. That said, I really hope he's just playing it all close to the vest. If CP's press conference responses were any guide, *He's* not sure he's starting next week heh.
This isn't something we just learned. Most Jet fans knew this before the season started. Last year we saw teams catching up with the Jets' who tried and tried to shuffle the deck so that teams wouldn't hone in on the quarterback's inability to go downfield. Eventually, the other teams will catch up with you - and exploit your weaknesses - in this case - arm strength and no vertical passing game to speak of...
So sad in 2002 i thought penny was gonna be the guy but things happen and dont always work out , let the clemens era begin WE HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE MANGINI!!!.....but games.
Pretty sad article. It's too bad, because Pennington started out with a bang and it looks like he will go out with a whimper :sad:
It certainly is sad. I personally really was rooting for chad up until this year. The guy just cannot throw the ball past 20 yards and everyone knows it. It is sad day for me. But with sadness comes hope. That hope is KC, hopefully mangini sees it to.
I remember being at that 2003 playoff game against the Colts watching Pennington play pretty much a perfect game. I really thought that the Jets had finally caught lightning in a bottle. Then the next week came the Raider game and Pennington was awful, looking like a weak armed QB who had lost his composure. I really hoped that the Raider game was an aberration and that the Colt game was the real Pennington. Since then, Chad's play has been somewhere in between but I have to say this guy is anything but clutch. For 3 weeks in a row, this guy has been set up with a perfect opportunity to win the game for his team. In 2 of those games he threw terrible, awful, game-ending INT's. Yesterday, he didn't do that but he also didn't do enough to get his team in the End Zone. If Tom Brady had been put in those situations, I guarantee he wins all 3 games.
I was at that game, too. And the game 2 weeks before that against the Packers. Penny was flawless in both games, and he was the answer. Penny was the future. He stunk it up the next week at Oakland, but it was okay. We were confident that things will get better. We were sure that our time would come. We were positive that Penny was the way to our 2nd Super Bowl win. It's very sad how things have transpired since then. You brought us some great memories, Chad. It's time to move on.
What's sad is that Mangini will not bench Chad and Chad will take most of the blame for a failed season. What's sad is that we'll be lucky to get through the season with the receiving corps intact as Chad's floaters constantly put them at greater risk for injury. What's sad is that we'll go into the off season not knowing if we have a future star or another bust at QB and will probably blow the draft.
I also used to think Chad was a top QB in the league. And IMO he was for a year or two. But he got hurt. An injury that would have ended a lot of QB's career. He overcame it and got comeback player of the year award. But thats where it ends. He got hurt and is no longer a top QB. Sad but it happens in this league nearly every week. Thanks to Chad for the memories and hard work.
