You can disagree all you want, but I can picture Pennington placing 10 yard passes right on the outstretched hands of a 6'5'' Dwayne Jarrett, above the reach of a mismatched corners with great regularity. With the right cast, I genuinely think he can make it work with the arm he's got right now. Silly to factor in dropped picks when talking about Pennington, it's a break every quarterback in football gets at least occasionally.
In this case I was more talking about the step up to consistent 11-14 win status more than a Super Bowl. Chad just doesn't have the tools to pull that off unless the Jets get a passle of all-pros surrounding him. Recent teams that have managed that step-up over a multi-season period (Broncos, Rams, Patriots, Colts, Cowboys) have had a dominant QB come in and lead that surge.
Well said - That's one thing that really doesn't gets considered around here enough , I'd put his intense will to win next to anyone's. And he loves proving doubters wrong.
Old dog, new tricks. I bought into the early season hype about Chad improving his arm strength via karate and conditioning, etc. It's obvious, and was fairly early on, that Chad's arm strength is no better now than it was in 2004 and probably not quite as good. That's understandable given the wear on his rotator cuff at this point.
I'm saying "the comeback kid" is inadequate to describe Chad's intense will. I could be wrong, but there's nothing about the surgery that Chad had that prevents him from a full recovery. If that's the case, there's no question that he will spend every waking moment this off-season thinking about ways to improve his arm strength. I'm saying, give him a stronger arm and much of the whining on this board will have to turn to... well... let's see... what else is wrong with Chad? Give him an even better O-line than we have now, with a legitimate, strong, power RB to compliment Washington's scatting and all of a sudden we're a hell-raising, power-running, clock-killing running machine. Then imagine what Pennington could do behind that scenario, using his skills to carve up a defense. In my mind, this scenario might not be that far away from becoming reality.
04 was the only year you could really say the Pats had a legitimate running game. As for the Rams and the Colts, their running games are set up by their outsanding passing and their RBs are very involved in the passing game as well. I would also add the Eagles to the list of teams that made that step up, and that started with Donovan McNabb.
I'm saying if Chad emerges injury-free from this year (whenever that ends... and I hope it's well into January), I don't think there's anything medically preventing him from improving his arm strength and his mechanics, both of which still need huge improvement. He's been throwing off the back foot again with regularity. I don't know if that's just slipping back to his old established patterns or what, but it further limits the zip in his balls and forces them to be the dangerous bloopers we've so come to agonize over. But this is a result of feeling the pressure too. With an even better O-line and a legitimate running game, both will give him the extra split second he needs to set up and use his weight to wing it. All his other qualities are hard to duplicate and I doubt Clemens has what Penny has in terms of all the other things he brings to the table.
it comes down to having the best option on the field that can win games for you and lead your team -- chad doens't have a great arm and he never will so can we drop the 2000 threads a week that complain about it? He does have smarts to run the offense, control the no huddle, keep the chains moving, and have a leadership ability that makes every other guy on that team willing to do whatever it takes to win. You can't teach that leadership -- so many "great" QBs come and go because they are eaither too dumb to play in the pros or have no leadership ability to make teammates want to win. Chad makes this team want to win and how can you not like that in a ball player? Chad has also taken some major hits this year and has not broken into a million pieces.
It's posts like this that keep me on these forums. This week has been unreal. We just beat a good defense in horrible weather on xmas night in their house and all i can read is how Chad has no arm strength. It's so pathetic. That being said, threads like this help to make up for some of the moronic posts we see.
Good post. I do think it will be Chad's job to lose and I, for one, don't think Clemens will be able to beat him out next year. As someone else pointed out that's the beauty of the way our draft went. We got a guy in a later round, instead of a top 5 or at least first round pick so there's not as much pressure. As for Chad himself, right now he is the key to the Jets. If he plays well we win, if he plays poorly we don't. Unfortunately the D isn't good enough to overcome a bad game by Chad and we don't have true "playmakers" on offense who can pick him up either. That being said, Chad's biggest issue is when he thinks too much and tries to get too fancy. When he just let's go he throws the ball pretty well and can throw the ball deep and with zip from time to time. Not every throw mind you but if you look, many of those throws you can tell he's not just letting it fly and trying to do too much with his arm. Improve the OL a bit more so we can actually establish a running game (I still like the duo of Houston and Washington in a rotation), and give Chad some protection so he can utilize the play action more. While I said we don't have any real playmakers who can take over a game, the beauty is we have lots of guys who can MAKE PLAYS. It's easier to stop one guy, but when we have multiple guys making big catches you just can't cover everyone.
If we make the playoffs and get either the Pats or Indy in the first round I think we have a decent chance to advance to the second round. I can't see us getting past Baltimore of SD though.
Agree. CP made plenty of key throws on Monday...throws that won us the game. He had help from his receivers, but thats what there paid to do. Chads job is getting them in postion to make the plays, which is exactly what he did on Monday. Is he our long term solution? Probably not, but you can't say he's not putting us in position to win some games. He gives us the best chance to win week in and week out this season, so people should just try to enjoy the ride instead of harboring an unhealthy hatred for the teams starting QB.
Come on. This is a great problem to have. There is not a coach on this land who does not want his players to succede - even Mangini where Chad is concerned. I think that Mangini had to develop a contingency plan - that is just being a good coach, but he is not complaining at all about Chad's resurgence. If anything, it gives him a better sense of what needs to be done in the off-season draft. Ramsey was a prudent move, but face it, he will never be anything with this team. Ramsey is done. The Jury is very much still out on Clemens, but from what I have seen of him in his limited play, he has not shown me anything to distinguish himself as being a very good NFL QB. I am not saying Clemens is a bust. He has not had time to show his wares yet. He can not be fully judged at this time. I am just saying, I have not had any reason to go "OMG, did you see that?", yet. The best place for Clemens right now is in the Jets classroom, practice time, weight training, etc. His day will come if he truly wants it bad enough.
As limited as Chad is I do think with the right cast around him, a dominating Defense and an O that can run the ball down peoples throats with 8 in the box Chad can absolutely win a SB. What this will come down to is the money game. Chad is the perfect game manager the problem is the last regime paid him as if he was an elite QB playmaker which he isn't. This will come down to money at some point.
Assuming he comes into training camp healthy you start next year with Chad as QB1 and Clemens as his primary backup with Ramsey somewhere else. Best case scenario is Pennington has another healthy productive year and Clemens continues to progress but you look at a team like Dallas and Romo coming in and playing so well it's not a foregone conclusion that whoever starts opening day will will start week 17 or that that person by the end of the year will be the guy that gives you the best chance to win.
I thought I heard on the radio a while back that CP was due a 5 million dollar roster bonus in March..........I could be wrong though.
I don't think they have to "improve" the oline...jsut give them more time to gel. Remember, they have 2 rookies on there. I don't think we need to do anything to the oline...other then be patient and give it time.
The right side could use an upgrade in my opinion and we need a future replacement for Kendall. That being said you are also absolutely right that they will also get better with time too.
I guess he gets absolutely 0 credit for setting that screen up perfectly, or the 3rd down throw to Brad Smith earlier in the TD drive...
