His Year II: Chad Pennington 2008

When a man just dumped from the QB needy Jets joined the worst team in the NFL, nobody expected fireworks, but Chad proved everybody wrong.

You know that feeling when you go through a breakup with somebody, but you never really lose your relationship with them? You remain friends, and still talk to each other lots, but you just can't handle being romantically linked anymore. They go and find an old rich man to remarry, meanwhile you find a young person, bright eyed and bushy tailed and ready to take on the world with your help. All the while through this process both of you somehow never lose your friendship with each other.

I have heard stories of divorces that go this way, and the Jets' dumping of Chad Pennington to pick up Brett Favre on the eve of the 2008 season is that exact scenario in a football context.

In the years since Chad's only career elite season (which you can read about here), injuries and other bad luck have stolen away Chad's chance to be one of the league's best. A 2003 wrist injury stole away his elite play action fake that he used to such effect in 2002. A 2004 rotator cuff injury stole away his arm strength (merely adequate to begin with) that would never truly return. It also stole away his whole 2005 season.

By the time 2006 rolled around, Chad finally got to play a whole season, and it became clear to everybody that 2002 Chad was gone and not coming back. Still good enough to take a good Jets team to the playoffs, but not good enough to accomplish anything once there. By 2007, it had now been five years since Chad's electric first season, and the bloom had truly worn off the rose.

Despite Chad having his best individual season in a while (7.4 CPOE, which is on the level of Tom Brady in 2007, only converting to 0.01 EPA/Play indicates a severe lack of help from the Jets' offence), he was benched midseason in favour of Kellen Clemens. After a few weeks of futility, Chad is subbed back in (more like thrown to the wolves) against the then 13-0 New England Patriots.

In a game the Jets came into as extreme 21 point underdogs (for perspective, 2022 did not feature a spread that large), despite being at a definitive disadvantage due to the spygate scandal that’d just been unearthed at the time, and despite a sprained ankle still hampering him, Chad would deliver a heroic effort in nearly ending the Patriots' undefeated season. Unfortunately, the Jets would come up just short after a late touchdown pass is overturned by video review. At season's end, the Jets would finish just 4-12, with Chad himself getting just one win on the season.

By the dawn of the 2008 season, 2002 is a distant memory, now being called "the lone shining star in a sea of Chad led disappointments." People are genuinely calling for Kellen Clemens to start for the team. Chad's position is tenuous at best, and on August 6, the hammer drops.

Eight years with the Jets that included an MVP calibre 2002, three playoff appearances (in just three seasons of Chad starting 12 or more games), two playoff wins, two major operations on his throwing arm, one major operation on his nonthrowing arm, and routine giant killing throughout by this mediocre Jets team, are over just like that.

Chad is dumped by the Jets so they can bring in Brett Favre, who just had a career resurgence in 2007 before retiring after throwing a hissy fit because the Packers wouldn't commit to him over Aaron Rodgers.

To call this unfair is an understatement. Let me count the ways.

The first is obvious. From a character perspective, the Jets are taking a big loss in letting Pennington go to bring Favre in, and this is before we knew all we know now about Brett. This is an article about Chad, so I'll let that one go unaddressed, but if you care to know, look up Brett Favre. Quite the guy.

The second is that as recently as 2006 Chad was a demonstrably better QB than Brett Favre. Yes Brett had an amazing season in 2007, but even then Chad's 7.4 CPOE in 2007 has Brett's 4.3 covered, on basically the same average length of throws (7.7 yards for Brett, 7.5 for Chad). In essence, Chad had no help on offence. Brett had plenty. I understand Chad has had a big turnover problem ever since the 2004 injury, but if the Jets think bringing in Brett Favre is going to solve their turnover problems they've got another thing coming.

All of that is to say that in terms of results, Brett Favre was mountains better than Chad in 2007, but looking at the underlying numbers, what's about to happen in 2008 might've been more predictable than it seemed.

The third reason this is unfair is that Chad is a franchise icon in New York. Somehow, in the most impossible city in the world to do so, Chad has managed to become beloved despite the lack of any championship level success. Chad is the best QB the Jets have had since Joe Namath. Really the only one since Namath that could compete at the highest level.

I'll let you know the next time they find one.

Despite all of this, the Jets kicked him to the curb like yesterday's garbage. It would've been different if Chad had groomed a rookie for a while and he'd gotten the chance to know his exit was coming so he could prepare for it and everything could've been amicable. This was not that. On August 5th, he’s the Jets' starter. On August 6th, he's job hunting.

This did not go unnoticed. The fans did not like this, but there's nothing they can do about it. Chad is gone, which brings us to the fourth reason this was so unfair.

This man is a human. I know we fans have been trained to see athletes (and QBs in particular) as robots, largely because they've been trained to act like robots. True to form, Chad's quote in the Friday news is that leaving was "hard to accept emotionally." That's robot speak for this hurt him really badly.

How could it not? Eight years in this relationship, and all of a sudden at the last minute you're dumped for the rich old guy, that as recently as a year and a half ago you were better than? It'd hurt me too. It demonstrates that the franchise had been looking to dump him the instant they could find something better, and as soon as they could pull that trigger they did.

It's a staggering lack of appreciation for a man that gave as much of himself to the Jets as Chad did, but nevertheless, it's August 6, and Chad is gone.

That bad timing is the fifth and final reason this release was so unfair. August 6th is too late to find a starting job. You need more than four and a half weeks to come in and play as a QB. If they cared at all for the man, the Jets surely could've pulled this trigger sooner to give Chad more time over the summer to look for options, but they didn't.

Luckily for him, there's a team so desperate for QB help that they're willing to bring him in on four weeks' notice to be their man.

The story of the 2007 Miami Dolphins is an interesting one. They were in a real position to be the first 0-16 team in NFL history, despite not being that bad. Don't get me wrong, they were really bad, but ranking 23rd on offence and 32nd on defence is more indicative of a three win team than a one win team. What really hurt them was their QB play.

Cleo Lemon, John Beck, and the 2007 version of Trent Green are nobody's idea of NFL starters, but they're what the 2007 Dolphins had to work with. As of August 5th, 2008, it wasn't looking much better for them. Their options are Josh McCown, who we know will go on to be a great QB, especially in 2013, but in 2008 isn't the ticket, or Chad Henne, who is freshly drafted at this point. Not exactly the best choices, so when Chad Pennington comes available, they snap him up as quickly as possible.

So now we're set. It's Chad Pennington in a Dolphins uniform, a uniform that would've been unthinkable as little as a few months ago, going into a new season as the leader of a team that went 1-15 in 2007.

Yet again, if Chad wants to go anywhere, he's going to have to put a bad team on his back to do it.

Miami is at a serious talent deficit. Their first overall pick, OT Jake Long, will help, but Miami has wasted opportunity after opportunity in the preceding years to make this roster better. Of the seven drafts from 2000-2006, Miami has seven players left. Seven players from those seven drafts as of the beginning of the 2008 season. What should be the core of the team is instead on other rosters, and the Dolphins are left with unexceptional everywhere.

The two backs, Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams, both have significant question marks. The receiving core is comprised exclusively of unknowns, with second year pro Ted Ginn, Jr and rookie Devone Bess shaping up to be its two best. The offensive line is bad, to put it politely. That they're starting a sixth round draft pick out of camp should tell you all you need to know. The defence also needs a lot of help, but big contracts to underperforming players have led to Dolphins to trade Jason Taylor over the offseason. I struggle to see how they'll improve this year.

This is what we have. This is what Chad has to work with. He has a lot of experience dealing with mediocre help, having played on the Jets for all those years, but joining such a bad roster for your second chance in the league is never ideal. This is what you have to accept when you're released on the 6th of August.

The start of the Dolphins' season is one month away. It's on September 7th at home against the New York Jets. The very same Jets that have just dumped Chad. This is a perfect chance for revenge, but first Chad needs to get over the three main issues with him as a player, each of which I will be keeping track of through the course of this piece. I've ranked them below in terms of importance.

1) Since the 2003 wrist injury, Chad has had a nasty turnover problem that he's been unable to kick. If Chad is to take the reins of a quite bad Miami team and lead them where they want to go, he cannot continue to turn the ball over at the rate he did in New York. That's number one.

2) Since the 2004 rotator cuff injury, Chad's arm strength has abandoned him. While still having excellent touch on deep throws, he struggles with downfield throws that require some velocity to them. Among all qualified QBs, Chad ranked 6th to worst in average depth of target (aDoT) in 2006, and again in 2007. The only QB of note that consistently threw shorter passes than Chad was Drew Brees, who ranked third from worst in both 2006 and 2007. This shows that low arm strength can be worked around and still result in great seasons (Brees will take his noodle arm to a Super Bowl and a hall of fame career in the ensuing years), but without the quality of receiver that Drew has in New Orleans, Chad will have to take more of the load himself by raising his aDoT if he wishes to have success in Miami.

3) Largely due to the lack of arm strength, Chad can sometimes struggle in end of game situations in the fourth quarter. I don't suspect Miami will be winning very many games by pulling away. They just aren't good enough to do it on the regular, so Chad will have to shape up in the fourth quarter to take Miami where they want to go.

So there you have it. All the lead up is done. We know Chad's strengths. We know his weaknesses. We know everything that's led up to this moment, from Chad's highest highs to his lowest lows in New York. Now all the talking is over. It's time for the games to begin. It's the Dolphins vs the Jets in Miami.

In this game, you can truly tell that this team has only been together for one month. The Dolphins come out looking sloppy. At the time of this game, Chad is the most accurate passer in NFL history. He’s the NFL's all time leader in both raw completion percentage and CPOE, but five of his first six passes fall incomplete.

Luckily, due to a Jets missed field goal try, the Dolphins only fall down 7-0, despite getting only one first down out of their first three possessions. We're not even out of the first quarter yet. The Dolphins have plenty of chance to come back from here, and they do.

Their next drive is a microcosm of what the 2008 season will be for the Dolphins. Chad has to account for all but 17 of the yards on the drive, but no matter, as the Dolphins score relatively easily to tie the score at seven. After the Jets immediately answer with a touchdown of their own, the Dolphins can do nothing for the rest of the half as both sides go into half with the Jets up 13-7.

This is also something that's somewhat characteristic for Chad in his career. He will have explosive drives where no defence in the world can stop him, and then silence for the whole rest of the half. It’s another thing Chad has made a career of in New York that he must not do in Miami.

He has another of these deep into the fourth quarter, after converting on a fourth and seven to begin the drive it only sees one second down as the Dolphins easily score. The problem is that this occurs at 3:33 of the fourth quarter, and it only makes the score 20-14. Where was this for the rest of the second half?

After the Jets run the clock down to 1:43, Miami gets the ball back and again runs straight down the field with no difficulty whatsoever. At 23 seconds, they're back in the red zone, needing a touchdown to win. This is the perfect setup for a storybook moment.

Unfortunately, this isn't a book.

After two incomplete passes, the final play of the game is an end zone interception as the Jets take it 20-14. Chad has lost his opportunity to get revenge on the team that dumped him on season's eve, and in so doing he's brought back two of the fans' greatest fears, the turnovers and the inability to win in the fourth quarter.

This had to have hurt Chad.

He harbours no animosity towards his former teammates. Reportedly, he had a long phone conversation with Laveranues Coles on the night before the game, but you can see the hurt in his face. He wanted this one. When asked in post game interviews what hurts the worst about this loss, he responds by pointing to his heart. I won't bore you with the robot speak he gives as an answer. All it took was a point to say what Chad knew he couldn't.

It hurt him to even be playing against the Jets.

Nevertheless, there is no taking it back in the NFL. Chad is the QB of the Miami Dolphins now, and after that emotional week one, it's time to move onto week two.

As it turns out, it's time to move on to week three. Week two against the (future NFC Champion) Arizona Cardinals also contains nothing good for the Dolphins. There were no turnovers, but the NFL's career leader in completion percentage can complete a measly 50 percent of his passes and score just three points in a brutal 21 point loss to the Cardinals in Arizona.

This is bad. Through the first two weeks of the year, Miami's offence ranks 17th, but almost all of their production is packed into just three drives against the New York Jets. Chad himself ranks 20th in EPA/Play, which for some wouldn't be bad, but 20th is below Chad's standard. It's below the likes of Jay Cutler, Jason Campbell, Kyle Orton, and Jamarcus Russell. These are really sad hours for Dolphin fans.

With their week three matchup being against the New England Patriots, none of this looks to change. Miami is coming into this game as 13 point road underdogs. It isn't seen as a crucial game at the time, not helped by the fact that the three following games are against San Diego (led by Philip Rivers), Houston (led by the perpetually underrated Matt Schaub), and Baltimore (bolstered by the league's best defence), but if Miami loses again and falls to 0-3 as the Patriots move to 3-0 and the Jets move to 2-1, their hopes at the playoffs will already be pretty much over.

The good news for the Dolphins is that they've got the best man for the job. Chad Pennington has multiple career road wins over the Patriots. At this time, the only other active QB that can say that is Peyton Manning. If the Dolphins could've had anybody for this job, Chad would've been one of their first picks, but still, the Patriots' defence on the road is not my definition of an ideal situation to turn around a struggling offence.

True to form, this game doesn't start out looking any better than a normal Dolphins game. The first drive of the game is a lazy three and out. The Patriots respond by darting down the field, getting to the Miami 10 before even seeing a third down. If the Patriots were to score a touchdown here, it would be extremely bad for the confidence of all the Miami players.

It's easy to forget, but I implore you to recall that Miami is coming into this game as 13 point underdogs. Nobody is giving them a prayer at winning outright. Even with hindsight, I wonder where this game would've gone had the Patriots scored this touchdown.

Fortunately for us Pennington lovers, they don't. Instead, it's a red zone interception. Miami returns the ball out to the 26, and we're back in business.

What business is that though? After two plays, it's again third and long. We've just seen how easily the Patriots can drive down the field. Miami really needs to score here, but on third and six, it's not looking likely. From this position, the Dolphins are expected to score -0.2 points, meaning this next play is more likely to help the Patriots than themselves.

That's why I contend that the 2008 Dolphins' season, and Chad Pennington's career, turn around right here. Yet again, he's going to make his mark at the expense of the New England Patriots.

Welcome to Chad Pennington's Year.

Chad finds Anthony Fasano over the middle for a 24 yard gain, and from here the Dolphins are unstoppable. The drive sees just one second down, and no more thirds, as they storm into the end zone to take the lead. Miami's next two drives see just one third down between them as they are each also easy touchdowns. Combined with having held the Patriots to just two field goals on their two touches in the interim, Miami goes into the half up 21-6.

They come out of it without the same fire. Their drive is another easy three and out.

Remember Chad's consistency issues. This had to have made Miami fans slightly nervous, but after a three and out from the Patriots, Chad calms everybody down again, accounting for 51 yards on his four passes as the Dolphins again score an easy touchdown to take the score to 28-6. It doesn't matter when the Patriots respond with an immediate touchdown of their own. It matters so little that Chad doesn't touch the ball in the fourth quarter. The Dolphins have walked into Foxborough as 13 point underdogs and walked out as winners by 25 points.

Wow.

Chad went from going three and out on the first drive and sinking Miami fans into a deep dark depression to scoring touchdowns at five of the next six times of asking. Nobody does this to the Patriots. Nobody scores five touchdowns out of six drives. Not in this era, but Chad and his Dolphins did.

What's better is that Chad had to throw the ball just 20 times to get this done, completing 17 of them for 226 yards. In 20 plays, Chad generated 15.5 of the Dolphins' total 26.8 EPA. This is 0.77 EPA/Play, which is one of the best games an opposing QB has ever put up against the Patriots.

I know what you're saying. There's two things I'm leaving out here. Allow me to get both out of the way. The first is that the Dolphins were playing the Patriots without Tom Brady, who had torn his ACL in week one. I didn't feel the need to mention it because I don't think it's pertinent to the discussion. Tom Brady does not play defence. If the Patriots had scored 31 instead of 13 points, this is still an easy win for the Dolphins. No QB was beating Chad on this day.

The second thing that needs addressed is that this is indeed the game where the Dolphins introduce the wildcat offence. However, contrary to popular belief, this is not the game where they perfect it. The Wikipedia article for this game states that the Dolphins "decimated the Patriots all day with the wildcat offence." This cannot be further from the truth.

Would you like to know how many snaps Ronnie Brown took as QB in this game?

The answer is six. Only five were successful.

As a result of these five plays, Chad's breakout performance into his amazing second career is utterly glossed over, because people like to remember what Ronnie Brown did as QB today instead of what Chad did. This is fine. People can remember what they wish, but please keep Chad in your memory. This was a great performance that silenced a lot of doubters back when it happened. It's still a great performance now. Don't let five plays keep it from your memory.

Now that all of the sunshine and rainbows are gone, and Chad has proven himself still an elite QB, we can remember that was just the first of the Dolphins' brutal four game gauntlet. After a bye week, the Dolphins get Philip Rivers and his San Diego Chargers in Miami. As we know, Philip Rivers will go on to lead the league in EPA/Play in 2008, so this is a daunting challenge ahead, but Chad is ready.

After the Chargers begin the game with a field goal, they show that they've come prepared for the wildcat. Miami runs four wildcat snaps on the first drive alone, but only two generate positive EPA. Chad gets to touch the ball just four times, and accounts for 28 yards, but the overuse of the wildcat puts the team in some bad spots, and leads Miami to settle for a field goal.

After a Charger three and out, Chad gets to touch the ball just once on the ensuing Dolphins drive. That one touch is a ten yard completion on a third and 12. Yet again, overuse of the run has hampered Miami's offence, and they punt the ball away.

On Miami's next drive, they finally figure it out.

Six of the eight plays are passes, with the only rushes being to convert a fourth and one, and one first down rush. All other plays are Chad completions, including the 17 yard touchdown pass that gives the Dolphins a 10-3 lead. After the Chargers again fail to respond, this time it's on the rush game to bail Chad out, and they do.

Chad again gets six touches. This time he completes just three of them, but with one being a 25 yard pass, it's still fairly successful for him. However, this drive is all about Ronnie Brown, as he converts two key third downs, and scores a touchdown on a wildcat keep to go up 17-3 going into half.

It feels like the Dolphins have got this figured out. As long as their backs aren't overused, they can be a great help whenever Chad struggles.

The Dolphins again come out of the half with nothing (a worrying trend), but the Chargers go three and out also. The Dolphins use their second chance on a drive that ends in a missed field goal, and the Chargers finally respond with a touchdown. We're now at 3:21 of the third, and the score is 17-10, but the Dolphins absolutely have had all of the momentum. If they can just keep it up, they'll surely win this game.

Unfortunately, the offence never gets a chance, as the kickoff return results in a fumble, an the Chargers get the ball on the Miami 25. Thankfully, this drive results in a goal line stand. The Dolphins get the ball on their own one, but they're still up seven. On this drive, Miami seems to forget everything they've learned up to this point.

They're overusing the run again. Chad gets to touch the ball just three times, and in those three touches he gets Miami 48 yards, including 28 on a third and nine with his back against his own goal line. Great for Chad, but why does he only get three touches?

The Dolphins had first and ten from the San Diego 47, and used those three plays on three Ronnie Brown runs, and then punt from the 38. Why not let Chad throw? I don't get this.

Luckily for Miami, the Chargers get just two first downs for the rest of the game, and we close out a 17-10 win to move to 2-2, but what is with the play calling here? Chad was cooking the Chargers, with a 75.9% true completion percentage (which excludes spikes and throwaways), and 0.30 EPA/Play. Yet, he got to touch the ball just 32 out of the Dolphins' 69 plays. That kind of thing is how such a great Chad performance can result in just 17 points.

In order to win, Miami had to rely on holding the league's best offence to less than 17 points, which this time they did, but mark my words. This will not happen often. The Dolphins need to shape up on the offensive side if they want to win games in the future. The wildcat is cute and all, but if you want to run it ten times (as they did today), you'd best make sure it's more successful in the future, or else just let Chad play QB.

In week six, the Dolphins are going to get another test, as they're going on the road to see another QB who's also in the midst of his breakout season.

Matt Schaub is not exactly a big four opponent like Philip Rivers is, but he's a tough matchup for any AFC QB in the 2000s. He and Andre Johnson are a premier combo, and all the people that don't remember Matt Schaub as an elite guy ought to go back and watch some of their games together. They were torturing people. As such, despite the Texans' winless record so far, they come into this game as favourites.

The Dolphins come out of the gates dead. Again. Thankfully, the Texans' first two drives both end with interceptions in Miami territory, so we get a chance to get it going. Miami's second drive starts with a wildcat play that accomplishes nothing, but what they do with their next play makes me think that Head Coach Tony Sparano was reaching into the future at the nerds like me.

I've been critical of the wildcat in this article, but on the second play they finally run a variation that I like. It's a double reverse handoff to Chad, who then uncorks a 53 yard touchdown pass. If they can have Chad included more in the wildcat stuff, I may start softening on it.

After another long Texan drive, this time resulting in a field goal, all Miami can do is come out with another three and out. After the Texans again are held to no points, Miami comes out and scores an 80 yard touchdown on a screen pass to make it 14-3. We're well into the second quarter already, and all of Miami's offence has come on just two plays. This isn't a good sign, but I suppose a 14-3 lead is acceptable.

After another Houston field goal to make the score 14-6, Miami falls back into the trap of overusing the run. Their first four plays of the new drive are all rushes (two out of the wildcat), even including a rush on first and 20 after a holding penalty. What is with that? They let Chad throw on second and third down, but by that point it's too late. The Dolphins have to punt, and they give up a touchdown on the return. You reap what you sow I suppose.

They clearly haven't learned anything though, as on the next drive they rush on second and 17 following a Chad sack. You don’t need me to tell you that a handoff on second and 17 is a bad play call. After the inevitable punt that results, the Texans feel merciful, and so don't score, as Miami somehow sneaks into half with a 14-13 lead.

That was a brutal half of offence. Aside from the two long touchdown passes, Chad touched the ball just eight times (mostly on hopeless second and third downs), and the Dolphins managed two total first downs. They got TOPed to death, with the Texans running many more plays than Miami, but somehow the Dolphins still cling to a 14-13 lead. They're going to have to come out of the half with some more firepower if they wish to maintain it.

Of course these are the 2008 Dolphins so they come out of the half and lay an egg. Three plays and a punt. Only once Houston quickly scores to go up 20-14 can Miami get out of the starting gate. For once, they allow Chad to throw on first down, and he rewards them with a 33 yard completion. The drive from there would never see a third down as the Dolphins score easily to take a 21-20 lead back.

What is with this Dolphins offence? They're either unstoppable or they cannot accomplish anything. There is no in between.

After two more drives of the latter, Miami find themselves at 6:04 of the fourth, down 23-21. This is Chad's chance to close a game out in the fourth. Here is his chance to prove all the doubters wrong that say he isn't a fourth quarter QB, or that he can only win in runaways. It's easy for the layman to forget a week six game against the winless (because they didn't have Schaub to start the year) Texans, but this is a big moment for Chad. He needs to deliver big here, and he does.

After a heart stopping interception that bounced off Anthony Fasano's hands, only to end in the defender fumbling the ball back to Miami, Chad makes good on his second chance. He takes just two passes to get to the Houston 12, and two rushes later the Dolphins have taken a 28-23 lead. Chad's done it.

Unfortunately, he's done it too quickly, as the quickness of this drive leaves 1:51 for Matt Schaub to go win the game for Houston, and he does. Running in for the final touchdown with three seconds to go sends the Dolphins back to Miami with a 29-28 loss and a 2-3 record.

I hate this game for Chad. It's the story of his whole career wrapped into one. The hotness and coldness. His coaches somehow not trusting him to throw more than 25 times, despite a 75 percent true completion mark. The turnover at the critical junction, yet still succeeding anyway, only to have it all ripped out from under him right at the end. It's the Chad Pennington story folks, and with a home loss to Baltimore in week seven, the gauntlet is over, but Miami falls to 2-4.

Luckily for the Dolphins, the Jets are just 3-3 at this point, and New England is 4-2 with one of those losses being to the Dolphins, so Miami is still looking okay in the playoff hunt. A 2-2 record out of that four week gauntlet is likely the best we could've reasonably hoped for, but it still leaves us needing to win almost all of our remaining games in order to make a playoff push.

Chad's numbers are also looking much better than when we last saw them. As of week seven, his 0.159 EPA/Play now ranks him 8th in the NFL. No longer behind the likes of Kyle Orton, now he's ahead of the likes of Peyton Manning and Ben Roethlisberger. This is a lot more like it, and with some weak competition coming up (with one exception), he has the chance to keep it going and really push the Dolphins back into the playoff race.

In week eight, Chad takes Buffalo behind the woodshed to the tune of 0.39 EPA/Play despite no help from his rush offence in a mostly close, but never uncomfortable nine point win. In week nine it looks as if it won't be so easy, facing down Jay Cutler (also in his career year) and the Denver Broncos on the road. Despite coming in as four point underdogs, Chad puts the Dolphins on his back en route to another nine point win.

In week nine Chad struggles a bit against Seattle, but thankfully their QB is Seneca Wallace, so the Dolphins get out with a win. Week ten is another close one, this one requiring a game winning field goal with 30 seconds to go, but the Dolphins get the win over the Oakland Raiders.

Before we've known it, the Dolphins have put together a four game win streak and are now in possession of a 6-4 record. Over this stretch Chad has posted 0.11 EPA/Play, which is unexceptional, but when you consider the lack of help he got from his rush offence over this period (-0.129 EPA/Play, 22nd over this stretch), it starts to look a lot better.

This stretch has brought the Dolphins back into a tie with the Patriots, also at 6-4, both one game behind the 7-3 Jets. With Indianapolis looking strong in one wild card spot, and already having lost to Baltimore, who occupies the other, it's clear that the AFC East is the only way into the playoffs for our Dolphins.

This fact makes week 12 the critical junction in Miami's season. With the Jets playing the 11-0 Tennessee Titans, it's very possible that the Dolphins can make that loss up this week, which makes winning their game absolutely imperative. Who is their opponent then?

Why is it always the Patriots?

Yes. In order to get over this hump and into first place in the East, the Dolphins are going to have to play the New England Patriots again. Thankfully, they've already beaten New England on the road in week three, so they get to play this one at home. Despite that, the Patriots still come into this game as one point road favourites. Not a patch on the 13 point favourites they were the first time, but it still demonstrates how thin the belief in these 2008 Dolphins is.

While Miami's offence has been in a bit of a slump recently, the Patriots' has been white hot, ranking fourth in the NFL over the prior five weeks, led by the league's best rush attack. The Patriots are what the Dolphins wish they could be on offence.

There's no way to get around it. The Dolphins are outmanned in all positions except one, our man Chad.

This was true in the first matchup also, but this time there's playoff lives on the line. As the year goes on it tends to get harder and harder for the one man show type teams to win games, but here Chad is. In order for the Dolphins to get where they want to go, it's on his shoulders. He's going to have to show out twice in the same year against the Patriots, something even Chad, the Patriot killer, has had trouble doing over his career.

On a very nice Sunday afternoon in Miami, the Patriots start the exact same way they did back in New England, by marching straight into the red zone without much difficulty, but again they stall, forcing them to settle for three. This leaves the door open for the Dolphins to take the initiative like they did back in September, but we know full well by now what happens on Miami opening drives in 2008. Three plays and a punt.

It's on their second touch the Dolphins show what they've got. After a Matt Cassel interception that gives Miami the ball on the New England 42, it takes four plays, including a 29 yard pass from Chad to Greg Camarillo, to get into the end zone for a 7-3 lead. A Patriot touchdown in response takes us into the second quarter, where Miami goes three and out again.

The inconsistency of this Dolphin offence never ceases to amaze me, but I think I've spotted the culprit. After a first down incompletion from Chad, Miami insists on using Ronnie Brown as their QB on second and third down, and then punting.

I wish with all my heart that they would stop doing this, and on their next drive they get it. After another incompletion from Chad on first down, the Dolphins throw on second and third down and convert. What a concept.

Miami's next two plays are rushes that don't go anywhere, but on third and 12 Chad throws a nice deep ball for 20 yards to Greg Camarillo. From here it's all gravy, eventually ending with Chad running the ball into the end zone, but the defence just cannot keep the Patriots at bay, and we go into half losing 17-14.

Now, for really the first time all year, the Dolphins are put into the position of needing to score coming out of half. This means they're toast right? We've been following this team all year. We know how they come out of the half against the normal teams. These are the Patriots, much better than a normal team. All that ever happens here is three plays and a punt.

I would've bet a lot of money on that myself, and we would've all been wrong.

Instead, Miami drive straight down the field and get all the way to the goal line before even seeing a third down, scoring an easy touchdown to take the lead back, 21-17.

Where did this come from? If they could've come out of half all season looking like this they wouldn't have had so much trouble beating Seattle or Oakland, and they wouldn't have lost to Houston. Better late than never though. I'm glad they can do it now.

Unfortunately, the week the offence managed to get it back together is the same week they ran into Matt Cassel in the middle of the hottest stretch of his career. The Patriots score immediately in response to take back a 24-21 lead. On the Dolphins' next drive, because this game is determined to be the game where weird things happen with the Miami offence, they get a few first downs before punting, which we know they never ever do. Alas, this doesn't matter either as the Patriots take just four plays to get into the end zone from their own 13 as the fourth quarter starts.

Oh boy, the fourth quarter. This is where it all blows up right?

Not at all my friend. Chad responds with a five play drive of his own to get the score back within three, but the defence cannot stem the bleeding. Before you know it, the deficit is back to ten, and on the very next Dolphins play, one more thing that never ever happens is going to show up today to sink their chances for good.

Chad overthrows Anthony Fasano.

I don't know how many times you've seen Chad Pennington overthrow a ball since the 2004 arm operations, but not any that I can think of. The football Gods were just determined to have us see things we weren't accustomed to seeing today. The ball goes right into the hands of Brandon Meriweather for an interception.

At this, and with how well Matt Cassel is playing, we all know the game is over. The Dolphins go on to lose 48-28, but this game was nowhere near that widespread.

I firmly believe this is the game that killed the wildcat formation in the NFL. This Miami team continued to use it, but in this game they ran it nine times. They were successful on only four of those tries, and it consistently got in the way of what they were trying to do offensively. Who else would want that?

Chad played great this game. He completed 60 percent of his true passes on a 9.6 yard aDoT, which is fairly healthy, and generated 0.24 EPA/Play (despite a turnover) in leading the Dolphins to 28 points. These numbers are more than enough to win. Had he put up these numbers in week three the Dolphins still would've won easily, and it still would've been his breakout performance. It just so happens that this time, Matt Cassel was having the best game of his NFL career on the other sideline.

For a team that went 1-15 in 2007, to play so well in such an important game is something of a moral victory, but in terms of the cold and hard realities of the NFL, it's a catastrophe.

Combined with the Jets ending the Titans' undefeated season, this loss has put the Dolphins an effective two games behind New York, and one behind the Patriots. Thankfully, Miami still has one game left to play against New York in week 17, but will need one game's worth of help to catch up to them. They also now need one game's worth of help from New England, which is never a great position to be in. New England is known for not giving their division rivals any help ever.

I say all of that because in week 13, despite their five years in a row of being mercilessly torturous to him in New York, the football Gods finally decide to give a little something back to Chad. Blowout losses for each of their division rivals. New York loses by 17 points to Denver, and New England loses by 23 to Pittsburgh. All the while, the Dolphins are in St Louis getting a fairly easy win over an awful Rams team.

Without really doing anything, the Dolphins are back in the saddle. There are just two more hurdles to clear. The first and most obvious is that they need to win every game from here. The good news about this is that the four game gauntlet in October and November that tanked their record to 2-4 also had the effect of getting every tough game out of the way early. There's obviously the Jets game in week 17, but their other three opponents for the year are six win Buffalo, five win San Francisco, and two win Kansas City.

The second hurdle to clear is the playoff tiebreaking procedure. Conditional on the Dolphins beating the Jets in week 17, without which none of this matters anyway, all three AFC East teams are going to be 1-1 against each other and 4-2 in the division. This leaves us with the third tiebreaker, conference win percentage.

Within the AFC, the Dolphins are just 5-4 with three conference games left to go. The Patriots are 5-5 with two games left to go, with the difference being that Miami held on to beat San Diego, while the Patriots got blown out by San Diego. In a nutshell, if Miami can win every remaining game, there is no way the Patriots can catch them. The Jets are the bigger spanner in the works. They're 6-4 in the conference, also with two games to go. Considering one of those games is against the Dolphins, they cannot finish with the same conference record.

All of this means that the way is cleared. Conditional on winning every game from here, Miami will possess tiebreakers on both New England and New York and win the AFC East, almost wholly due to winning against San Diego, while both the Jets and Patriots got blown out by San Diego. That the AFC East can be decided by a team in the AFC West is an odd quirk of the NFL that I'll never understand, but in 2008 the stars have aligned in favour of Chad and his Miami Dolphins.

All they have to do now is beat their weak competition, and they'll have a win-and-in with the Jets in week 17.

Week 14 in Buffalo is no contest, with Chad generating 0.22 EPA/Play and winning by 13 points. At the same time, New England is taking care of business against Seattle, but New York is taking a shocking ten point loss to San Francisco to fall into a three way tie at 8-5. Now this is going to be really tight down the stretch.

Week 15 is a very Miami game, featuring two extremely easy (four plays each) touchdown drives and almost no other offence for the whole game. Because they're playing San Francisco, deep in the muck of the worst era in the history of that franchise, they get away with this and slip by with a 14-9 win. Meanwhile, New England is blowing out the Raiders, and the Jets have to use up everything they have to get the win but they do get it done over Buffalo. All three teams are now even at 9-5.

Week 16 is a trap game for the Dolphins. The 2008 Chiefs are this year's version of the 2007 Dolphins. They're currently 2-12, but they're more like a five win team in terms of ability. They're going to go on to finish this season ranked 24th in offence and 30th in defence. A two win team should be more like bottom four in both.

I'm not sure whether the bookies have a firm grasp on this all, or they just don't believe in our Dolphins. Either way, one must be true, because I can't imagine another scenario where a 9-5 team would go play a 2-12 one and walk in as just four point favourites.

That's right. Even after all I've told you about the growth of this Dolphins squad, particularly on offence, they're still favoured to beat the 2-12 Kansas City Chiefs by just four points. Earlier in the season when the Denver Broncos, a team not near as good as our Dolphins, came into town to play these Chiefs, they were favoured to win by nine.

Either the Chiefs have improved a lot since then, which they certainly haven't done in the win column, or for some reason our Dolphins still have something to prove.

Whatever that thing may be, they're not going to prove it against Kansas City. That's the worst thing about games like this. If you win handily, people are going to look back on it as merely you beating 2-12 Kansas City. They're not going to remember that people at the time clearly anticipated this to be a fairly even matchup, evidenced by the fact that Miami aren't even touchdown favourites. Nevertheless, like every game since the New England loss, this is a playoff game for Miami. There's no time to create a legacy right now.

This December game in Kansas City is going to be the coldest game the Miami Dolphins have ever played in the NFL. Thankfully for them, they have a QB who's made a living playing in cold weather New York for eight years. They're going to be fine.

Two drives won't do this week. This KC offence is too good for that. Knowing this, Miami finally comes out the gate strong. The first series is one play, a touchdown rush from Ted Ginn, Jr., that starts the game 7-0 for Miami. A Tyler Thigpen interception puts Miami in prime position to score again, but a debacle of a possession for Ronnie Brown (who accounts for -11 yards and a fumble on it, thankfully called back by a penalty) ensures the Dolphins only get three.

Following that, the Miami defence remembers who they are, and give up an easy TD drive to Tyler Thigpen to move the score to 10-7. The Dolphins' next drive is also a debacle. Following one first down, they move 11 yards backwards and need to punt. As a result, the warm weather Dolphins get to sit on the sidelines and shiver for eight long minutes watching Kansas City move down the field for another touchdown.

I'm starting to see why Miami are only four point favourites. The defence is getting murdered by Tyler Thigpen of all people. They need a response.

No problem. Five plays later and Chad has thrown an 11 yard touchdown pass for a 17-14 lead, but it takes KC just two plays to respond with a touchdown of their own. It's only 10:35 of the second quarter, but it's already 21-17.

Tyler Thigpen or Trent Green?

Regardless, Chad goes back out needing a response again. This is starting to feel a lot like the Patriots game. Recall in that game Miami scored four touchdowns and still lost by 20. Chad can't let that happen today. The coaches also know who they need to turn to, as six of the seven plays on the drive are passes, capped off by a 14 yard touchdown pass to Anthony Fasano.

Another KC fumble gives Miami great field position again, but this time they scuttle it with a fourth and one incompletion. This is at least an acceptable way to ruin good field position, so I'm not as angry as I'd normally be, but it hurts a little bit more once KC sees just one third down in scoring all the way from their own five to take a 28-24 lead going into half.

Chad has just scored 24 points in a half against 2-12 Kansas City, who I'll remind you have the league's 24th ranked offence, and somehow is still losing.

What is with this guy and bad luck? 24 points in a half in any normal game would result in a win probability well above 80 percent. In this game, it's resulted in 46.

Combine this with the Chiefs getting the ball coming out of the half, the Dolphins' offence now need a little bit of luck if they want to win this. If the Chiefs can score another TD they can just keep the game perpetually out of reach in the same fashion the New England offence did.

Thankfully, the Chiefs decide to run draw on third and seven inside the ten, and are forced to a field goal. The score is 31-24, and Miami has life.

On the first snap, the Dolphins come out in wildcat, which by this point has mostly been phased out of the offence. They show why as it's a rush that goes nowhere and an immediate second and long. After another rush that goes nowhere on second and ten, Miami has to rely on Chad to save their bacon on third and ten and he does, completing a twelve yard pass to Devone Bess.

On the ensuing first down play they come out in wildcat again. As I'm screaming at my TV (at a game that was played 16 years ago) watching the game back for the Dolphins to stop doing this, it results in a 44 yard run. One play later and the game is tied. I guess that shows what I know.

Regardless of my hate for their formation, the Miami offence is still merely acting as a conduit for the Tyler Thigpen show. Within two minutes, the Chiefs are already on the Miami 26. It's looking like Chad is going to have to go out there and tie this game again when hallelujah, a Thigpen pass is intercepted at the six yard line. This is a chance for the Dolphins to finally take the lead back.

Infuriatingly, they can't capitalize on it. They do get a few first downs to get off their own goal line (unusual for this Dolphins team, as we know by now), but ultimately are forced to rely on their defence again. This time, they come through. No interception required. They force Kansas City to punt for the first time all game, at 12:49 of the fourth quarter, and Chad has his chance to send the Dolphins to New York.

He responds with a perfect drive for the situation. A long, eight minute touchdown drive to put the Dolphins up 38-31. This remains the score for the rest of the game, as the KC offence can get nothing going on either of their two final drives.

Take a deep breath everyone. It's over.

This was surely not the type of game the Dolphins were wanting when they got on the plane to go play 2-12 Kansas City, but when you have a QB that's up for the challenge, your team can withstand this type of thing. That's what Chad did for Miami today.

Chad completed 76.5 percent of his true pass attempts and generated 0.40 EPA/Play today. Those are exceptional numbers regardless of circumstance, but when you factor in the bitter cold, and that this was a playoff game for Miami, and the fierce opposition (even if it came in the form of Tyler Thigpen) this becomes one of the all time great performances in a Dolphins history that, exempting Dan Marino, doesn't have many.

They wouldn't have won this game with Josh McCown. They wouldn't have won it with Chad Henne. Luckily for them, on August 6th 2008, an angel descended from New York to make the Dolphins into a playoff team.

I fully understand that I'm getting ahead of myself. The Patriots' crushing blowout of the Cardinals, and another Jets loss (this one to Seattle) means this is down to a two team playoff race, but the Dolphins hold all the cards.

All Miami needs to do to get where they want to go, is the one thing they couldn't do at the beginning of the season. They need to get revenge on the team that dumped Chad on season's eve for their rich old man. They need to go to New York and beat the New York Jets.

As admitted in interviews after the season, Chad has been mentally preparing himself for weeks for the possibility of this game happening. Think about it. The Jets are his friends. The people he's gone to war with for eight years in a row, and in order to get where he and his new friends need to be, he needs to stomp those old friends' heads in.

That sounds like something that'd take a lot of mental preparation.

Despite Chad's desire to talk to the New York media in the week leading up to the game (this guy isn't human. Who would ever volunteer for that?), the Dolphins give him an unconditional no. Doubling his media obligation on a week like this will not be permitted. In response, Chad sets up a conference call for after the season with the New York media. Recall this man doesn't play in New York anymore, and hasn't for five months by the point of the interview.

That's just the kind of man Chad Pennington is.

I'm littering this article with a lot of distractions before the actual start of this season (and career) altering game. I'm doing that because this is what Chad, and Brett Favre, and every other Dolphins and Jets offensive player all had to go through in the week before this game. It couldn't have been easy for anybody.

In the first quarter, this shows for Miami, as they come out with nothing. A majority of their first quarter offence comes from the dreaded wildcat formation, as they do manage once to get into Jets territory, but end up punting anyway, as we exit the first quarter scoreless.

The second time the Dolphins get into New York territory, it ends with a Pennington strip sack to kill another drive cold, and to this the Jets finally respond with a touchdown drive to go up 6-0 after a missed extra point. After three and outs for both sides, the Dolphins finally get it going with a drive that consists of five Chad completions on six passes and a beautiful throw to the corner of the end zone from 27 yards out to give Miami the 7-6 lead.

After a Favre pick six on the very next play to go to 14-6, the Jets do score another field goal to take both teams into the half with the score 14-9 Dolphins.

This is a very un-Miami-like game. They've had just one three and out in the whole first half, yet have scored just seven offensive points. I don't know if this new strategy will work, especially because it relies on the defence holding Brett Favre to nine points (or fewer) again in the second half. I know Brett's shoulder is shot at this point, but look at what this defence just did with Tyler Thigpen.

Coming out of the half, it seems like we're back to normal, as Miami still has nothing. On the inevitable punt, the snap goes over the punter's head, resulting in great field position and eventually a touchdown for New York. After a two point conversion, the score is 17-14.

Also normal for the Dolphins at this point is responding to opponent's scores after their three and out to start the half. They do it in six plays, including two beautiful balls from Chad on a 36 yard pass to Ginn, and a 20 yarder for the touchdown to Anthony Fasano. This touchdown moves the score to 21-17, and now it's back on the defence to keep this game together.

As the teams go back and forth with punts into the fourth quarter, it's becoming clear that both teams have nothing on offence. Miami did get one field goal to make it 24-17 off of blocked punt field position of their own, but both teams are playing in the mud. Unless something changes in the fourth, it seems as if their defence is going to win them this division.

As it turns out, it's a bit of both.

The Jets only get one more touch in this game. With that touch, they get all the way to the Miami 29, but an interception gives the Dolphins the ball with 4:59 on the clock. The only time Chad has to touch the ball is a crucial QB sneak on a fourth and one, which he converts. Aside from that, the Dolphins run the clock all the way down to 17 seconds with standard rushes and some wildcat formation. One play later and the Dolphins have won 24-17.

In somewhat anticlimactic fashion, the Dolphins have won and are AFC East champions.

This is a team that finished last season 1-15. This is a team devoid of any real offensive talent. They limped out of the gate to a 2-4 record, but with one of those two wins being the one that turned out to be crucial against San Diego. From there, they stormed on to win nine of the next ten to pass all three of the teams in their division and end the year at 11-5, as division champions.

What really changed then?

We know in the first seven weeks Chad's numbers were quite good. In fact, the Dolphins' offence ranked second over the first seven weeks, despite the 2-4 record. What changed was the Miami defence, which went from being ranked a brutal 27th in the first seven weeks to a much more acceptable tenth in the last ten.

Don't let this take away from what Chad did this year. In a season where the last ten games of the year were all essentially playoff games, Chad Pennington generated 0.181 EPA/Play, which ranks fifth in 2008, behind only Philip Rivers, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, and Matt Ryan. He got these results with a Completion Percentage over Expected (CPOE) of 5 (T-3rd, behind only Rivers and Kurt Warner), and an ANY/A of 7.19 (3rd).

0.181, 5, 7.19. Fifth, third and third.

Would you like to know the QBs who ranked fifth, third and third in these stats in 2022?

Fifth in EPA/Play was Jalen Hurts. Third in CPOE was Patrick Mahomes (with only 3.6, quite a way behind the 5 Chad put up here). Third in ANY/A was Jimmy Garoppolo (if you only want full time starters, it's Jared Goff instead).

Jalen Hurts, Patrick Mahomes, Jimmy Garoppolo, and Jared Goff. All of this for a man who was dumped on season's eve for not being good enough. Those are mighty fine comparisons for a man in his prime, but Chad’s not in his prime. His numbers are not a patch on his 2002 self (where he finished 1st, 1st, 1st). This is a man who's been through surgeries on his wrist, shoulder (twice), and ankle. Despite all of that, Chad is still out here in 2008 getting himself compared to the NFL's best today.

He's my hero.

His surface numbers look great, but sometimes those numbers can be a mirage (click here if you're interested in a great example as to how). Let's dig a little deeper. How did he perform on the three benchmarks I set out for him before the season? Recall those were 1) reduce turnovers; 2) increase aDoT to take more of the work load on himself; 3) Perform better in the fourth quarter. I'll address these criticisms in order.

1) In terms of the most important goal, reducing turnovers, 2008 has been a resounding success for Chad. I'm a big fan of Chad's, then and now, and even I couldn't see this level of improvement in the turnover category coming. In 2007, Chad threw an interception on 3.5 percent of all drop backs, which is quite bad, and is a rate that'd been fairly constant for him since 2004. In 2008, he more than halved this rate all the way down to 1.5 percent of drop backs.

Going from very bad to very good in terms of turnovers is a something that's very rare to do. I can only think of two other examples in NFL history of somebody doing this. Ben Roethlisberger and Brett Favre both went from turnover kings to excellent protectors of the ball. They're both hall of famers, and they're Chad's only company here. His improvement in this area is above and beyond what even the biggest Chad fans could've expected, and it's only made more impressive by improvement number two.

2) Chad made excellent strides in improving his aDoT for 2008. Recall Chad's 7.5 yard average depth in both 2006 and 2007 placed him sixth from last in the league both years. In 2008, he stretched his passes to 8.2 yards on average, which places him comfortably in the middle of the league. Keep in mind he stretched his passes while dramatically reducing his interception rate. This is great stuff.

Looking back on this with modern eyes makes it look even better, as passes on average have gotten shorter and shorter through the years. It's more possible than ever to be a great QB while not stretching the field very often at all. Take as evidence the four men I mentioned earlier: Hurts, Mahomes, Garoppolo, and Goff.

These QBs were near the top of the league in all stats despite (in order) aDoT figures of 8.3 for Hurts, 7.4 for Mahomes, 6.9 for Garoppolo, and 7.1 for Goff. All except Hurts throw significantly shorter on average than Chad in 2008. Think back on that the next time somebody mentions Chad's arm strength.

3) The 2008 Dolphins season featured 13 games that were within one score in the fourth (New York twice, San Diego, Houston, first game against Baltimore, Buffalo, Denver, Seattle, Oakland, second game against New England, St Louis, San Francisco, Kansas City). In these games, the Dolphins went 9-4.

In the nine wins, Chad was never given a chance against San Diego. He led the Dolphins to late touchdowns to pull away against Buffalo, Denver, Seattle, and Kansas City, and a late field goal to extend a one to a four point lead in St Louis. In the wins against San Francisco and New York, Chad couldn't get anything going in the fourth but his defence held on to win anyway, and there was one game winning last second field goal over Oakland.

In the four losses, Chad got all the way into the red zone on a potential game winning TD drive against New York, but just couldn't find the end zone. Against Baltimore, Chad just couldn't get anything going against the league's best defence. Even Superman has to take a day off. Against New England and Houston, Chad led the Dolphins on touchdown drives in the fourth to put them in a good position, but the defence couldn't hold onto them.

I would say this is a very good assortment of fourth quarter performances. Most of the time the Dolphins were winning in these fourth quarters, but that is a benefit, not a detriment to the QB. I hate how online posters and talking heads act as if fourth quarter performance doesn't count if it's not done while behind. We should reward players for being ahead.

The nine wins could've easily have been ten had that touchdown against the Texans held up, but even without it it's still a great season in crunch time.

Both in his surface numbers and his three main goals from fans coming into 2008, Chad has shone beyond our wildest dreams, and while a home playoff loss against Baltimore in the wild card round hurts, it does little to dent the enthusiasm that Dolphins fans have for their team in their new Pennington era.

All of that enthusiasm only makes what happens next even sadder.

In the third game of the 2009 NFL season, Chad goes down with a dislocated right shoulder. In fact, he did some damage to the capsule that holds the joint, which is much harder to recover from. After a season and offseason's worth of rehab, Chad comes back to the Dolphins for 2010 only to suffer another shoulder injury on his very first play. Rather than try to come back from an unprecedented fourth surgery on his throwing shoulder, Chad decides to hang it up prior to the 2011 season.

Do you know what's even sadder yet about this story? The 2009 Jets.

If Chad had somehow managed to stick around and have this 2008 season on the Jets instead, he would've lived long enough to see the 2009 Jets, who we know were a decent offence away from being a real contender. Could Chad have lasted through 2009 if he played for the Jets? With his shoulder being the ticking time bomb that it was, it's a maybe or maybe not scenario, but his reward was right there.

Chad was about to get his reward for all of his years of carrying the New York Jets. He was finally about to get a team that could carry him. Instead, the Jets booted him out so he could have his career resurgence on a division rival. By the time those 2009 Jets were making waves in the AFC playoffs, Chad's career was basically over.

It must've been torturous for him.

We can all only wonder what might have been, but what we don't have to wonder about is the 2008 Dolphins. They were prepared to go to battle with Josh McCown, but due to the Jets' folly, they instead got a year to remember.

Never forget Chad Pennington's Year.