Prior to Sunday’s showdown with the Houston Texans, Jets quarterback Chad Pennington had fallen into a rare midseason rut and some had considered him down and out. Ironically, with 6:31 left in the third quarter, Pennington was just that. The leader of the Green and White was sprawled out on the field turf gasping in pain.
“That is the noise you don’t want to hear,” said wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery of the awful din coming from Pennington’s direction. “My heart dropped because I heard him making noises and anytime you hear a player make those kinds of noises – it’s frightening.”
At first, it appeared to be another devastating blow to his throwing shoulder as the courageous signal caller laid in obvious agony. Pennington was spun by Texans defense end Jason Babin and then buried into the ground by rookie Mario Williams on a throw to Cotchery for a first down.
The injury turned out to be nothing more than Pennington getting the wind knocked out of him. Upon finally catching his breath, Pennington did what he had been doing all day – he got the crowd to its feet. Following a collective sigh of relief that echoed throughout the Meadowlands, Pennington left the field pumping his fists, waiving his arms and rousing the loyal fans to an eventual deafening applause.
“I wanted to let the crowd know I was okay,” Pennington said. “It was a good feeling. It has been a while. It reminded me of 2002. That is one thing about Jets fans - I love Jets fans. They really taught me how to be tough, how to take my licks and keep on going.”
Pennington picked a perfect time to get back into a groove. The Jets entered this game at 5-5 and their offensive thrust was in question after being shutout a week ago. For Pennington, it had been eight weeks since he eclipsed 200 passing yards mark in a game, dating back to the Jets’ 31-28 loss to Indianapolis on October 1.
In valiant fashion, Pennington completed 24 of 31 passes for 286 yards and one touchdown against the Texans. After throwing five picks over the past three games, Pennington managed to not only stay interception free, he was nearly perfect in the second half, completing 14 of 15 pass attempts.
“You are going to have your ups and downs,” Pennington said of the life of a professional football player. “It is going to be a roller coaster ride. Can you persevere through those tough times and can you continue to believe in the core things and the fundamentals that have gotten you to where you are? I think it is very important that you continue to believe in those things and understand that hard work leads to profit, hard work is what will carry you through the tough times.”
Eight different Jets receivers were used on the afternoon, but it was the triumphant return of his favorite pair, wide receivers Jerricho Cotchery and Laveranues Coles, who stole the show. On just four catches, Coles had accounted for 66 first half receiving yards, including a game-high 36 yard catch with less than four minutes to go in the first quarter. Cotchery heated up as well, hauling in three catches for 48 yards in the opening half to set him up for 110 total yards on seven receptions.
Coles, who finished with 111 yards, opened up the second half scoring with his fourth receiving touchdown of the season when Pennington lofted up a floater to the left side of the end zone from 12 yards out. On the play, Pennington showed us once again what head coach Eric Mangini believes to be Pennington’s greatest asset - his decision making.
“Outside of the throws that he made, he made a lot of good decisions,” Mangini said. “He made a lot of smart decisions to take us in and out of plays, like we talked about last week. I was pleased with his performance today.”
Pennington checked out of a running play once he recognized the single coverage on his leading receiver and took advantage.
“It didn’t look good for the run we called, so Laveranues and I just made eye contact and I felt that he had press coverage,” Pennington said. “If I had to stick the ball up in the air, he’d make the play.”
That scoring drive covered 91 yards and ate up six minutes on seven plays. Five of the seven plays were pass completions to five different receivers, including a 28-yard strike to tight end Chris Baker and a 35-yard bullet to Cotchery to set up the score on the next play.
“It felt good. The whole passing game has been forgotten lately, and today we were able to make some plays,” Cotchery said. “I had no doubt in my mind that Chad was going to bounce back today. He came out ready and we were just out there trying to make plays for him.”
Due to the recent regression in the pass game, Cotchery had averaged just 44.5 yards in his previous four games. Cotchery, a third-year player from N.C. State, knew it was only a matter of time before Pennington would breakout once again.
“I was impressed, but I wasn’t shocked by the way he played,” Cotchery said of his quarterback. “I knew coming after last week’s game and the way that he was preparing during the week, that this was going to be a good week.
“He was just letting it all hang out today and that is just one of the things that he does,” added Cotchery. “Once he gets in his groove and things are going well like that, he just makes things happen and he was able to do that a lot today.”
