A Farewell to a Fallen Chad

With the Brett Favre era about to begin in NY, it marks the final hours of Chad Pennington as a New York Jet. Scapegoated for a lot of their troubles, there are a great many highlights of his career that are worth discussing. Here is a reprint of a Chad Pennington timeline I published months ago.

2002

In week 4, Chad Pennington see his first significant action against the Jacksonville Jaguars, coming into the game to relieve Vinny Testaverde, going 21-34 for 281 yards and 1 INT. The following week, Herman Edwards names Chad Pennington the team starter, starting the following week against the Kansas City Chiefs, going 22-29 for 237 yards and 2 TD. Although the Jets lost the game, Chad was well on his way. He led the team to an improbable AFC East title, secured by a huge 42-17 win over the Green Bay Packers during which Chad went 17-24 for 196 yards and 4 TDs. The following week in the wild card game, the Jets stunned the Colts 41-0 at home, where Chad went 19-25 for 222 yards and 3 TDs.

2004

After injuring his shoulder week 9 in Buffalo, Chad returned to the lineup 3 weeks later, we learned with a torn rotator cuff, to play a near perfect game at home versus the Texans, leading the team to a 29-7 win going 20-27 for 155 yards and 2 TDs. He led the team to a second playoff appearance in 3 years, going 23-33 for 279 yards and 2 TDS in the 20-17 wild card win over the San Diego Chargers. The following week, Chad would have led the team into the AFC championship game if Doug Brien hadn't missed 2 game winning FGs. He went 21-33 for 182 yards but that would have been good enough if not for Doug Brien. The Jets lost the game 20-17.

2006

Coming off another shoulder injury from 2005 and a new coach arriving in Eric Mangini, Chad Pennington wins his starting job back after a furious competition during training camp. He then led the team to an improbable 10-6 finish and a playoff berth, throwing for 3,352 yards and 17 TDs, earning him the NFL comeback player of the year award.

Brett Favre is now a New York Jet, and Chad Pennington's future is up in the air. Let's all, especially the Chad haters, remember the good times he had in New York as well. He bled green and white, was the heart and soul of the team and will be missed.

DRE-LOAAA-er

461 days ago

Score 0

It's a shame that the Jets waited till now to become spendthrifts. If they were this aggressive in terms of free agency, it might have made all the difference in the Herman Edwards era when Chad when in his prime. Pennington took the league by storm when he first started. He has a great football IQ and that carried him through despite his physical limitations {throwing arm} Minnesota should scoop him up. This will put the onus on Tarvaris Jackson to get the job done there or else.

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