EA Podcast: Episode 23 with Chad Pennington

effort Eric was fair. I'm not gonna buy into the notion that it was a winning effort um because the Jets didn't win, But I don't think it was a losing effort by no stretch of imagination. And there were some good football players out there. But I do think it was a lost opportunity to be the Patriots team that was sleep walking through most of the game, that was obviously wounded at the quarterback position as well as a tight end position, and it was a lost opportunity

that the Jets could have capitalized on. And I just never believe in moral victories, but um, there were certainly some good football plays out there, winning football plays out there and in the end, they didn't make enough of them to win the game. Why didn't they win? Obviously, there are a lot of things that happened over the course of sixty minutes, and people point to turnovers and this and that, but why, point blank, why didn't they went? Uh?

The Jets weren't opportunistic. Um, they played good football, they just weren't opportunistic. Meaning when the scores tend to zero and you have a big pass play to midfield, you can't have a fumble that woke up a sleeping dog and they should let that sleeping dogs lie and continue to beat them down. And they did. And so that was one play that was that should have been a great momentum builder for the Jets offense, that turned into

a momentum builder for New England. Um. I also thought that, you know, there are other times that the Jets could have drove the dagger in a little bit more, uh and really put this game away and didn't see that opportunity. And when you don't see those opportunities against Tom Brady, uh, he will eventually beat you. And that's what happened. And so um, They're just they just weren't opportunistic enough. There were good plays made, uh touchdown scored, a good individual

plays made there. There was some energy and excitement, but all in all, not enough to beat the top team in the an FC. What was your take on Ryan Fitzpatrick's performance? He gets the night after missing the previous game with that spring knee, and a lot of fans are clamoring for Bryce Petty right now. Ty Bowl stuck to his guns. He said, I'm gonna play whoever gives me the best chance to win. It goes back to fits uh fits at a pair of touchdown passes in

that ball game, the one turnover late. What did you make of his game? Well, we'll talk about two issues first. First of all, was talking about Ryan's performance. I thought wine Ryan's performance was um a winning performance for most ball games, but not a not enough for a team like the Patriots. Um. When you are able to hold the Patriots to essentially seven team points before the last drive and then twenty two points total, you have as an offense have to find a way to capitalize on

that and see that as your opportunity. Hey, we don't have to score this game thirty this game to win. We we just need to you know, at first we just need to score seventeen and then have a drive to keep them off the field, or once they get to twenty two, now you've got a chance to drive down the field to score and win the football game. So there was it was an efficient performance, one of his better performances, and if it was against another team, it would have been a Jets win, but it wasn't

because it was the Patriots. So now the second issue is this um. In my opinion, you don't just play players just to play them, just to see what they have. And right now, it is obvious that the um discrepancy between Ryan Fitzpatrick and Bryce Petty is really large. Uh, there's a huge difference there and how the offense operates with Ryan in the game versus Bryce in the game. And that's only uh, from one game of watching Bryce play, but you can just tell and I would would imagine

that that's what the coaching staff feels as well. And so, uh, it's funny that we talked about, well, we need to, you know, give players a chance to develop. But the problem is is that down the road, those losses still count on that team and that coach in particular, there's no hall pass given when a coach in George six law, this is because he was trying to play a young player and developed, and then when it's time to evaluate, they don't look at those things. They do, and fans

do even more so. You know, as a coach and a staff, you're trying to win games, period in the story and development comes second. You said the gap is wide, and we I was at both games. But from a quarterbacks perspective, what can you tell as far as the way that offense operates between maybe a guy that's starting out like Bryce and is making his first career start and then a guy like Fitzpatrick has been with Shane

Gailey for five years. He's been with these guys his teammates for two years here with the Jets, and like you mentioned last week, it's not like he hasn't had success in this offense. There anty want touchdown pass. His last season, the Jets set a franchise record in terms of total yards. But just from game the game, what did you see from a quarterbacks perspective the difference uh with the guy at the controls, efficiency, inconsistency and so

for instance, first of all, as far as efficiencies concerned. Um, you know, with Bryce the in the game that he did play, and I'm sure this happens in practice as well. The easy ones aren't hit enough, where with Ryan the easy ones are always hit most of the time. And then the NFL, you have to hit hit the easy ones, the ones that are gimmes. You gotta make them. You gotta make those layups because if you don't, it just

makes your job as an offense even more difficult. Then, Um, the fifty fifties are being made more consistently as well, and the tougher throws and the tougher reads and those things are being made more consistently as well. So you're looking at an offense that's just more efficient, that has the opportunity to be more competitive, to put more points

on the board. All those things come into play. Whereas with the younger quarterback right now, that's not happening because if if the staff felt like that that could happen, or that they had seen enough evidence in practice for that to happen, they would have made the switch. If it was even close at all, I think the staff would have made the switch. It makes complete sense. But when it's not closed, you can't just do that. You just don't do it just for the sake of doing it.

You know what I think is being lost, Uh during this whole quarterback talk, Uh, as we continue to go forward, is something you mentioned last week and that stuck with me was that it's not just the evaluation of the quarterback, it's the evaluation of everybody on that field. And this is not a knock on price, but as to say, if you put them in the lineup and you got some young guys out there, whether it be a Robby Anderson or a Quincy of Noon, while well, I still

consider young. I know it's a third year and in a file he's considered a second year player as far as accredited seasons are concerned. But if you limit the playbook or narrow the playbook, then you might be limiting the evaluations of those players as well. Right, there's no

question about it. It all works hand in hand. And um, if you have one player that is limiting what you're doing offensively, and obviously that is the quarterback position, because everyone else can adapt, then you limit the evaluation of the other players as well. And this notion that the only way you can evaluate is through game experience is false.

There's so much evaluation going on during practice and during those meetings and finding out how a guy thinks and what I thought process is and how is he getting better and then watching that translate into practice. You you don't just use the game model to see if someone's improved. Now, why the fans want to see the game model because that's the only thing that they see that that's the

only thing that broadcasters see. The journalistic they don't necessarily see the improvements in practice, so that's why they call for it. But from a coaching standpoint, you can see improvement. The game is just the icing on the cake. The true improvement comes throughout the week, week by week, practice by practice, meeting by meeting. What is quincy and Doon was ceiling? We see him on games like Sunday where

he gets singled off. We got some Malcolm Butler and makes that beautiful catch down the field in the first half, and he makes those explosion plays and you see the energy it creates, not only on the sideline but inside the stadium. He's kind of a he's kind of a player that has that kind of chemistry, got a fire attached to him, and you mentioned Calvin prior last year with the defense when the defense got in the groove, I feel that way with a noon when he's involved,

I feel like the offense is different. And then we saw that fantastic touchdown catch by Q in the fourth quarter where the Jets got their final points and took that lead in the fourth But that, you know, do you see that those kind of qualities and what kind of ceiling does this guy have? Well, I think first of all, he's made tremendous improvement and he is a

guy that three years. I use that three to five year window because it's true, and I know nobody wants to talk about it and people want to not believe it, but the three to five year window for most players, that third year is just the year where the light bulb comes on um and things start to click um. And it's not three years for everybody, but that that's kind of a sweet spot. That's the wheelhouse for players developing to be able to see that hard work in

that progression come to fruition on the field. And for him, he has really maximized his opportunity. With the importunate injury to Decker. Now the Jets have gotten better because they know now going into next year with those three receivers, I mean, they're feeling really really good about what they have on the perimeter and and that's been really good to see. And so he brings a physicality, he brings a competitive edge. Uh, he brings a little bit of

vinegar to the situation. You've got to have that as a as a quarterback, that word vinegar means you gotta have a little bit nasty. You gotta have a little bit competitive juice in you. You've got to be willing to fight in the scrap and claw. He has that, and you love to see that in a receiver because that means those balls that you throw as a quarterback, most of the time, they're going to be for you. Because of his nature and his ability and uh and

willingness to compete. Part Scott mentioned a Kwan bull when watching a neone One see some similarities there. I know, all it's early, and I know you probably don't want to put too many comparisons and a guy so early in his career, and Bolden has been a tremendous productive player for some time now, but just the physical characteristics and the way he goes about his business well exactly. I see similarities in his physicality and his body style.

I see differences in Quincy's faster, much faster than an kloon Bolden. But an Quan has a better knack of how to get open and that comes with experience and things like that, so he could have that type of production. I do agree with that. And if you get that type of production, you should be feeling really good as a jetman knowing that you've got a young receiver that can give you an Kuombolden type production, because that's that's pretty special. Jets fans are so eager to get the

two thousand seventeen and there's still five games remaining. But you mentioned Decker before. You gotta be excited about the wide receiver group here that Mike mcagnan and Todd Bowles have assembled. Because Decker was here before they came, but they traded for Marshall. Uh. They've helped with the development of Quincy and Noon While and then they brought in these three young guys. Robbie Anderson continues to flash he made the mistake. I asked Brandon Marshall about it. He said,

ball security is job security. Yours in mind, I think Robbie will learn from that. And his locker is right next to they forementioned Brandon Marshall, and then they had a couple of other young guys like Jalen Marshall and Tehron Peak. So you know, and when everybody's thinking about the future, you gotta look at the wide receiver position offensively and say, okay, we should be in pretty good

shape here. Absolutely, I think you feel really good. That's probably the one area where going to the off season there's not much to be done there. I think just in visual improvement and really focusing on as a group how they improve. But as far as new faces, I don't think there's much to be done there at all. They should feel really good about that group. And and to be honest with you, let's let's be honest here.

And of course this this conversation is for most of the teams in the NFL, but we get so enamored with the records that we feel like because the team is three and eight, they are so far off. The Jets aren't far off at all. Uh. If you look at the game, I can pick three games Bengals, Patriots

and Dolphins. You put those in the win column, you're six and five, you're in the playoffs, unt, you're Buffalo, and right now, to me, there's no difference between Buffalo Miami and New York nothing at all other than Buffalo Miami have won those tight games the Jets have not. That's that's the bottom line. So moving into the off season or even looking at development of players right now,

you're trying to to me development is developing. It's if you if you ever been on hold when you call the New York Jets office, what do you hear Tom Bowls talk about? What makes you strong? Adversity? That's what you It's what you uh hear him talk about, whether it be him as an individual, this organization and history of it. It's about how do you handle adversity? Well, right now, this team's got a lot of adversity. But

that doesn't mean you just blow it up. What that means is you, these players and this staff have to learn how to fight through this adversity, get better through this diversity, to make them better for next year. And that doesn't mean to play musical chairs at quarterback or musical chairs in any position, or you blow it up and go find three new players that doesn't mean that at all. It means you learn how to fight through this adversity together. So the next year when this happened,

you're on the winning side, not the losing side. Can you explain, uh, what you would say to a Jet Fanneal came up to you right now said, hey, listen, you know I'm a Jet fan. This season is over. I want to high draft pick. I want you to explain why these five games are so important. Because you can't carry over wins from year to year. But we think about this Jets Patriots game and the Jets weren't able to finish. Don't you have to create that culture

even though you don't bring wins over next September. But if you win a couple of these down the stretch, and maybe you have to make some critical plays in the fourth quarter, maybe I have a comeback or two along the way, a lot of these guys are gonna be here next year. There is a roster change, personnel people, UH will make changes here and there, and there's every

roster changes in the National Football League. But can you explain about the culture of winning and how it's never too late or too early to create that Because some of that can carry over, can it? Because if you're in a huddle with somebody and you lead a late game charge in week fourteen this year, or you make an interception in week fifteen, then that's got to help your confidence going into two thousand seventeen that Hey, we've been here before, so can you can you talk about

that a little bit? Absolutely? As a fan and I'm a fan as well, we are so programmed to be instantly gratified, and we use this game as entertainment. Okay, Now, as a coach and a player, and as an owner and an employee of an organization, this isn't just entertainment. This is an instant gratification. This is about creating consistency, efficiency, and longevity. That's what it's about. A culture doesn't and changing a culture and creating a culture doesn't happen in

a week a month. It doesn't even happen in a year. It takes years and numerous experiences and highs and lows to create the type of culture that you want to create longevity and to be the organization that fans want the organization to be. That takes time, and through that turnover of players, coaches, employees does not create the culture

that you're looking for at all. All turnover to me does is say that as a decision maker, I'm a poor decision maker, because if I'm turning into over all the time, I'm not making the decisions before the decision and we're just we're playing musical chairs and it's whatever the flavor of the month is. That doesn't create a winning product, That doesn't create a winning program. All that creates is flashes in the pan. And I would hope as Jet fans, you're not looking for just to flash

in the pan. You're looking to get out of this mindset of just being good every once in a while and at least competing and having a product out there that you can be proud of year in and year out, regardless if you make the playoffs every year. But if you're competing for the playoffs and you're in it, and when you're not in it, you're right there knocking on the door, then you can be proud of that. But when you're up and down like a roller coaster, that's

nothing to be proud of. And so that's why you're trying to create the right culture and and the right program for what you're trying to get accomplished. So I like this matchup coming up Monday night. I think that if the Jet spray the same energy, the same spirit, the same emotion, they tighten up a couple of things. I think this is the perfect opponent for them. With that being said, before I ask you about the Colts, I just want to real quickly your thoughts on the

defense of effort overall. Any time your whole brady to four or fourteen on third down and two or five inside the red zone, you gotta be happy. Conversely, you're not happy because you didn't come up with the late stop and you didn't have any takeaways. It was a winning effort, Eric, It really was. To me as an offensive minded guy, uh in which I think defensively a

lot of times it was a winning defensive effort. If I would like to see something a little bit different, you would like to see a turn up created um. And besides that, you would like to see every once a while on those gotta have it plays, those down to the nitty gritty plays that have to be made, you'd like to see some of those be made. To flip the switch, to flip the momentum. You look at New England. They did nothing defensively. Uh that really stuck out except you know, the one big play to me

was that was a huge win. But learn knocks the ball. He physically and literally punches the ball out of Robby Anderson's hands. That's just a heavy football play knowing that your team needs a spark. That's the only thing I can I can see right now as far as playing good overall tough defense. Don't once you're supposed to do grading out well. Yeah, they're all they all should be grading out relatively well. But see here, here's the thing.

Here's the difference. Sometimes grading out well doesn't mean that you put in a winning performer, because every once in a while, a great play has to be made to win. Secondly, I think this team, when you get in a situation like this where you're three and a you know you're not making the playoffs, he goes beyond the game of football.

It just comes down man to man and how much pride you have and what you do as a professional football player, and how much how how much accountability you're gonna have to each other to step up as men, not as football players, as men and be it conable and find a way to win and fight and scrap

and call. And there's a difference between When I was at the Jets, I trained with Teddy Atlas for a year and one thing Teddy taught me mentally was that there's a difference between fighting to survive and fighting to win. Fighting to survive, you're just playing, You're putting in a good effort, But are you really making those conscious choices step back in the fight and truly try to win the game, or are you just satisfied with being patted

on the back for a good effort. There's a difference, and that's where this team is right now, And as individuals, you've got to make a decision. I just fight to survive every Sunday and get patted on the back because I graded out well and had a good effort, or do I really fight to win and make those when he played to win a game, and that that's a huge difference. Do you ever read Teddy Atlas's book? I haven't read it him full No, but I had a full year of him, so I know exactly what that book.

Oh my god, Teddy Atlas on believable intensity and just using his hands to a great boxing trainer. And we know he worked with Mike Tyson way back in the day Cat's Skills and then UH trained Michael Moore actually who became heavyweight champion as well, and recently he's been doing some work with Tim Bradley as well. So, um, this guy when he trained you, did you ever feel him just throwing the fists a little bit around because he's not the biggest guy. But wow, I would not

want to get hit by Teddy Ellis, Oh my god. Well, we sparred to work on footwork, and footwork in the ring can be similar to footwork in the pocket, where you're learning you're so aware of your movements that you're moving away from one issue but making sure you're not moving into another issue. And and that's that's literally centimeters and inches as far as how much you move not to get hit or get tackled, but don't move into

another area and be able to remain a pastor. And and I do remember getting hit by Teddy and it was always when I would get hit by him is because I dropped my guard or I lost a little bit of concentration and he'd fight me upside the head because I'm not I'm not truly focused in and making that conscious choice. I'm letting myself and my human nature slide a little bit and just give in, just a little bit. And it was a great experience for me,

and I loved every minute. Oh God, I love his intensity, his passion. He's a tremendous teacher. And while he's got some great stories as well. Uh. Quickly, college football, right now, we got Alabama's one Ohio States to Clemson's three, and Washington is four. Uh is Alabama and this no matter what happens against Florida. I went to the University of Florida, having my graduate degree from there. I don't think the

getters stand too much of a chance this weekend. But even if they won, is the Alabama in the final four? I think so? I don't think you drop them out of the final four. I think for the committee, uh, they are hoping, praying and wishing that all of those conference uh those conference leaders in that top four win their conference championship. And I think so. I think I

think so too. You're right, so Ohio State, are they safely and into it seems that way there in there in and and so this is this is the issue you have with only four team playoffs, but you're always going to have those issues with who is you know,

who's that last team getting in. It's just that with a four team playoffs, it means much more than the six team team playoffs because the six team team probably won't win the championship, but the fourth place team guarantee they can win the championship, and so uh, you know that That's why it makes it so intriguing but also so emotional and intense because you're only talking about four

teams and really there's not that much difference. I'm really interested in seeing how Alabama performs against these other teams because, let's face it, SEC is not the SEC this year. I mean, you look at the top ten and you've got four Big ten teams in the top ten other than Alabama. Your next your next team is sitting at fifteen as far as the SEC is concerned. So uh,

and it's gonna be interesting. You know, we think that the SEC teams go through such an uh, you know, a hard schedule, but I'm not so sure that's the case. And so it's gonna be interesting to see how this plays out as far as Alabama and whether or not they can make these other teams look like the SEC this year, which they just run through the SEC. You're right, spot SEC has been over value this year because Alabama's is so much better than everybody else, And we don't know.

If Alabama is so much better than everybody else in college football, they will be the overwhelming favorite once the semifinals begin. Um, Clemson, Ohio State, I mean Clemson, Washington. Excuse me? So you have Clemson and if they beat Virginia Tech, you think they're solidly There is there any way that Washington wins over Colorado in the Pac twelve the Pack championship, and wins the conference, but somebody jumps them right now? The committee chair said that Washington and

Michigan are very close. But how I'm thinking about it this way, Chad, How does a Michigan team that doesn't play this week, that will have not won its conference, that have that has lost two or three games, how would they jump Washington? Even if Washington plays a close game and beats Colorado. I don't think a team that doesn't play can jump any team that plays and wins. There's no way that you can put value on that. Us. You have one, you have another loss, so that makes

no sense at all. Now the question becomes, if Washington loses, then who is that two lost team, Uh that that makes the playoffs? Is at Michigan, is at Washington? Is it Penn State or Wisconsin. That's the question because what's hard to to decipher, especially in the Big Ten, is that Michigan beat those teams. Ohio State did not beat Penn State, but it's just a one loss team. So uh, that's you know, you've got a conference champion, but you

have a comference champion who lost to Michigan. So that's gonna be uh the biggest question. If Washington loses, I don't think they're in because their schedule, strength of schedule, and their conference doesn't match up to the Big Ten. So it comes down to Michigan versus the Big Ten champion. Who do you put in that fourth spot? Um, if Limps in Alabama win, Penn's Day would have to win big right for for them to jump of Michigan. I don't think they could win like game over Wisconsin and

jump of Michigan. And even if Wisconsin wins, I think it's gonna be tough for the committee to overlook the fact that Michigan dominated them head to head. So I don't know. If Washington loses, Chat, I think Michigan might might be in good shape. They could be, but I just think that, let's face it, it would be really hard because they look at all those criteria and then they look at Okay Conference champion. Well, that means something. I mean, it's not Penn State's fault that Michigan lost

to Iowa. Michigan did lose to Iowa, and they did lose to Ohio State, and they did not win their conference. I just think they're the odd man out. If if Washington loses, I think you should take the winter between Wisconsin and pen stake and you don't have the Big twelve involved in any of us. Correct. Correct? So you got thirty seconds, three keys to victory, Jets over the Colts, Uh turnovers, Big Place. I'll just give you two turnovers and big Place. Chat enjoyed it. We'll see you next week,

all right. Half a difference