Jets could be 5-3 with Pennington, tooBob Glauber November 4, 2008 Doug the Jets Fan was incensed that I had chosen this topic for my column in today's newspaper: Did the Jets get the worst of the deal when they traded for Brett Favre, cut Chad Pennington and then saw him go to the division rival Dolphins? "Stop it, would you?" Doug implored. "We just beat the Bills on the road, we're 5-3, we're tied for first place, so why do you have to bring that up? Just leave it alone, would you please?" I tried to reason with him. Yes, the record is solid. Yes, the three-way tie with the Bills and Patriots for the AFC East lead indeed is promising. But with Pennington's Dolphins only a game out of first, isn't the issue at least in play? "You don't understand," he said. "We're Jets fans. Our expectations aren't high to begin with. Just give us 9-7 and a loss in the wild-card round, and we'll take it. We really don't ask for much. Please. Can't we just enjoy the moment?" OK, go ahead, Doug. Enjoy the moment. Same goes for every other Jets fan who has lived through all the angst of the last ... oh, 40 years or so. Enjoy. After all, it really is cool to be sitting in a three-way tie for first with the Bills and the Tom Brady-less Patriots. But I still say it's a fair question as we cross the halfway mark of this intriguing season. Come to think of it, the fact that it's even a question at all suggests that the Jets might not be getting the better end of the deal. Ask yourselves: If Pennington were still here, could the Jets still be 5-3? I say the answer is yes. And if Pennington were still here, would the Dolphins be 4-4 and in the hunt at the halfway mark? I say the answer is no way. Not with rookie Chad Henne or second-year quarterback John Beck at the controls. That's why I believe Doug the Jets Fan knows this in his heart of hearts. As does every other Jets fan who has wrestled with the merits of the Favre deal. That need not lessen the enjoyment of 5-3 and a share of first place, because you always cherish the good times. But Jets fans know about the underbelly of expectation: For all the promise Favre has given them, they know the hope he offers might not last much longer. They know that once the season ends, this might be it. And they know that if his penchant for throwing the ball to the other guys does not subside, there might be more Jets-like nightmares in the next two months. Which would be made all the more disturbing if Pennington led his new team to the playoffs and Favre didn't. Favre already has 12 interceptions, another of which was returned for a touchdown by the Bills. He had one returned for a TD - along with another close call - the week before against the Chiefs. Favre also has seven fumbles, two of which were recovered by the opposition. That's 14 turnovers in all. In his last four games, Favre has three touchdown passes and eight interceptions. Pennington has seven touchdown passes and four interceptions to go with zero lost fumbles - the kind of stats he was known for during his years with the Jets. Believe it or not, his 8.2-yard average completion is better than Favre's 6.9-yard average. And that's why you can't simply look at the Favre trade in a vacuum. It has to be viewed with an eye toward Pennington as well. And so far, despite the improved record for the Jets, I say the advantage right now goes to the Dolphins. They've got a 32-year-old quarterback who anchors the most important position on any football team, and he's theirs for the foreseeable future. You can't say as much for the Jets and Favre. He hasn't given any indication what his plans are for next year, but it would come as zero surprise if he were to hang it up after this year. He will have proved to himself that he still can play, but does he come back in 2009, when he'll turn 40? There's a good chance he won't. That's why these next eight weeks weigh so heavily on the Jets' fate. A second-half run to the playoffs, and Doug the Jets Fan can feel a lot better about things. Anything less, and the torture lives on. And if that regular-season finale Dec. 28 against Pennington's Dolphins shapes up as a winner-take-all ... oh, my. Chad vs. Brett Bob Glauber Bio | E-mail | Recent columns Comparing the midseason statistics for Brett Favre and Chad Pennington Pennington Comp./Att. Pct. Yds. Avg. TD INT Sacks Rtg. 163/242 67.4 1,991 8.2 7 4 13 95.2 Favre Comp./Att. Pct. Yds. Avg. TD INT Sacks Rtg. 180/263 68.4 1,812 6.9 15 12 16 87.8 __________________
This article should be e-burned I'd like to curse out Bob Glauber for writing this. We broke up, move on.
If Chad was with us and we were 5 & 3 and the Dolphins lost to Buffalo and NE we would be in third place. Best deal we ever made. The guy throws the pick against us with a chance to win and beats Buffalo and NE we should put him on our payroll.
You should be a comedy writer:rofl: We went over this last week so we know what has been written and I'd rather not get into it again. Hopefully the Favre trade works out for us in the end, Sunday was a good start.
If Pennington was still with us he would have never survived any of those vicious hits Favre has shaken off on a weekly basis. That is where this guy just doesn't get it.
Chad knows htis offense, he would have been more decisive than Favre and not held onto the ball as long therefore not taking as many hits as Favre. Our Ol has protected the QB well this season, Favre has held onto the ball too long looking for big plays instead of taking what the D's have given him(until the other day and amazingly he wasn't hit alot) which is something Chad specializes at.
I don't agree with that at all. A lot of those picks were off balls nobody could have thrown any quicker than Favre did. He shouldn't have thrown them but he was falling backwards with somebody in his face when he did and it wasn't because we was waiting too long. Not to mention that Pennington's first, second and last choice would have been a dump off to a RB. The game we play now is not the same.
He wasn't necessarily getting hit on all of his INTs, this is about the hits he has taken and Chad wouldn not have taken as many b/c he wouldn't have held onto the ball as long. Did you notice a difference in Sunday's game? Did you notice alot of shorter passes? He was getting rid of the ball vcery quickly and that's why he had more success and was taking shots. Just b/c a QB gets hit doesn't mean it's the fault of the OL. On some of the hits it was the fault of the OL but the majority have been from Favre holding the ball too long.
Yes I noticed the difference in Sunday's game and I think it was because the coaching staff finally realized the OL isn't do the job protecting. Just like last year. And I didn't say all of his picks were from that, just some of them.
I know in my heart of hearts that if Chad took the hits that Brett has taken thus far, we'd be watching Kellen Clemens in a tie for last place instead of first. We all know Chad is made of glass. Geez the first drive of the Buffalo game alone, with the insane penetration the Bills D was getting would have put Chad into retirement. So Bob, perhaps when you write an article you should consider all angles except for the stats. We already have Junc to do the stats thing for us.
The OL has been doing a fine job protecting for the most part as lon as Favre gets rid of the ball in a timely manner which he had not been doing the last 3 weeks prior to Sunday's game.
1: 1 TD pass a game was not winning many of these "higher" scoring games. We have seen this over time: Chads style of play just wasn't a winning combination with this style of offense. 2: The chad trade has helped the jets tramendously. Not only could Favre not do any worse then Chad could running the jets, Chad improved a Miami team that hasn't had even a "OK" qb since Marino. That improvement has lead to miami inadvertently helping the jets. That is huge. Say what you want, and how the jets could still be 5 - 3, but lets look at things. 1. Miami game: Mostl ikely still a win, but if your only going to get 1 score, who knows. 2. You still lose to SD, and still lose to NE. 3. The way Thigpen played, bets are you might even have lost to KC. Face it, everyone already knows the jets are better off with #4. Sure, the numbers look good, but He was rarely able to produce those numbers in Gang Green and turn them into victories. On top of that, he is not a guy that is known for being able to take the big hit. How many downright vicious hits has favre taken this season and gotten right back up? The guy is a warrior, and I can't remember him getting hit this hard in a few seasons. Take the pick 6 last game: Favre just got absolutely layed out. If #4 is feeling hte pain not just in waking up on monday, but in a possibly soar arm, there is no way Chad could be performing remotely as well under that circumstance. He may already be injured, and Chad with a soar arm could be absolutely disasterous.
Oh man not again. WHo knows? Maybe they are 5-3 without Jenkins too for all we know. That's the nice thing about alternate rality, anything is possible, nothing is refutable. Personally though, I question if we still would even HAVE Chad at this point. Favre has taken some absolutely vicious hits, they were pretty much all quick on blitzes, so you could say Chad would've taken them too. I wonder if Chad would still be playing after these same hits. Chad is only still playing because, for whatever reason, they are able to take better care of QB in Miami than we seem to be able to here. Notice that is an aspect of the question that Glauber does not even explore, even though it's probably the most relevant difference, given how both have played thus far. Great journalism there, Glauber.
1: where have we won a shootout? The only one was Arizona thanks to a million TOs and the game was never realyl close so it wasn't really a shootout. In a similar game jst 2 years ago Chad led us to 30+ pts at GB and outdueld some great QB they had. 2:Ignoring the 1st sentence about not being any worse than Chad which is a silly statement how is Miami much improved helping the Jets? Miami has a chance in this division thanks to Chad- how does this help us? -Miami game is defintiely still a win b/c the reason that game was close was -b/c Chad led them back and Brett couldn't seal it on O. -Still lose to SD but our ineffective OP cost us(along w/ STs) against NE and w/ Chad knowing the offense I think we score more than 10 and probably win that game. -Chad doesn't throw that INT for a TD, he doesn't throw the 2 other INts that kept KC n the game. KC was ready to go quietly after we got the early lead then Brett set them up w/ an INT. We'd definitely be at least 5-3 and most likely 6-2 or even 7-1. How do the #s look good? Our O has been dreadful most of the year. favre has taken those vicious hits b/c he HOLDS ONTO THE BALL TOO LONG looking for the big play instead of taking what the D gives him which is what Chad does. Chad played in pain alot, there were injuries like his torn rotator cuff and broken wrist that he couldn't play through but he always played through pain including playing w/ the torn rotator cuff in '04 and w/ 2 torn ligaments in his ankle last year.
-Miami game is defintiely still a win b/c the reason that game was close was -b/c Chad led them back and Brett couldn't seal it on O. Yes and Chad came up short on the last drive......AS USUAL Chad played in pain alot, there were injuries like his torn rotator cuff and broken wrist that he couldn't play through but he always played through pain including playing w/ the torn rotator cuff in '04 and w/ 2 torn ligaments in his ankle last year Yes but not nearly as well. Not even close. favre has taken those vicious hits b/c he HOLDS ONTO THE BALL TOO LONG looking for the big play instead of taking what the D gives him which is what Chad does. So what is it, is he a cowboy or is he holding the ball too long....you can't say both. You need Tivo.
Look here's the reason why we are better off with Brett than with Chad: Chad has 7 TDs on the season. Brett has 15. End of story.
