Here Come The Warm Jets: Week 6

We are witnessing, in effect, the end of the Chad Pennington era.

Mangini, being the stubborn guy that he is, won’t make the change soon, as it’ll look like he’s bowing to media pressure. He’ll probably wait until after the bye week, or the last month of the season.

But I think we can say with confidence that this is the last year we’ll see #10 as the regular starting QB for the Jets.

Instead of constantly lamenting yet another lost season, I thought I’d revisit three of the best Jets QB seasons of my lifetime.

1986. Ken O’Brien. Completed 62% of his passes, 3,690 yards, 25 TDs, 20 INTs. This year included one of the best QB games ever, against Miami and Dan Marino. The Jets won that game 51-45. Kenny threw four TDs to Wesley Walker, and had 449 yards. I think it was around then that solidified my decision to be a Jets fan (thanks a lot for that, Kenny!) The Jets go 10-6, win a playoff game against KC, and then lose a memorable playoff game in OT to Cleveland.

1998. Vinny Testaverde. Completed 61.5% of his passes, 3,256 yards, 29 TDs, 7 INTs. I remember that summer being at my uncle’s house in California when I heard the Jets had signed Vinny. I was dazed, wandering around the back yard, mumbling “Vinny?” to myself. Oh, how I was wrong. After years of guys like Neil O’Donnell and past-his-prime Boomer Esiason and Browning Nagle and Ray Lucas and Glen Foley, it was a dream to have a real QB throwing real passes and giving us a real chance to win every week. The Jets go 12-4, destroy Jacksonville in the playoffs, and lead 10-0 at halftime in the AFC Championship game, only to lose 23-10 to Denver.

2002. Chad Pennington. Completed 69.2% of his passes, 3,120 yards, 22 TDs, 6 INTs. Chad was inserted as the starter on week 4, after the team started 1-2 and Vinny was looking way over the hill (and now he’s still throwing TDs, five years later. I bow before my Vinny overlord.) He lost his first couple of games, but showed promise. The Jets then went on a late-season surge, including huge blowout wins over New England (30-17) and Green Bay (42-17) to win the AFC East. They played the Colts in the playoffs, and had my single favorite game ever as a Jets fan, a 41-0 shellacking of Peyton Manning’s team. It was a perfect game, in which the Jets could do no wrong. They go on to lose to the Raiders in the next round.

Oh, Chad. There was so much promise for you after that year. We thought we had our QB of the next 10 years, leading us to playoff and eventual Super Bowl glory. Yet it was not to be, Chad, as you got yourself injured over (before the 2003 season) and over (during the 2004 season) and over (at the beginning of the 2005 season) again. And now it is abundantly clear that if there are to be meaningful victories in the Jets future, sadly it will not be with you at the helm.

So let us usher in a new quarterback. Let the Epoch of Kellen Clemens begin! Let all Jets fans dunk ourselves in cleansing waters, so that we may come out refreshed and renewed, with nothing but brightness and glory ahead.

Unless, of course, history repeats itself and we are shown promise yet are ultimately disappointed and left ragged and demoralized, still wandering the desert in search of the promised land with no Moses to guide us.

Here Come The Warm Jets: Week 2

It was your classic Godfather 3 game for the Jets.

“Just when I thought I was out….”

The team couldn’t have looked worse for the first three quarters. Kellen Clemens was beyond awful. He held the ball too long, he couldn’t read blitzes, he overthrew open guys, he got screen passes batted down. The Jets defense made Kyle Boller look like a real QB instead of the disaster he actually is (then again, this defense can make Joey Harrington look good, which they did last year.) Why does every guy have to have his career best against the Jets?

I was watching the game alone at this bar in Chicago. I was texting with my man Greg, lifelong Jets fan, who was watching the game at a bar in Seattle (oh, modern world!)

The gist of the text message conversation was:

DAN: I hate Kellen Clemens. I hate him.
GREG: Well, at least now we know he’s not the answer. Who do we draft next year?
DAN: I don’t even know. The guy from USC?
GREG: What about the guy from Louisville?
DAN: Whoever it is, he’s going to suck for us.

There was nothing to feel good about in the first three quarters, except that Nugent looked pretty good on the 50-yard field goal he hit in the first half. But as Greg said, “It’s pretty sad when your kicker is the best thing on the team.”


“…they pull me back in!”

All of a sudden in the fourth quarter, they start playing like a competent football team. The defense starts to make some stops. The offense makes some big plays, Thomas Jones hitting some holes, Clemens hooking up with Cotchery (who can really play.) They get the score to 20-13. They have enough time to get the ball back and a chance to score. We are in this thing. We have a chance.


Michael Corleone has a heart attack and slumps to the kitchen floor

We all know how this game ended. There were four key drops that killed their chances.

Most of the media only focused on three of the drops, the Coles one that was a tough catch but on his hands, and McCairens having two horrible ones including the last one that bounced off his hands in the end zone and into Ray Lewis’ to end the game.

The fourth drop was also huge, though. After they scored the touchdown to make it 20-13 they tried an onside kick. Nugent hit an absolutely perfect onside kick, as beautiful as I’ve ever seen. He hit the ball directly down off the tee and it bounced high up in the air about 10 or 11 yards away. Brad Smith jumps up with a perfect chance to haul it in, no one from the Ravens up there with him to get in the way. It bounces off his chest and the Ravens knock it away. If Smith catches that, they have great field position with 4 minutes left and a much better chance to score. But it was not to be.

So they were awful. Then they were great. But not great enough. Classic Jets game.

Now what do we know?

We know that Clemens can be a good QB once he gets some more experience. Unless that "holding on to the ball too long" thing is not a correctable problem. Then he will be a very injured QB.

We know that the team did this sort of thing last year in Week 2 against the Pats, and it was a sign of good things to come. This year, we’ll see if the signs of life are fleeting.

We know that their next two games are winnable against Miami and Buffalo.

We know they have to win them both or we know I’ll be thinking about the draft before Halloween.

We know this Miami game is going to be torture. Oh, such exquisite torture.

Filowitz's Friday Five

1) Do you think Roger Goodell feels cursed? Tagliabue retires and he gets to deal with Pacman, Vick, and now a paralyzed player and the Patriots spying thing. I'm pretty sure Tagliabue didn't have to deal with anything close to that in the last five years, let alone all in a six month span. Roger Goodell may want to consider going to Haiti and talking to some voodoo people. Soon.

2) All things considered, I'm more psyched for the Kellen Clemens Era than I was for, say, the Brooks Bollinger Experience or the Epoch of Ray Lucas.

3) Pandora.com Get up on some very cool internet radio. Free. You put in a song or artist you like, it plays you other songs or artists that are similar. Did I mention it's free?

4) The Greg Oden injury is really depressing. Really, anything that makes you think of Sam Bowie is depressing. Even if you're in the Bowie family.

5) In honor of the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, go eat some apples and honey. All of you, even the goyim. It symbolizes a sweet new year. And it's delicious.