By Tom Rock
OK, it's a bit of an overhyped headline. But Pennington certainly hasn't refuted any theories about his possible desire to play elsewhere next year.
"You always want to contribute on the field," he told the Tennessee reporters in a conference call today (we get him tomorrow). "Being an athlete and a competitor, that is how you can help your team the most. That is always my goal, to be on the field and to help lead us to victory. Right now, my focus is just doing everything I can to help us win, whether that is playing on the field or helping Kellen on the sideline. That is my focus. Then, obviously in the offseason I’ll just have to look at and evaluate some things and see what we need to do next."
He's under contract to play for the Jets next year, so just by him saying he'll need to "evaluate some things" means he's got one foot out the door. Not that the Jets will cling tightly to the other foot, trying to yank him back in.
Chad has always maintained that he feels he's an NFL starter. Just as a side note, that's the kind of message Kellen Clemens needs to start sending out. He was asked today if he thinks he's done enough to establish himself as the Jets' long-term quarterback solution and he went wishy-washy with an answer about that being something the front office will have to determine.
Take the bull by the horns, cattle rancher!
As for the possibility of playing on Sunday in his home state -- and the sight of one of his best games last year -- Pennington said he hasn't been inundated by ticket requests.
"This may be a surprise game where I sneak in there and have a chance to play but not have to deal with a lot of ticket requests because it’s a surprise," he said.
Comments (5)
Klemens is not a QB. He is an exact replica of this whole sorry organization.....Simply inept!
Chad Pennington is good enough to start for half the other teams in the league with his combination of leadership skills, football intelligence and determination. This is why he should have remained the starter this season and should be for the rest of his career.
It's certainly evident that the JETS have not been better off without him. It seems like a strong armed QB who can stretch defenses hasn't made a bit of difference. I haven't almost always been a Chad guy, due to his lack of arm strength. but he does give them the best chance to win now. He almost always has them in a position to win.
Chad does give the team the best chance to win. When he was at QB, they were in almost every game. He did make some costly mistakes at the end of games, but until this year that was a rare sight from him. The Jets didn't address their needs in the offseason, and that's why they played poorly this year. Their run defense was suspect last year, and they did nothing to shore it up for this year. They needed another receiver, and never got one either. To much fault was placed on Chad this year. He does have a suspect arm, but he doesn't have a lot of weapons to deal with either.
If you were Chad would you stay with these bunch of losers??