Mangini Announces Pennington as the Starter
Water = Wet
Fire = Hot
Ice = Cold
Pennington = Jets' starter
The Jets announced this morning — amidst media suspicions the offense's ability to score points mind you — that the team has determined Chad Pennington will start versus the Titans in the season opener. I wrote a quick post about it on AOL, but what strikes me the most about this is why the change of heart from Mangini in less than two day's time? Yesterday papers were reporting that Mangini was still looking for someone to distinguish themselves. I understand what Mangini is doing, and that he probably needed time to review film and whatnot, but it sure seems like some mixed signals to me …
9 Responses to Mangini Announces Pennington as the Starter
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Harlan says:
Actually, IIRC, the writers merely said Mangini reported he would make the decision when he made the decision (your basic tautology) and that this coming game or even the Titans game would not necessarily pressage his announcement.
The authors, (stealing from a fellow NG member I will not call them journalists) were the ones doing all the obfuscation as they tried to read themselves into a very simple statement.
Rather than assume he changed his mind about when to announce things, I prefer to think he finally had enough time with films and practices to make the decision.
harlan -
Good move–he changed his mind, a healthy thing for a leader to do every once in awhile. Maybe he talked with his good buddy, the GM, or maybe some of his assistant coaches. Or maybe he just realized that it wasn't good for the team or Pennington to string the thing along, when everyone knew that Pennington had already earned the job. He was trying to leverage more performance out of his qb's, but he realized that team stability, predictability, and positive reinforcement for Pennington were more important at this point than creative chaos for another several days of training camp.
He's a smart guy, he realized he screwed up, and he changed course, which is what smart, and intellectually secure, guys do. -
I wonder if perhaps the coaching staff wants to begin working on the actual offensive game plan for the opener now? I can't imagine he wanted to show too much with camp open to the public.
Chad: “Shouldn't I be preparing for this weekend's game against Philadelphia. You know, I don't want to seem unprepared”
EM: “Let the unacceptable candidates worry about that” -
So Chad is the QB…so what? Now everyone in the media knows but I duobt they'll be happy. Now it will be something else that everyone wants to “read into.”
He ate fish before the game! Does that mean he doesn't feel he has the brain power this week?
He parked his car crookedly! He must be angry at someone.
He has a pimple on his chin! Is he PMSing?
This minutae is driving me crazy.
How about let them play?!?! Am I the only one that would rather hear real news than no news at all? -
Unrelated but related nevertheless, SI pro football preview issue projects Jets at 5-11. Dr Z would consider 7-9 a success and anything more amazing :)
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Warning: I'm about to go all statistical on you.
The media will doubtless point to the fact that Pennington has done little to justify the starters job, but he has been marginally better than the other 3 guys, even if he hasn't led them to a score yet.
Penningtons yards per attempt is alarmingly low at 5.3 but this is still better than Bollinger (4.3) Clemens (4.1) and Ramsey (3.5) which could be an indication that the problem is a team one rather than any deficiency in his arm (whether that problem be that the receivers aren't getting open, the playbook has been pared down or a lack of protection – or perhaps a little of all three).
The Jets have five drives of over 50 yards in this preseason – Pennington led two – he guided the team on a 60 yard march to the five against TB, which ended in the fumble which was down to poor blocking and a 56 yard drive against the Giants which ended in a missed field goal.
The only other plus 50 yard drives were the one play drive in Washington (Smith's 61 yard TD) and two Bollinger FG drives in the same game for 66 and 76 yards, both of which were against the second unit and featured mainly running plays.
Three and outs – Pennington 2 in 10 possessions, Bollinger 1 in 3 possessions, Ramsey 3 in 5 possessions, Clemens 7 in 11 possessions.
First downs – Pennington 14 in 10 possessions, Bollinger 10 in 3 possessions, Clemens 11 in 11 possessions, Ramsey 5 in 5 possessions.
Chad has hardly blown away the competition, but it seems fair to suggest that if the contest was a fair four way deal as insisted, then he has deservedly been given the job. Especially when you factor in the fact that he didn't get a chance against the struggling Redskins defense and also that most of the other guys have had second half reps, presumably against the second and/or third units.
Hopefully they can address some of the issues I raised above so that the team can be more dangerous driving the ball downfield once the regular season starts. -
I think not putting out a depth chart or announcing a Quarterback was a media ploy, what's so “Top secret” about it? Everyone in the world knew if Pennington was healthy he would be the starter. I only hope they make Clemmons the back up, being a Jet fan living in DC I've seen a lot of Patrick Ramsey and he never impressed me.
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I hate to admit it, but I think the media whirlwind around the lack of a named starter is what drove Mangini to make the announcement today. He's trying to protect his players.