June 26 was a special day for former Jets QB Chad Pennington.
Not only did he turn 50 years old, but he (along with another former Jet, Bilal Powell) was inducted into the Kentucky Pro Football Hall of Fame in Lexington.
"They've always asked me to come just to attend the event, and typically it's around my birthday, and I don't do it, but now I don't have a choice," Pennington told team reporter Eric Allen on a recent edition of "The Official Jets Podcast."
As a native of Tennessee who played his college ball at Marshall in West Virginia, the question was how did the 11-year NFL veteran (who played his first 8 seasons with the Green & White) meet the criteria.
"The parameters are you either were born in Kentucky, you played college ball in Kentucky, or you live in the state for more than five years," said Pennington, who is currently the head football coach at the Sayre School in Lexington. "We've been in the state now for, it'll be 14 years in August, so we've enjoyed being in central Kentucky."
Selected by the Jets in the first round of the 2000 NFL Draft, Pennington recently spent a day at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center in Florham Park, while acknowledging that back in his day the team trained at Hofstra University on Long Island. Perhaps the most satisfying part of the day was when he sat down to review a seminal Jets game from the 2002 season -- the resounding, 41-0, playoff victory over the visiting Indianapolis Colts and QB Peyton Manning. That's the season the Jets finished first in the AFC East and it's also the last time the Jets hosted a postseason game.
"That's the first time I've actually looked at the game, for real," Pennington said. "What's that, 24 years ago almost, and so 23 seasons, but it was pretty wild. I actually enjoyed it, because first of all, we were pretty good, we had some really good players, and it was really neat to kind of put myself back into that situation. And I think that the thing that I always come back to was just the energy and excitement and electricity around the city, the tristate area, and around our team during that time. Yeah, one of the most special times of my career, for sure."
The Jets began that season with a win at Buffalo followed by losses in five of the next six games as the veteran QB Vinny Testaverde gave way to Pennington, who was in his third season after playing sparingly his first two seasons. In Week 9, they traveled cross-country to face the San Diego Chargers, who entered the game with a 6-1 record. Pennington was dazzling that day, connecting on 28-of-37 passes for 253 yards and a TD, finishing with a QB rating of 102.6.
"The Chargers were coming off a bye week, Drew Brees was their quarterback and here's what really happened," he said. "We were 2-5, the [QB] switch was made when we were 1-4. We were starting to play better football, but there was still a lot of negativity floating around the team with play calling and outcome and things like that. And I just remember calling up the offense one day and just trying to level set with us about, OK, listen. First of all, these coaches aren't trying to lose. This is their livelihood. This is what they do to put food on the table. So, understand their perspective is they're trying to put us in positions to win. I know we have good players, I know we have good schemes, but our belief system has to change."
The 44-13 win set the Jets off on a four-game winning streak, and a 7-2 record to finish the regular season -- leading to the game against the Colts on Jan. 4, 2003.
"When you just take a moment to be in that moment, you see, man, we were playing at a high level," Pennington said. "And in that game, everything was just clicking, the play calls, the execution of the play calls, the energy of the team, the effort and execution of the team, and that's across the board, that's not even offensively, that's all three phases. I mean, it was a steam roll. It really was."
Right out of the box early in the first quarter, Pennington and RB Richie Anderson collaborated on a screen pass that went 56 yards for a TD. The Jets never looked back.
"You never really know a screen pass like that's gonna pop, because really, when you call that, you're looking for a good solid 6 to 8 [yards]," Pennington said. "If you break it for 15, now we're playing with house money. What's really cool about it is like when you watch it from the end zone, full play action fake, linebackers are completely going, because I think it was Dave Szott, maybe that pulled on a power-looking play, and then you've got Kevin [Mawae], Randy Thomas and Anthony Becht out front.
"That was a good way to start the game, for sure."
Sadly for Pennington and the Jets, their run ended the next week in a 30-10 loss at Oakland.
"That game was like a blur, I don't remember much," he said. "They were good and they probably had a little bit more experience. We probably matched up with them athletically and physically, but experientially they were a little bit different."
