The first two TD drives were all Pennington today. The running game was awful until the second half. There are days he deserves criticism, but today is not one of them.
He played well. He did what he needed to do to win. Made good decisions and found open receivers, and he made a lot of really good accurate throws, like the 2 TD passes, and that one on the run to Coles. He didn't put up huge yardage, but today we didn't need it. I don't remember any real bad plays, or real bad throws. He took what the defense gave him, and today there was no need to try and do anything more.
If your goal is to "limit bad plays made" by your QB and have him check down to the short man almost immediately then Pennington is your guy. Won't get any argument from me there. What I'd like from our QB is something pretty different, an NFL quality arm to start with. I got a taste of excitement I haven't felt in a long while from Clemens in the 4th quarter last week and I'd like to at least see if he can replicate that with any sort of consistency rather then 13 more weeks of dinks dunks and ducks from Chad.
I want wins. Pretty is for the ballet. If you want a "pretty" QB who makes "pretty" throws, I think Jeff George is still available. Pennington made plays today. He did what is QB is paid to do - score points and win. If the defense doesn't suck today, the Jets win in a walk. And his two TD throws, though short, were perfect. And as much as I agree that Clemens' 4th quarter was exciting and gives the Jets options for the future at QB, a little "touch" on the last pass to McCareins might have led to a tie game. An arm is not the be all and end all for QBs.
Ok, but what makes you think that Clemens wouldn't have won today? The main case I see made for Chad is that he "just wins" and as supporting evidence people cite Brooks Bollinger and a 50 year old Testaverde as proof that the Jets can only win with Chad behind center.
I don't know if Clemens would have won today or not. But I do know that Pennington is the single most important reason the Jets have been playoff contenders since he took over the job in 2002. Pennington has earned the starting QB job and the fans' support. If Clemens wins the job someday, I hope he is the next Brady, but that day has not come yet and may not come.
This is a circular argument. Pennington deserves to be the QB because he's the best! If Clemens can prove himself(but he'll have to do this without ever being given the opportunity to play, barring injury) then good luck to him but Chad is the man!
Well said 3rd. Many people seem to be settling for a QB who will be steady and get us some wins against teams we should beat while passing up the chance to develop a QB who may get us some wins against teams we "shouldn't" beat.
Exactly... I've said it twice already in this thread, but other than you and 3rd nobody in here seems to get it.... Chad is what he is... He'll manage the game, minimize mistakes, and help put you in position to beat inferior teams..... Example? He had a very similar performance to what he did today vs New England in week 1... End result? We lost to a superior team... He managed the game, but did nothing to put the team on his shoulders and try to win the game for us... The Jets, right now, are now good enough to beat anyone but the teams at the bottom of the league with a QB who just manages the game.... If we want to make some noise, we need a QB who can step up and carry the team, because, quite frankly, we're not all that good a team...
He is the single most important reason the Jets have been playoff contenders since 2002? Hmmmm. 2002 - Played excellently....untill the Raiders realized he could only throw the short ball 2003 - Very, very average year. 82 QB rating, 13TDs and 12INTs, what's so good about that? 2004 - Rode the running game 2005 - Played in 3 games - didn't play well when he was in anyway 2006 - Another very, very average year, 17TDs 16INTs. As far as I'm concerned, Chad has done nothing special to be considered the "most important" factor in our playoff appearances since 2002.
Good post.... And I'm really getting tired of the 'Look at the Jets record with Chad next to their record without Chad' as an argument for him over Kellen... People look at those numbers, and what they fail to realize is that not ONE of those starts by a QB other than Chad since he came on 4 games into 2002 was by a guy who we considered starting material, or even a viable backup.... Except for Quincy Carter, who we brought in because we were nervous about Chad, and who won 2 out of 3 games at QB.... We brought in Jay Fiedler so we'd have a shot at winning some games if Chad went down in 2005, but he got hurt without making a start, so essentially, we never had a QB other than Chad, who the CS ever intended to see on the field, other than, of course, Carter.... So basically, that lousy record without Chad in there was with... Brooks Bollinger, an aging Vinny Testaverde and Quincy Carter..... And now Kellen Clemens has one start.... Am I missing anybody? Point is, the games we're not winning when Chad isn't in there, isn't because he's not there, but because we don't have a starting caliber QB in there, period!
Chad bashers, STFU already, he has earned our respect.. Complaining about Chad now makes you look either like you don't understand the game of football or you just have an agenda against him. http://www.nfl.com/stats/categorystats?tabSeq=1&statisticPositionCategory=QUARTERBACK
Hate to say it but QB rating is the last refuge of those desperate enough to ignore what their eyes are telling and believe that Pennington is a top QB in the league. It's a bunk stat that worships completion % and QBs that throw alot at the goal line(which the Jets have been doing all the time this season). Arguing for Pennington using QB rating is like arguing for a backup RB that gets a majority of his carries on 3rd and long draws using YPC.
My eyes tell me that Pennington is off to a great start to this season and you guys are directing your venom at the wrong person. Now I agree that QB rating isn't completely indicative of how good a QB is but it can't be completely ignored either. Both his TD passes today were perfect passes on third down after not being able to run it in. He was the best player on the field against NE and he was again today. It is mind boggling to me that you guys are still bashing him after todays performance.
I don't have any "venom" for Pennington and I wasn't bashing his performance today. He played an OK game and as I noted I thought the 3rd down play to Coles in the 4th quarter was his only real "plus" play. I was simply stating my preference that Clemens be given a chance to show what he can do. As we saw in the 4th quarter today and the whole game against the Patriots the Jets aren't going to win many games where Pennington "manages" the game because the defense is simply horrific. The offensive output(point-wise) was enough today because of a great special teams play and a couple of short fields due to poor Dolphins special teams.
Wow...I thought this argument would at least be put to rest for a few days. We're not going to win many games with our defense the way it is, whether Chad or Kellen is back throwing the ball. I don't see how you can make the argument either way right now that one QB gives us a better chance to win. Yes, all Chad does is win. No, we don't know whether or not that will be true for Clemens. You can't compare a proven commodity to an unproven commodity just by spouting hypotheticals. There is nothing, however, that says "We must rush Kellen into the game and give him reps to see what we've got NOW." He'll get PT this year. He showed flashes of brilliance in the 4th quarter, which is all you can expect from a QB's first start. We're not winning anything this year. We're probably not winning anything next year, with all of the personnel problems we have and the fact that we play in a league that will likely be dominated by Indy and NE this year and next. There is NO reason to rush him into the starting lineup, and that includes the fact that Chad has done nothing to cost him the starting job. He won today. He has yet to turn the ball over. By executing well and managing the game well, he gives the other facets of our game a chance to develop while we try to build for the future. Kellen will likely be the opening day starter for the 2008 season. If Chad is lucky, he'll be starting for another team in the league and not playing as the backup.
