Welcome to the 6th Calendar year during which the Cleverlytitledblog/Widening Geier has existed. Good to have you along for the ride.
In the AFC Wild Card Round, the Baltimore Ravens used their suffocating D to stifle the Miami Dolphins and tame the “wildcat”. Chad Pennington’s four interceptions have left a gaping void where the talk of him being an MVP candidate, and a much better choice than Favre, had been residing.
We knew Pennington could lead a team to the playoffs. He joined a Dolphins team that had revamped from their 1-15 season, and that enjoyed a solid regular season. All well and good. The reasons the Jets went with Favre and not him were shown in Round 1. The Ravens have a ferocious D, and they pick on mistakes in a major way. Chad made several, and the thing is, we knew this about him. Yes Pennington is accurate and can produce a high QB rating. But look at his playoff resume- The Jets crushed the Colts in 2003, and squeaked by the Chargers in 2005. His QB ratings were 142 and 115 respectively in those games. Otherwise:
1/12/2003- vs Oakland 21-47 for 183 yards- 1 TD, 2 picks, 44.9 rating
1/15/2005- vs Pittsburgh 21-33 for 182 yards- 0 TD, 1 pick, 65.5 rating
1/7/2007- vs Pats 23-40 for 300 yards, 1 TD, 1 pick, 79.2 rating
1/4/2009- vs Miami 25-38 for 252 yards, 1 TD, 4 picks, 53.7 rating
Its hard to argue that someone like ELi Manning is more talented than Chad, but last year is the perfect example of not getting in the way of what a team does well, and making the huge plays when you need to. The Jets saw Chad be hurt and lack arm strength and cojones. They picked up Favre because he has durability and balls in spades. The end result didn’t work out, but I think that the Pennington showed in both his time with Gang Green and the Fins that while Brett wasn’t the answer for NY, Chad certainly wasn’t either.
