This in fact is what the reports were. Considering what a red shirt HOF'er Chad was, that is saying something.
Closing the gap is still losing. Pennington finished second in MVP voting for the NFL, pretty safe to say Clemens or Henne would not have done so with either team.
You're right it's still losing but they hadn't even played a preseason game yet. I hate it when people say "second in MVP voting" without putting the actual vote counts out there. He had FOUR votes (tied with Turner) compared to Mannings THIRTY TWO. It wasn't close, but technically he was tied for second in MVP voting. You may doubt he would have done that, so do I, but no one knows.
Henne not playing at all is much better than Clemens' disastrous 07'. At least we can give Henne the benefit of the doubt.
It's amazing how you will diminish Clemens for 'closing the gap' and then praise Chad for coming in second for MVP voting with 4 out of 50 votes. That doesn't sound like winning.
Despite the fact there were no reports showing the Jets had decided Chad would start, and yes they had not yet played the pre-season before Favre was brought in, which no doubt would also have otherwise gone into the decision: Even if Chad won the contest, since you are talking about people here who love Chad and point to his success in Miami, I am not sure how that somehow amounts to a conclusion that Clemens sucks.
Chad wasn't competing directly with Manning for anything, it just turned out that way. I only mention the MVP voting because it's still amazing to me that we're even comparing a guy who has been to the playoffs four times and was in the MVP voting at all with a guy who hasn't proven he can stay on the field or lead TD drives with any regularity. Anyone in their right mind who isn't jacked up on Chad-hatred could easily see how that QB "competition" was going and how it would have turned out. All you have to do is look at the resume and body of work of each guy.
How do you apply that to Vinny beating Chad in Camp all those years ago when it was obvious that it was time for Chad to play? With that logic Vinnie would have never been benched. At some point an organization has to realize that a guy can only take you so far and that is what happened regarding Chad. I think Kellen can be pretty good and I would have to see Ratliff play against better Competition to have an opinion on him. Chad's performance against the Ravens last year proved the point that all of us were saying about him not being able to get it done against elite defenses. He had two of the best Rb in the league and they stacked the box and the usual disaster happened because he can not throw when he has to. If Farve came back tomorrow should he be given the job because of his body of work?
Favre's body of work with us would have gotten anyone else benched by the end of the season. Regarding Vinny, he was a stud QB, proven veteran and team leader, there was no QB competition with him and Chad, no way a coach benches him until he has to. Chad had to wait for his time which came when Vinny struggled and got hurt, then Chad made the most of it, something Clemens hasn't done yet. Hopefully he does now. Vinny's last full season as starter we went 10-6 and to the playoffs, should have won the division. This is where message boards depart with reality, NFL coaches simply aren't benching a QB like that for an unknown. Chad turned out to be good but nobody knew that then, and no coach with a winning, veteran team is going to take that chance unless he has to.
ive said it numerous times ill just say it now. when any of you can make a 100 percent accurate analysis on a QB with 7 or 8 starts under his belt with no running game, a horrid OL, and no defense. that is the day you stop posting here and get a check from an NFL team. im all for giving Clemens a shot, and if he sucks miserably throw Ratliff in. time to see what we have.
