Chad is In, Curtis is Out
By Tom Rock
The charades are over.
The quarterback competition that seemed to be won before July ended was officially cancelled by Jets coach Eric Mangini when he named Chad Pennington the starting quarterback. And Curtis Martin, who had been rehabbing behind closed doors for the last five weeks without practicing during the entire training camp, will not be on the roster for the regular season opener.
Big surprises? Hardly. Anyone who has spent a lick thinking about the Jets this summer could have come to the same conclusions. The news here is that Mangini announced the decisions – both of them – today. While it seemed the Jets would just let the Chad and Curtis situations flutter into the league-imposed deadlines of next Sunday’s regular-season opener and the roster cut-down date of Saturday, the team decided to make its decisions public.
Well I’ll be.
“It’s become really clear to me he's distinguished himself in the way I was looking for,” Mangini said of his decision to name Pennington the starter. Pennington will not play in Friday’s preseason game against the Eagles. Patrick Ramsey, Brooks Bollinger and Kellen Clemens will split time in that game and continue to compete not only for depth chart placement but a spot on the roster. The final cuts on the roster will be made on Saturday. That leaves three players for two spots. They won’t cut Clemens, a draft pick, so that leaves them weighing their options between keeping experienced Ramsey in case Pennington gets hurt during the season or saving a few bucks and keeping Bollinger.
We knew something was up when Mangini opened his press conference with his usual “housekeeping” announcements, then said it could take a while. Gulp! Then he announced that Trey Teague would be taken off the PUP list and added to the active roster and that DT Tui Alailefaleula would be put on injured reserve. Then he went into his decisions on Pennington and Curtis.
Talk about burying the lead!!!
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Comments (3)
I FEEL THE WAY TO GO FOR THE FIRST FEW GAMES IS WITH BROOKS BOLLINGER. WITH A NEW OL, BOLLINGER HAS BY FAR THE MOST MOBILITY. THIS WILL BUY TIME UNTIL THE OL GELS.BOLLINGER WAS IMPROVING LAST SEASON AND SHOWS THAT HE CAN MAKE PLAYS WHEN THE O LINE BREAKS DOWN. LETS FACE IT , PENNINGTON IS A NICE FAIRY TALE STORY BUT HIS ARM IS MUCH TO WEAK. HE STILL FLOATS THE FOOTBALL AND ON TEN POSSESIONS IN PRESEASON, WAS UNABLE TO SCORE.HIS INTERCEPTION IN THE GIANTS GAME LOOKED PATHETIC. OTHER TEAMS WILL LOAD THE BOX AND DARE HIM TO MAKE THE THROWS. BOLLINGER HAS A STONGER ARM AND IS MUCH MORE MOBILE. RAMSEY HOLDS ON TO THE BALL TO LONG AND CANT MAKE THOSE QUICK DECISIONS. UNTIL CLEMINS GAINS SOME EXPERIENCE AND CONTINUES LEARNING AT A PRO LEVEL, BOLLINGER IS THE ONLY QB ,WHO WILL NOT BE A SITTING DUCK. GRANTED , BOLLINGER IS NOT THE FUTURE, BUT FOR THE TIME BEING, HE WILL AT LEAST MAKE THE GAMES COMPETITIVE.WITH NOT EVEN A FULL SEASON OF GAMES UNDER HIS BELT , HE DESERVES THE SHOT!
Has Mangini indicated who has the "lead" in the starting RB race?
SUPERBOWL CHAMPS !!!!