September 10, 2007
Things Go South Quickly For Jets
For much of the first half, things didn't look so bad. The Jets contained the Patriots offense, had scored a touchdown of their own and looked like they would be in position to scare and maybe upset New England. But seconds into the second half, the team trailed by two touchdowns en route to a 38-14 loss at home. Adding injury to insult, the Jets lost Chad Pennington to an ankle injury. He returned but then yielded to Kellen Clemens during garbage time. The injury was especially ugly. Not only did Pennington have to endure landing awkwardly on his own foot, but he had to hear -- as he hustled hobbled off the field to save a time out -- fans cheer Clemens' entrance into the game. Not the classiest move by Jets fans.
Make no mistake, New England has a good team. Randy Moss' 51-yard touchdown won't be the first time he beats triple coverage this season. But the Jets could have limited their mistakes. Ellis Hobbs is fast. He still shouldn't have been able to run back a kick 108 yards to start the second period. The Jets didn't tackle too well on that Wes Welker touchdown either. After the season they had last year, the Jets won't and shouldn't be satisfied with this effort against anyone, even if the opposition is among the league's elite. Coach Eric Mangini is capable of making adjustments, and he will.
Photo of Chad Pennington after being tackled by Jarvis Green by AP/Mel Evans
|
Go Pats..!!
JETS fans...not classy? I don't believe it.
Can someone explain to me why Jet fans hate Pennington so much? I don't get it.
thats crap, the announcers completely just blew that situation out of proportion. They cheered pennington for being able to get off the field and making a stand up effort to do so. They also cheered because its exciting to see a rookie qb take the field and i'm sure he was shitting his pants and needed support
well tkaisen,
pennington has no arm! he had a decent one before his injuries. his receivers wait forever for the ball to arrive and this is even on short passes which is all he can throw anyway. it's pathetic. his release is terribly slow and he's slow on his feet. he takes forever to turn around and hand a ball off to his running backs. in general he slows the entire offense down. they have two very good wr's and they are limited to catching short passes. it's really torture to watch and they need to move on and bench him or the jets aren't goin' anywhere.
Pennington's admirable for physically doing the most with what he's got, and he's become smart enough to make quick and good decisions.
But it's excruciating to watch finesse passing week in and week out. Pennington was serviceable when paired with a capable Curtis Martin, but after several seasons proving that he can't throw deep, he's reduced to constantly threading the needle between defenders.
With nobodies at running back, defenses don't have to stack the line with an extra LB or safety. Since Pennington has no arm, defenses don't have to drop into nickel or dime coverage, either.
The Jets are now stocked with possession receivers, none of whom break for big yards -- the ball doesn't get there fast enough, and they've detrained from even looking for the opportunity.
It's pathetic when Jet fans look enviously at the Giants just because Manning, though a dolt, can fling a 30 yard post to Burress and not have the ball look like a shot quail. You know when the Jets finally establish a QB with a true NFL-caliber arm, every receiver will come out and say they're happy to have stopped playing two-hand touch and started playing real football.
The Jets are still on their way up. But it will be difficult for them this season because the Pats and Indy are stronger this year.
The Pats splurge on a whole new receiving crew. The Jets get a retread-RB and jew down their most important lineman over a paltry $1m. Ridiculous.