Chad Pennington not fazed with old mates around the corner By RICH CIMINI DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER Friday, September 5th 2008, 12:13 AM Diaz/AP Chad Pennington hopes old friend Kerry Rhodes (below) doesn't intercept any passes of his this weekend. He'll take a few pass break ups though. Antonelli/News Chad Pennington doesn't talk trash. He apparently doesn't text it, either. On Wednesday, he sent the following text message to Kerry Rhodes, the Jets' ball-hawking safety: "No picks, please. Just PBUs." (That stands for pass break-ups.) Rhodes and Pennington became good friends over the summer - unbeknownst to the outside world, they roomed together in training camp - and they will be the critical pieces Sunday on a 100-yard chess board. The Jets-Dolphins season opener in Miami is being billed as Pennington versus Brett Favre, but if you want to get technical, it's more of a Pennington-Rhodes duel. Rhodes prides himself on being a cerebral player, and he'll need plenty of brains to outwit Pennington, who has made a career of outsmarting defenses. "I consider myself the quarterback of the defense and he's the quarterback of the offense, so we'll be going back and forth," Rhodes said Thursday. "It's going to be cat and mouse, kind of a chess thing." The Jets don't fear Pennington's arm - does anybody? - but they're concerned about him the way a hitter would feel about facing a crafty, junk-ball pitcher: If you let him find a comfort zone, he will make you look foolish. Pennington is a touch-and-timing passer, and the Jets' objective is to confuse him (perhaps wishful thinking) or force him to hesitate, perhaps by taking away his first read. The Jets know Pennington, and he knows them, so it will come down to execution and maybe a wrinkle or two. "If he's on the money and he's on time, and he has the reads, he can make every throw in this league," Rhodes said. "We have to get him off his spot." Rhodes and Pennington were teammates for three years, but they got to know each much better as roommates, an assigned pairing in the Hofstra dorms. It lasted only two weeks because Pennington was released the day after the Favre trade, but Rhodes called it a learning experience. He gained perspective on certain pass coverages from the quarterback's viewpoint, and he also gained perspective of the quarterback himself. "He's a goofy guy," Rhodes said. "He loves football, he loves life, he loves his wife, he loves everything. He's just a fun-loving guy." Now it Rhodes' job to make Pennington miserable for a day. The Jets, with such high expectations, can't afford to lose to the quarterback they kicked to the curb. But the stakes are just as high for Pennington. "I'd be remiss in saying that I'm emotionless. I'm a human being," said Pennington, who spent eight seasons with the Jets. "All of us have emotions ... but I'd be doing a disservice to my teammates and myself if I put too much into the emotional part of this." This week, it has seemed surreal at times for Rhodes, watching film of Pennington in another uniform. "It's funny seeing him in those - what do you call those colors? - teal and white," Rhodes said. "It's odd. You're going to play against a guy you're accustomed to being around. But you know it's him."
"No picks, please. Just PBUs." (That stands for pass break-ups.) Yeah, right. Ricky Williams could give us some problems, but on passing downs, I expect our guys to rush Pennington like there's no tomorrow. That opens up the occasional pick. My prediction: One each for Rhodes and Revis. JETS 24 DOLPHINS 13
With all of this over analysis of this week's game I just can't wait to see what is in store for us next week.
