From Knoxville News-Sentinel, hopefully this hasnt ben posted yet. Comeback kid's sequel September 11, 2006 NASHVILLE - Chad Pennington walked slowly up the long ramp beneath LP Field, exhausted from the completion of a journey that had lasted nearly a year. He buried himself into the waiting arms of his mother. "Hello, my son," she told her boy. "Great job. We knew you could do it." Denise Pennington beamed at what her son had just done. Coming back from a second shoulder surgery, overcoming the emotions associated with his father's heart attack three weeks ago, and facing doubts from just about everyone in the football world, Pennington delivered one of the best performances of his career Sunday afternoon. He threw for 319 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions, and recovered from a potentially game-changing sack/forced fumble by driving the New York Jets for the winning score late in the fourth quarter after the Jets had blown a 16-0 lead. "He's the comeback kid," Pennington's mother said. "He always has been." At the family home near Knoxville, Elwood Pennington watched his son with a few friends for what he had jokingly referred to as "a stag party," Denise said. "He did great," she said of her husband. "He's safe with the fellows he really trusts." Pennington thought of his father as soon as he came into the locker room after the game. "I owe my dad a lot," he said. "He set the foundation for me. Being around him, he coached football for 30 years, and it's given me an opportunity to learn a lot. I hope he enjoyed it." He must have, even if the tension created by Mike Nugent's two wayward field-goal attempts and missed extra point weren't what you'd recommend for a man recovering from a heart attack. Then again, the quarterback might not have found out just how far he'd truly come back from what once seemed like impossible odds. Really, now. Did you think he was capable of something like this, especially without Curtis Martin to give him some semblance of a running game? "I'm just excited to be out there," said Pennington, who suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in the third game last season. "When you miss 13 games, go through two shoulder surgeries, you miss the feeling of being out there with your teammates. I love this game. I have a passion for this game. But you can't enjoy it unless you're out there." Pennington went through an exhausting post-surgical rehab, spending countless hours at the Jets' training complex and on his own at his home in Florida. He took a $6 million pay cut to allow the Jets to hedge their bets and give them some salary-cap relief. And even then, there were no guarantees. He had to convince new coach Eric Mangini that he was good enough to lead a rebuilding program against three other quarterbacks under consideration. But Pennington always was the best passer in camp, not even close. Sunday's performance was only the latest evidence of his resurgence. His timing routes were flawless, the way they once were before his shoulder started coming apart. He'd throw his passes toward the sidelines before his receivers even made their breaks, and then they'd magically be there at the same time the ball arrived. He even showed decent arm strength on the deep ball, completing a 41-yard strike down the left sideline to Laveranues Coles in the third quarter. And when things were collapsing around him, Pennington managed to overcome. He was sacked on third-and 10 from his own 11 midway through the fourth quarter, as Cortland Finnegan raced around the corner and stripped the ball, and the Titans converted the turnover into the game-tying score. But with the game on the line, Pennington started throwing darts again. The big play: On second-and-7 from the Titans' 44, Pennington completed a 38-yard pass to Coles deep down the right side. Two plays later, he hit tight end Chris Baker for a 12-yard touchdown to win the game. "This is a day I've looked forward to for Chad," Coles said. "Everybody doubted how Chad would be, and he came back." Of course, there are no guarantees moving forward. We know that. Pennington knows that. He knows another injury can ruin his career in an instant. And he knows the quality of competition in the coming weeks will not always lead to brilliance like Sunday. "I don't think you're ever out of the woods in the NFL," he said. "You never know what's going to happen." That's why he appreciates the time he has left. "I'm blessed to play this game," he said. "It's an honor to play this game." He only hopes it will last a few years longer.
