Time to bench Pennington

From Derek on NFL Central.

All season long Eric Mangini has tried to send the message that his best players will play, regardless of their contract, position, or scenario. Following these ideals, I believe now is the time for the Jets to make such a move at the Quarterback Position.

On the season as a whole, Chad Pennington has been mediocre at best.

177-286
1888 Yards
188.8 Yards Per Game
61.8 Percent Completion Percentage (Career-Low)
6.60 Yards Per Attempt (Career Low)
10 Touchdowns
11 Interceptions (On Pace To Be Career High)
76.8 QB Rating (Career Low)

But These Past 6 Games, Chad Pennington has been particularly dreadful.

95-164
873 yds
145.5 Yards per Game
57.9 Percent Completion Percentage
5.32 Yards per Attempt
4 Touchdowns
9 Interceptions
57.8 QB Rating

I like Chad Pennington, I really do. He seems like a really nice person and his comeback story is really something tremendous. However, he is a physically limited Quarterback and always has been. Entering today’s game, 71.3 percent of Chad Pennington’s passes have traveled less then 10 yards in the air. He does have trouble throwing the ball downfield and because of that, he turns the Jets offense one dimensional, short. In return, teams play the Jets with a lot of man coverage, and try to jump on the short routes forcing Pennington to beat them deep and he has proven time and time again that he cannot beat a top defense deep. On top of that, he is already 30 years old and has yet to play a complete season in the NFL (Although it is still possible for him to do so this year). You can only like the guy so much, he is at a point in his career where he should be well into his prime right now, and what he has done so far just isn’t good enough.

His poor play recently at the Quarterback position has greatly affected the New York Jets Offense. As the New York Jets have only scored more then 21 points on Offense one time in the past 6 weeks, and the New York Jets have scored an average of 13.6 Points Per Game in that same span (Over the First 4 Weeks of this season, the Jets Offense averaged 24.0 Points Per Game). After looking at those stats, I do not see how one can honestly believe that Chad Pennington is putting the Jets in the best position to win football games based on the way that he has been playing.

Meanwhile, the New York Jets spent much effort this off-season, loading up on Qualified Backup Quarterbacks in case Chad Pennington would get injured, or not come back from his previous injuries. Those backup Quarterbacks involve Second Round Draft Pick Kellen Clemens, and trading a 6th round pick to Washington for Patrick Ramsey. I personally believe that the time is right for Kellen Clemens to be allowed to start for the New York Jets.

Kellen Clemens was drafted out of Oregon in the Second Round of this past April’s NFL Draft and is widely regarded as the New York Jets future at the QB position. His main strengths are his pretty good mechanics, his ability to read a defense and go through progressions, and his semi-mobility. His main weaknesses are that he lacks height (6′2) and he had an ankle injury his final season in college which led to him being drafted lower then expected. However, because his strengths are that he does not need much work on his mechanics, and he can already read a defense well, he was regarded as one of the most NFL-Ready Quarterback from this past draft after Matt Leinart. In reality, the only thing Clemens is learning right now from sitting on the bench is only gaining a greater knowledge of the New York Jets playbook, which Pennington has been learning in real NFL Games all season long.

Now, one might not want to pull the Quarterback, because as of right now the New York Jets is 5-5 and in the middle of a playoff race, but do you really think that the Jets could go 5-1 against the remainder of their schedule with the way that Pennington has been playing? I don’t really think that they will.

To make the playoffs the Jets would have to win 5 out of 6 Games to finish 10-6. They do play a soft schedule (Houston, at Green Bay, Buffalo, at Minnesota, at Miami, Oakland), but that’s still a tall order to ask the Jets right now as they’re 5-5 and the Dolphins, Bills, Packers, and Vikings are all only one game back from the Jets Record-Wise and still on the schedule. The odds are likely that they very well could lose 2 of those games, if not more.

And even if the New York Jets did somehow manage to go 5-1 down the stretch and make the playoffs, is 10-6 and a First Round Exit in the playoffs really better then going 8-8 and giving the ‘Quarterback of the Future’ some much needed experience so that next year isn’t another rebuilding year? I don’t think it is personally.

So to Eric Mangini, please do what is in the best interest of the New York Jets. Maybe not for 2006, but for 2007 and beyond the New York Jets should start Kellen Clemens next week, at home, against Houston.