The issue that most defines Chad Pennington's tenure with the Jets is his inability to adapt to a defense that pressures the QB. In 2002 as a first-time starter Chad set the tempo brilliantly during his regular season starts and in the playoff game against Indianapolis. Oakland had seen his game in a tight loss earlier in the season and they knew that if they wanted to defeat him again they'd need to turn up the heat. So they blitzed constantly, threw off his rhythm and sacked him 4 times and caused his first multi-pick game. We all shrugged that loss off because Chad had been so brilliant in his other starts and because the Jets were losing regularly to Oakland in the black hole regardless of who the QB was. Fast forward to 2003 and Chad's return from the injury rolls. In 4 games that year Chad faced really heavy pressure from the defense: the Giants in week 9, Buffalo in week 14, New England in week 16 and Miami in week 17. All 4 games were losses and in two of them Chad just flat out sucked and cost the Jets the game. He threw 5 picks in the loss to New England and the Jets lost by 5 points. That should have told us what we needed to know: with an average performance by the QB the Jets win that game by a TD or more. In 2004 there were 6 games where the opponents brought heavy pressure to bear: Miami in week 4, Pittsburgh in week 14, New England in week 16, St Louis in week 17, and both playoff opponents, San Diego and Pittsburgh again. The Jets lost 4 of the 6 games and Chad again almost singlehandedly lost the games at Pittsburgh and New England in the regular season. Note that by now the end of the season is regularly producing teams that pressure Chad because by that point in the season people have keyed in on how you beat the Jets: you make Chad uncomfortable and he makes errors. Okay, so here we are in 2006 and what do we see? 8 teams have made Chad really uncomfortable with a high pressure blitzing defense designed to collapse the pocket and make him make errors. New England in week 2, Indianapolis in week 4, Jacksonville in week 5, Miami in week 6, Detroit in week 7, Cleveland in week 8, Chicago in week 11 and Buffalo in week 14. The Jets have lost 6 of the 8 games and in 4 of them (Jacksonville, Cleveland, Chicago and Buffalo) Chad's performance was so poor the Jets could not possibly win. The secret is now common knowledge: pressure Chad and he will make mistakes and give the game away. In a nutshell that's the Chad problem. And no number of wins against second rate teams unable to pressure the QB will make it go away.
Okayyyyyy so...under intense pressure aimed at one dude, Chad may throw a less than perfect pass........bring in CLEMENS!!!! no. Previously we had Curtis Martin, but a deteriorating, and later, shitty o-line. Now we have a potentially great o-line gelling more each week, and no Curtis (or consistent run game for that matter). Name one QB that won't mess up now and again when faced with these problems on the offensive side of the ball. You can't! Not even Petyon, if you bring the heat on him, he messes up too. cheers
Great post! I think what alot of defenses do is blitz chad and then the remaining players cover a short zone so that Chad can't throw a screen or to a player doing hook route for decent yardage. Opposing defenses can afford to ignore the deep zones because Chad gets rattled so easily and he throws up the slowest lob passes when he is going deep that someone can still break up that play.
Please tell me you are joking...You took the time to create a paragraph with the summation that states Chad stinks when you get pressure on him? That is the sum total of your analysis? How are you determining which team brought pressure anyway??? By sack totals??? By the fact that Chad played poorly??? From your memory?? Or maybe it's because those were good teams that the Jets lost to so they obviously brought pressure??? Even if that is the case and your facts are right, it doesn't mean anything. Any quarterback's play is effected by constant pressure..Look at Tom Brady against the Jets in the second game this year. It's the Jets' offensive line, running backs, and coaches jobs to make sure that Chad is protected and able to throw the ball. Chad's made some poor throws this year (even with good protection) no doubt but if what was as easy as saying "get pressure on Pennington and he will choke" I think all teams would figure that out. Next you will tell us that it's Chad's fault when he gets sacked. Oh know I didn't mean to get that started...lol
Whats amazing to me is it's SO OBVIOUS to people oin this board, and to all coaches around this league, EXCEPT THE 2 DIFFERENT COACHING REGIMES THAT ACTUALLY COACHED HIM.
Bad game to post this thread brad..although Im with you on all of your points for the most part. See, Chad is a survivor. When you least expect it, he comes up with a Chad game. Today will be a Chad game..dome...comfort...bad pass defense. Couldnt care less that you cant run the ball on the Vikings. On good CHAD games this year, we had barely a running attack. Chad will shine today and tomorrow the debates and the "where are the CHAD haters today" will consume the board...because thats what CHAD does so well. If I were a betting man...today the big bucks would go on the Jets. Its just a CHAD roller coaster ride..and after a scary downfall...the coaster is heading up...only to come back down..but not today.
wow - how bout a little optimism before a huge game. Can't believe I sign in and see this as a NEW post Like it or not, Chad is the QB - give it a rest until the game is over
While I agree that Pennington's performance has been up and down this year, this post is a bunch of BS. Where did you get your information? By looking at Jet losses and then determining that in those losses teams blitzed and put pressure on the QB? Let's start with last week. The Bills did not blitz. The pressure they put on the QB was from their front four, which means the OL broke down. The pass to Cotchery was a bad throw that had nothing to do with pressure. Your post would have more validity if you questioned his decision-making, which is where I think he has slipped some this year. More inconsistencies - the Giants were not a blitzing team in 2004 and Pennington had a good game that day. How is that New England is a good defense that puts pressure on Pennington in week 2 when they beat the Jets but not later in the year when the Jets beat them? In 2003 Tennessee and Jacksonville (both Jet wins) did not pressrue the QB???? In 2004, New England and Pittsburgh went 14-2 and 15-1 and Pittsburgh handed NE one of its 2 losses. So in 32 games , those teams lost twice when they didn't play each other. They didn't give other QBs a tough time that year? Are you telling me that no other teams put pressure on the QB then the ones you list? Tennessee blitzed Pennington all day in game 1 this year and I seem to remember him having a pretty good day. Green Bay blitzed all day a few weeks ago and Pennington picked them apart. You make it seem that Pennington is different than other QBs when it comes to pressure, but almost every QB is the same. Why did Brady suck last week? Was he drunk? No! Miami was all over him. Why did Manning throw 5 interceptions in the playoffs in 2003 against NE? Pennington's picks were because he folded and Manning's were because he stood up well under pressure? The ball was slippery? He forgot to put his contact lenses in? In 2002 Rich Gannon, AFC player of the year, threw 6 - count them - 6 picks in the SB against Tampa. Why? He had a Buc on his back on all day long. It doesn't matter who the QB is - put pressure on them and their performance suffers. It is so logical and simple I don't understand why everyone doesn't realize it. I agree that Pennington has made some uncharacteristic mistakes this year. But he is playing for a team that has glaring shortcomings that hurt a QB - no running game, no deep threat WR, a new OL, a new OC (the third in three years), a defense that can't stop the run or rush the passer and is one of the worst in the NFL etc. As for the last two CS not seeing the obvious things that you do - that Pennington doesn't play as well when he is rushed as he does when he has time (Brilliant!!!), I guess you just know better than NFL coaching staffs. When you get hired by an NFL team, let me know. In the meantime, I think I'll trust both CS that Pennington was the Jets' best option at QB from 2002 through this year. I also think that maybe that is why the Jets drafted two OL in the draft this year (and why you will probably see a heavy dose of DL in free agency or the draft this year), because they realize that the way to win games is to run the ball, protect the passer, stop the run, and rush the passer.
Good one, Brad. I've been saying this for quite some time, only I've called the phenomenon everything from "Deer-In-The-Headlights" to "Chinese Firedrill" to "Three Stooges Mode." It's never been about his weak arm as much as it's about the inability to handle the pressure well. This is his downfall, moreso even than the lack of arm strength or even the two injuries, from which he seems to have recovered. The game that most stands out as the glaring example is the KC game in September, 2005.
The weak arm does play into it though. Good QB's make you pay for blitzing with quick passes to receivers who will likely be single covered. Chad's game is touch and timing passes and when you blitz him these go to shit.
Well, it is nice that after the last 4 years we can move on to some new diagnosis at why Chad is so darn bad a QB, instead of leaning on the weak arm theory. Good job! Way to get creative. :up:
there is no chad problem. funny, watching this game I think back to early this week and that completely rediculous thread that falsly rips chad for supposedly handing off at 3rd and long. That thread was either started by someone who is not a Jet fan and trolls these boards looking for negative reactions or the guy simply never watched the games. Either way it was WAY WAY off. I absolutely LOVE our odds on third and long this year lol. Get a clue, you know who you are.
Huh? Chad's strength is the quick passes. Slants, screens, swing passes. This whole idea of blitzing Pennington will stop him is a myth, and I bet if someone looked at the stats of when people blitz him, they would be good. If teams are getting pressure with their front 4, than yea he's going to struggle, so is anyone. But blitzing is going to open things up for short completions to guys in space. I'd be more worried about teams who don't blitz, who make him throw through 7 or 8 defenders.
I used sacks/interceptions and QB runs to determine how much pressure was applied in a given game. When Chad is getting sacked, running for short gains and getting intercepted it's a sure sign the other team is bringing pressure. I don't try to differentiate WHY Chad is under pressure, only that it is so. The fact that the Bills did not blitz or that the OL broke down has no relevance to whether or not Chad was under pressure. Anybody who watched the game last week SAW that Chad was under constant pressure when he dropped back. Predictably his performance was poor, as it has always been in those circumstances. The bad field conditions caused a marked lack of aggression in New England's defensive fronts in the second game. That's the primary reason we won: they failed to put pressure consistently on Chad all day long. Both teams were zone-blitz happy in 2003 and the zone-blitz never caught the Mawae lines offguard the way it does some teams. Looking for relevance here and not finding it. The fact that Pittsburgh and New England put pressure on a lot of QB's and beat them in 2004 doesn't change the fact that Chad faced pressure from them and was unable to beat them. Again, I'm not saying Chad isn't better than a lot of NFL QB's, just that he cannot face pressure and win, which is the mark of a really good NFL QB. Blitzing means nothing if your secondary is so porous that somebody is always open. That describes the Tennnessee and Green Bay games to a T. Chad was sacked twice and ran twice in the Tennessee game in 39 attempts, the Titans were unable to consistently get to Chad. Green Bay may have blitzed but they didn't sack Chad and they didn't force him to run. No pressure there at all. Chad has 4 or 5 games a season where pressure makes him fold. Manning might have half that as did Gannon in his great run with the Raiders.
Against a 6-7 team with the 27th ranked passing D in the NFL... Today's game just reinforces the fact that if the other guys suck Chad can make them look terrible.
Then I'm not sure what your point is, as every single qb who has ever played football at any level plays worse when guys are in his face all game. Especially like in the Bills game when they are able to do it without blitzing.
