10/29 — Eric Mangini, in announcing the first really tough quarterback call of his two years as an NFL head coach this afternoon, said he "completely" respects Chad Pennington. And Pennington showed why that respect is merited when the eighth-year veteran took the podium in the Jets' media room shortly after that announcement and turned a QB controversy into a study in professionalism.

"This is the bad part of losing," said Pennington, who was told by Mangini in the morning that he had lost his starting job to Kellen Clemens for Sunday's home game against the Redskins. "It's a team game. When you lose, changes have to be made, and sometimes drastic changes have to be made, whether it's that particular person's fault or not. My hope is that we go out and play energized, enthusiastic football. We owe that to Kellen. We owe that to each other."

If that sounds as if Pennington will help Clemens in the succession of power at the Jets quarterback position for as long as it lasts, that's what it sounded like this afternoon at Weeb Ewbank Hall. Pennington hearkened back to the relationship he had seemingly long ago with a certain No. 16 to explain why "it won't be hard at all" to help get No. 11 up to speed.

"I've had a great mentor in Vinny Testaverde," Pennington recalled. "I was on the other side of this situation in 2002. And learning from Vinny, how he handled the situation, how he treated me, how he never changed, even though he wasn't the starter, his preparation never changed, his attitude never changed, how he practiced never changed, how he approached the team, and really how we as teammates looked at him, it never changed. That's most important to me right now is that I don't change for my team."

Nor, he said, will his relationship with Clemens morph into something else. Why should it? The two discussed this changing of the guard — er, quarterback — before.

"I really tried to learn from Vinny," Pennington said. "I established a good relations with Kellen the last year and a half. He's just been awesome. His work ethic, how he approaches the game, his energy that he brings — he's done a great job and he just keeps getting better and better.

"Our promise to each other was that no matter what happened, we would give each other our full support and do whatever we needed to do to help the other one be successful."

Everyone's entitled to his or her opinion on a team's quarterbacks — in fact, it's encouraged by the nature of the position and the sport. The loudest opinions insisted Mangini had to make a change to Clemens, that Pennington's arm strength and decision-making demanded it, sooner rather than later.

There's no getting around No. 10's slump, the fourth-quarter interceptions, the recent third-down shortcomings, no touchdown drives at home vs. Philadelphia or Buffalo, one win and six losses as the starter.

But the whole process is sad, too. It's sad because Pennington entered this season as the second-most accurate passer in NFL history, is passing more accurately this season than he had previously, and is at this moment in a virtual dead heat with Arizona's Kurt Warner as the most accurate ever (65.53 percent for Warner to 65.33 percent for Pennington).

It's sad that he couldn't lift his teammates toward playoff territory as he did in 2002 and 2004. It's sad that he has been far from the only individual struggling on this team.

It's sad, especially for old guys like me who've been around these successions before, to know that there's at least the possibility that Chad will never get to deliver on his heartfelt desire, stated multiple times, to me and to many others over the years: "My goal is to win a championship for the New York Jets."

Of course, there is no reason to pull up the hearse. The way this game goes, Pennington could be back behind center for the Jets again — he's only 31, after all, and last year he was the Comeback Kid. "By all medical accounts," he said today, "I shouldn't even be talking to you right now. I shouldn't be playing this game."

But Pennington declined several times to engage in speculation with reporters about where his future will take him and if he's played his last season for the Green & White.

"I have no idea. I'm really not concerned right now," he said. "That's something I'll discuss with you in the off-season once we close the book on this season. Right now it's not important. It's not fair to my teammates in this locker room that I discuss my future with this team or any other team."

That's because whatever one may think about the blond guy from Tennessee and Marshall U., he's always been about winning. And he showed it by the way he went about this day of disappointment during which he handed the offense's and the team's reins over to Clemens.

"Whether I'm playing or not, I don't want to lose. I'm tired of losing," he said. "The white towel may be back, no doubt."

Inside the Jets

The guests on tonight's "Inside the Jets" will be linebackers David Harris and David Bowens, who teamed up a few times to do some damage to the Bills' offense until very late Sunday. And yours truly is also scheduled to make an appearance, if I can get all the writing and editing on the hot topic of the day finished in the next hour. Host Bob Wischusen kicks it off from Charlie Brown's restaurant in Garden City, N.Y., at 7 p.m. The show can be heard live on newyorkjets.com and 1050espnradio.com, or you can catch the broadcast after the Rangers game on 1050 AM ESPN.