For those who are all over Pennington in other threads, chew on this: He was 6-9 for 143 yards and a TD in the 4th Quarter On the drive that put the Jets up 10-7, he was 5-8 for 79 yards and 3-3 on 3rd downs (all 3rd and long). The 3rd pass to Smith and the TD pass to Cotchery were both perfectly thrown. The Jets again had no running game tonight. If you take out Pennington's 26 yards on scrambles, the Jets were 26 for 69 yards - about 2.5 yards per carry. So, on a rainy night with no running game going against a defense that has been playing well (and took Brady apart two weeks ago) with a shaky OL going against the best D lineman in the NFL with the season on the line, he has a tremendous 4th quarter when the Jets needed it most. He is 9-6 in a season when the Jets were predicted to win 4-5 games and is one win away from the playoffs. And he is 30-22 as a starter. And the Jets are on the verge of making the playoffs for the third time in his career and the two seasons the Jets didn't make the playoffs (2003 and 2005) he was hurt for extended periods of time. He is easily comeback player of the year this year. If you can't appreciate what he means to the Jets and where they would be without him, you are missing a very good story. Instead of harping on his arm, why not take a look at what he accomplished in a season when most people never thought we would last a few games, let along win 9 (maybe 10) games and start all 16.
Chad always seems to come through in the 4th when it matters. And Neon Leon gets the gameball tonight. Indy better get ready because the last time we played them in the playoffs things didn't go so well for them. :rofl:
Washington clearly was the player of the game. Others who deserver praise: Nugent - he sure seems worth that second round pick right now. 15 in a row and a couple of big ones this year. And he boomed that last kickoff instead of squibbing it - a show of confidence by the CS in his leg. Cotchery - some big grabs, and without a miracle tackle by Thomas, he would have had 2 TDs. Ferguson - He made two bad plays, and one I'm not sure was his fault. He gave up the one sack to Taylor (why wasn't he getting help?) and the running play where Taylor dropped the RB for a 4-5 yard loss. It looked to me like Ferguson was trap blocking on the running play and, at the last minute, saw Taylor blow into the backfield. It might not have been his assignment to block Taylor on that play. Anyway, we did not see the 3 sack game from Taylor that we feared. Ellis - he played his best game this year by far. I've been all over him, but he came up big tonight. Mangini - He has this team playing good solid football. One penalty - One turnover and it was a fluke. Great clock management. Schottenheimer - what a great time to call a screen pass. Edwards - thanks for the 4th round pick (Washington) and for our new coach. Rhodes - he was inches away from making a huge play all night long. He is clearly an impact player. The Secondary - did Chambers catch a pass????? Vilma - 9 tackles.
Pennington doesn't exactly deserve praise for this game, but for the season, as a whole, he certainly did a decent job. Considering that the offense is working with a completely new system that requires a cerebral QB, along with the fact that the running-game was nearly non-existant and the O-Line is starting 2 rookies, I'd say he is certainly praise-worthy for making the offense go.
He deserves some praise. leon saved his ass. However when the game was on the line Chad made the plays to help us win. Let's just look at this game and Oakland as practice. Sounds sill seeing how we aren't in the Playoffs for sure yet but cmon.... I'd say were getting ready for the post season allready.
While Washington clearly made the key play of the game, he didn't save Pennington from anything. Pennington led the Jets to what should have been the winning score at 10-7. He didn't turn the ball over or do anything to lose this game. The Fish tied this game because of a fluke fumble on a lousy punt, not because Pennington screwed something up. Yes, Pennington was the beneficiary of a great play by Washington on the last drive, but how so what? It' s about time the Jets got a play like that at a time like that. But that play takes nothing away from the QB.
Sorry, but Chad was not good tonight. I'm willing to give him a pass for this game, but he is what he is: someone who succeeds mainly by smoke and mirrors and intelligence. Against bad defense, he is a star. Against average defenses, he's a solid ball-control QB. Against tough defenses, he'll be terrible. His play wavers in more extremes than most QBs. Granted, he has earned himself the job next year. Hopefully he can prove me wrong and be a better quarterback next year if we can get a running game and if he gets another year away from surgery. But that's hard to predict how much better he could get.
It's not a coincidence that when the heavy rain subsided, with a lighter ball, he was much more effective. He has a weak arm as is, playing with that heavy ball only makes it worse.
Did anyone watch the 4th quarter of this game or did you all go to sleep at 11 pm??? What do you want Pennington to do? Winning is not enough? I guess you would rather have Eli Manning??? He throws a beautiful ball with a strong arm. He doesn't know where it is going and he can't win in the clutch, but he sure looks good losing. Give me a winning QB over an arm anyday.
I'm a huge Chad fan. But I was let down by him tonight. Sure, he led us to a victory but we wouldnt have been hold our breath of Chad played 100% tonight. It's like the Bears game. This time we had enough to win though.
I was at the game. What I saw tonight was two Quarterbacks. 1.) The QB that could not make a play in the foul weather. and 2.) The clutch QB that won the game for us when the weather clearly improved. Seriously, I was with a bunch Jet fans and we all saw the same thing. When it was not pouring he was excellent. When it was pouring he was not. Thankfully as the weather cleared he just became better. As a side note. During Leon's awesome play. Jason Taylor was covering a receiver and totally out of the play on the other side of the field. I definitely think the Jets (Chad or Brian S.) saw this and took advantage. Anyway my .02
Have any of you guys ever tried to throw a football when it's wet ?? Ever gone out and played catch in a DRIVING RAIN, not a drizzle, not a light rain, but a mini-monsoon like tonite ?? Chad did a good job tonite under very difficult conditions. Dan Marino said on the radio down there that gripping the ball tonite would be very tough and to expect lots of slips, bad throws, wobbles, etc. It's not too easy -- just go ask Richard Todd.
How many QBs play well in pouring rain?????? Not many. Look at Palmer's stats from the Denver game this weekend. That was a bad weather game and he was not impressive. You can't judge Pennington in a vacuum, especially when he came up big when it mattered most.
1. Not many QBs do well with monsoon raining on them. Name one QB who posts up 100+ QB rating in a rainstorm on a consistent basis, and I will eat my crow. 2. I was thinking maybe this game would be a battle of turnover, as I didn't see either of the team being able to pick up decent field position, much less sustain 12-13 play drives. In a condition as this, it is difficult not to turn the ball over - fumbles got me worried the most. Anyway, since this game was in horrid weather condition, and Chad did not turn the ball over, I am more than glad to say he did a good job. As it turned out, the game wasn't decided by turnovers, but then Chad did lead the team down the field when it mattered as well - so I was wrong on both account. Can't care less, as the Jets won after all.
Big props 2 Penny!! stepped up and play big in a big game......dispite all the drop balls he didnt quit....:finssuck:
:lol: :rofl: Maybe you missed that perfect pass he put on the money to Cotchery? Maybe you were taking a piss, huh? He didn't play great, but he managed not to give up any turnovers in the end. He also had one hell of a 4th quarter. I would put Leon above Chad's performance tonight, but Chad would have to be in the top 3. EDIT: Just going to add - he was playing in a downpour of rain most of the night. Someone is going to have to show me some stats of QB's that play near perfect in driving rains before I am willing to say Chad let me down, or Chad had a bad game tonight. Chad didn't lose us the game, and he produced a couple of drives that put us in a position to win. That is what we pay our QB's to do. :up:
Joe Willie, this might be favourite post of the season. Accurate and to the point, Chad is the difference between winning and losing.
It ws hard to throw most of the game, he could not get a good gip on the ball and alot of ducks were coming out but he didn't turn it over(although he easily could have) then as the conditions got better so did he and he led us to the win.
