09/10 — Kellen Clemens is from an Oregon ranching family, as many Jets followers know, so his first comment on entering the locker room was typical. As the backup quarterback came down the hallway and turned left into the room to see a gaggle of 30 reporters holding pads, cameras and tape recorders waiting in front of his locker, he uttered one word:

"Whoa."

Clemens held court with reporters who wanted to get his take on the New England game past and the Baltimore game ahead. Eric Allen will fill you in with a story on Clemens and Chad Pennington's ankle in a short while, but the short version from coach Eric Mangini at his mid-afternoon news conference was, as expected, no word on Pennington, who did not talk with reporters during Monday's media session.

"It is the ankle," Mangini confirmed. "We'll review it through the course of the week to see where he is, just like we do with everybody's injury situation. That's really all there is in terms of an update for Chad."

The related subject regarding Pennington is the national story of the Meadowlands crowd's reaction to him hopping off the field and Clemens coming on the field after that bad turn of events in the third quarter. Mangini said he didn't notice.

"I really wasn't focused on the crowd," the coach said. "I was focused on trying to get Kellen some snaps, trying to assess where Chad was, talking to Brian [Schottenheimer] to transition to a different set of plays, talking to Kellen before he went in on some reminders we'd gone through. [As the second QB,] You're in the flow of the game but you're not in the game, and now you're running the offense.

Wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery had a good take on the episode.

"Anytime there's some cheering like that, you really don't want that," said the polite-as-always Cotchery. "But the best thing is that when you have a guy who knows how to handle those situations, it's not that bad. If you have a guy who's not prepared to handle those situations, you'd feel really bad. ...Chad knows how to deal with that situation."

Pennington dealt with the question by offering a perfect high-road postgame response to those who jeered and cheered at inappropriate times Sunday: "So they gave him a cheer. And I'm glad they did because he needs support, our whole team needs support, and there's nothing wrong with that."

No, Chad, there's not.