by Stop Mike Lupica on September 12 at 11:39AM
According to the NJ Newark-Ledger, "Chad Pennington is telling people close to him that he doesn't think he's going to play on Sunday
against the Baltimore Ravens".
This isn't terribly surprising to me. Seeing Chad limp around the field after his injury last Sunday, you had to know it was a bad ankle sprain. He played another series, leading the Jets on a touchdown drive, but ankle sprains tend to get worse and more painful in the immediate days after the initial sprain.
My take on this: Chad will start on Sunday. He'll get an injection, or take some painkillers, and play through it. He's a tough guy, someone who played half a game a few seasons back with what turned out to be a torn shoulder. Plus, Chad hears the footsteps. Backup quarterback Kellen Clemens is a fan favorite already after a big preseason in which he showed Chad's smart reads in the Jets system, but with a better, stronger arm.
Were he to start, a big game from Clemens is unlikely - Brooks Bollinger got murdered by the Ravens' tough defense two years ago in a similar situation. But Clemens is a better pedigree, having played big minutes in the preseason (as opposed to third-stringer Brooks that season), and is a former 2nd-round pick. He was one of the top-5 quarterbacks taken in 2006. Pennington should be aware that a good start from Clemens, and a win against the Ravens, might land him on the bench if he's not too careful. It's the life of the NFL player - keep playing, even when you are injured, or be replaced. Chad is as aware of it as anyone... he'll play on Sunday.
******
Jets Blog has a great post that further illustrates what we said about the Jets losing the battle of the lines on both sides of the field. According to the stats they got via Reiss' Pieces, Tom Brady dropped back to pass 29 times, and was knocked down once. He completed 22 of 28 passes. The Jets blitzed 16 of the 29 times he dropped back to pass.
On the 13 non-blitzs, Brady was 10-12 for 142 yards and 2 TDs. Those two incompletes include a dropped pass by Wes Welker. So you have to blitz him, huh?
Yes, but their stats also tell us that you can't over blitz, either. On the blitzs where the Jets sent 6 or 7 rushers, Brady was 9-9 for 107 yards, including 5 completed passes to Randy Moss for 79 yards. Think about that for a second, it'll make sense... using 7 rushers, most likely including a free safety or corner, puts Moss into one on one coverage; Brady is aware of this, and immediately throws it in his direction. Also, the Pats do a great job of protecting Brady against blitzes, since they utilize FBs and TEs in their sets a lot.
The Jets had their most success against Brady when utilizing a small blitz (5 rusher); in those situations they were able to slightly pressure Brady (slightly, because they didn't get hurries or sacks, but at least they got enough pressure on him to not have him sitting in the pocket for 10 seconds, either), Brady was 3-7 for 48 yards and a touchdown. But most of those numbers are because of the 33-yard TD pass to Moss.
It should be obvious that stopping Tom Brady and the Pats' offense is now as tough a task as slowing down the Colts' offense. The best a team can do, for now, would appear to be to get pressure on Brady, without sending too many attackers, thus leaving your defense vulnerable to Randy Moss. When heavily blitzed, Brady automatically looks to Randy Moss.
Oh, and the Jets are going to have to get more pressure from their line.
Leave a comment
This isn't terribly surprising to me. Seeing Chad limp around the field after his injury last Sunday, you had to know it was a bad ankle sprain. He played another series, leading the Jets on a touchdown drive, but ankle sprains tend to get worse and more painful in the immediate days after the initial sprain.
My take on this: Chad will start on Sunday. He'll get an injection, or take some painkillers, and play through it. He's a tough guy, someone who played half a game a few seasons back with what turned out to be a torn shoulder. Plus, Chad hears the footsteps. Backup quarterback Kellen Clemens is a fan favorite already after a big preseason in which he showed Chad's smart reads in the Jets system, but with a better, stronger arm.
Were he to start, a big game from Clemens is unlikely - Brooks Bollinger got murdered by the Ravens' tough defense two years ago in a similar situation. But Clemens is a better pedigree, having played big minutes in the preseason (as opposed to third-stringer Brooks that season), and is a former 2nd-round pick. He was one of the top-5 quarterbacks taken in 2006. Pennington should be aware that a good start from Clemens, and a win against the Ravens, might land him on the bench if he's not too careful. It's the life of the NFL player - keep playing, even when you are injured, or be replaced. Chad is as aware of it as anyone... he'll play on Sunday.
******
Jets Blog has a great post that further illustrates what we said about the Jets losing the battle of the lines on both sides of the field. According to the stats they got via Reiss' Pieces, Tom Brady dropped back to pass 29 times, and was knocked down once. He completed 22 of 28 passes. The Jets blitzed 16 of the 29 times he dropped back to pass.
On the 13 non-blitzs, Brady was 10-12 for 142 yards and 2 TDs. Those two incompletes include a dropped pass by Wes Welker. So you have to blitz him, huh?
Yes, but their stats also tell us that you can't over blitz, either. On the blitzs where the Jets sent 6 or 7 rushers, Brady was 9-9 for 107 yards, including 5 completed passes to Randy Moss for 79 yards. Think about that for a second, it'll make sense... using 7 rushers, most likely including a free safety or corner, puts Moss into one on one coverage; Brady is aware of this, and immediately throws it in his direction. Also, the Pats do a great job of protecting Brady against blitzes, since they utilize FBs and TEs in their sets a lot.
The Jets had their most success against Brady when utilizing a small blitz (5 rusher); in those situations they were able to slightly pressure Brady (slightly, because they didn't get hurries or sacks, but at least they got enough pressure on him to not have him sitting in the pocket for 10 seconds, either), Brady was 3-7 for 48 yards and a touchdown. But most of those numbers are because of the 33-yard TD pass to Moss.
It should be obvious that stopping Tom Brady and the Pats' offense is now as tough a task as slowing down the Colts' offense. The best a team can do, for now, would appear to be to get pressure on Brady, without sending too many attackers, thus leaving your defense vulnerable to Randy Moss. When heavily blitzed, Brady automatically looks to Randy Moss.
Oh, and the Jets are going to have to get more pressure from their line.
Leave a comment
|
