On Saturday, Jets quarterback Brett Favre addressed the perception that his predecessor, Chad Pennington, has an arm like a limp, um, noodle.
“I think every time I’ve faced Chad, I’ve lost,” Favre said. “He’s played extremely well. . . . In Green Bay a couple of years ago, he played outstanding. I have nothing but the highest regard for Chad. [He is an] extremely bright guy. The knock on him was his arm wasn’t that strong. So what? I can throw it through a wall, but I don’t win every game I play in. It doesn’t matter. He’s very effective.”
Favre likely doesn’t realize just how right on the money he is. Per Tim Graham of ESPN.com, the Elias Sports Bureau has crunched the numbers for quarterbacks based on attempts of more than 20 yards over the past four years.
Pennington’s passer rating on such plays? A whopping 107.7. Favre, in contrast, falls nearly four points south of the Kordoza line, at 66.9.
Due in part to the fact that Favre has played in 64 games as opposed to 40 from Pennington, Favre has 290 attempts of more than 20 yards, and Pennington has only 108. But Pennington has thrown only four interceptions on 20-plus-yard attempts. Favre has chucked 35.
Favre also is accurate in his perception of never beating Pennington. In 2002, the Jets trounced the Packers, 42-17. Pennington threw four touchdown passes and finished the day with a passer rating of 134.7. In 2006, Pennington was less effective, throwing two touchdown passes and two picks. But the Jets nevertheless trounced the Packers, 38-10.
Favre managed a passer rating of only 61.7 in the 2002 game against Pennington and the Jets. Favre was even worse in 2006, with a dreadful passer rating of 53.0.
For his career, Favre was 1-3 against the Jets. All time, the Packers have beaten the Jets twice, and have lost to them eight times.
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raiderclay, a Water Boy, on 8/9/08 at 11:56 pm
can we please get a post on deanna favre and how she’s settling into live in NYC? There are a few obscure angles to this story yet to be covered.. get on it - i can’t get enough of this favre stuff.
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Rating: 4.5 / 5 with 10 rating(s)
philwauke, a Passionate Fan, on 8/10/08 at 12:00 am
doesn’t mean a thing.
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Skeptikal, a Passionate Fan, on 8/10/08 at 12:14 am
Noodle Arm is going to destroy the Jets and Favre week 1
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Rating: 3.5 / 5 with 6 rating(s)
MarkSuperDuper, a Cheerleader, on 8/10/08 at 12:24 am
Doesn’t mean a thing? Yeah, screw empirical evidence. Brett is a riverboat gambler!!!
C’mon, those stats are pretty conclusive to me.
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Rating: 3 / 5 with 3 rating(s)
Vox Veritas, a Hall of Famer, on 8/10/08 at 12:43 am
about 92% of BertFarve’s attempts last season were to points 20 yards or less downfield. 21 TDs, 9 INTs 69.9 completion %. Further than that 7 TDs, 6 INTs, 36.5%.
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Rating: 3 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
SeanMartin, a Division Champ, on 8/10/08 at 1:05 am
I thought I had heard enough of the Favre story while I was on my lunch break at work… then NASCAR came on. I realized how much better football is
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itsacurse, a Water Boy, on 8/10/08 at 1:08 am
OK, we give up. Pennington is better than Favre. Jets suck. Move it along….
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NFLed, a Passionate Fan, on 8/10/08 at 1:26 am
“Pennington’s passer rating on such plays? A whopping 107.7. Favre, in contrast, falls nearly four points south of the Kordoza line, at 66.9.”
This is one of the stats which “lie.” Football is a very complicated game. Chad *does* have an arm like a wet noodle and defenses know this so they jam up on the running game and shorter passes making it tougher to move the offense. When he does throw “deep” — and 20 yards is not that deep, it’s not a bomb to throw 20 yards — it’s more open. Also, there are many QBs who aren’t hesitant to throw long late in a game when they are behind but Chad knows he can’t do that so he doesn’t throw long in those situations which would decrease his passer rating.
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*Legion*, a Rookie, on 8/10/08 at 1:49 am
Sure, Pennington has a great passer rating on long passes. The only time he dares attempt one with that weak arm is if a receiver is WIIIIDE open.
(Granted, that’s exaggerating a bit, but see where making an argument purely on a statistic like passer rating falls apart?)
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Favre: The Blog, a Passionate Fan, on 8/10/08 at 2:29 am
Oh, the Jets are going to be so much worse with Favre than Pennington this season, if we go solely on the stats when they faced one another, or even in those four seasons. Can you dig up more of these senseless nuggets of informationa that do nothing but show your contempt for the union of Favre and Jets?
By using this comparison, I guess Chad and not Brett is going into the Hall of Fame, too. Now, having said that, are you ready to say the Dolphins are going to have a better year than the Jets? I was going to compare Rodgers and Favre in 2008, but now I can throw Pennington into the mix and see who’s still standing at the end of the season. Oh, yeah, that would be Brett the Jet.
He nearly shut down his team’s website recording breaking jersey sales. Why haven’t you yet blamed Favre for that distraction, too? In fact, where is any story on the financial buzz he’s created in New York. Jealous?
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Rook, a Passionate Fan, on 8/10/08 at 2:34 am
Chad has always thrown a good deep ball. He’s very accurate and its a pretty easy ball to catch. Ask Randy Moss and Laverneus Coles. Randy loved him at Marshall. Randy would jog (walk) the 1st 10 yards of his pattern and Chad would chuck it up 30-40 yards downfield and Randy would turn on the jets, jump over the DBs and snatch it. Chad’s problem has always been that he can’t zip in a 10-15 yard out pass on the sidelines.
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GTripp0012, a Cheerleader, on 8/10/08 at 2:38 am
Yeah, since when does the outcome of the game matter? They should extend the preseason by 8 weeks.
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 1 rating(s)
grey_matter, a Cheerleader, on 8/10/08 at 3:23 am
Give me more please. Favre, Favre, & more FAVRE!!!
God Bless Brett
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clintdogg, a Head Coach, on 8/10/08 at 3:24 am
You might want to clarify some of your stats Florio. The 2002 game was the last game of the season and the Packers had already clinched a playoff berth. They pretty much laid down for the Jets because a Jets loss would have left them at 8-8 and the defending Super Bowl Champion Pats would have made the playoffs. Instead, allowing the Jets to win gave the Jets the edge in the tie breaker and pushed the Pats out. The 8-7 Jets beat the 12-3 Packers 42-17? Comon.
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The Dox, a Water Boy, on 8/10/08 at 4:17 am
I never really understood why Pennington took so much crap - prior to his two shoulder surgeries, he was one of/the most accurate QBs in the league on short-intermediate routes, but because he didn’t throw deep that often that apparently meant he wasn’t a good QB. But as the aforementioned numbers say, when he did throw downfield, it was on point. 4 INTs in 100+ attempts is pretty damn amazing.
Here’s some more numbers for you crunchers - Pennington’s career completion percentage is higher than your favorite QB’s (65.6%).
Higher than that Manning guy (64,2%).
Higher than that Brady guy (63.0).
Cut the guy some slack, just because he can’t throw a ball 75 yards doesn’t make him a bad quarterback. Even the Mississippi Hickey knows this.
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brian_21, a NFL MVP, on 8/10/08 at 5:12 am
Deduced from this logic, I can only come to the conclusion that Chad Pennington is better than Brett Favre!!!!!!
That = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moutUEfqUQ4
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Tampa Hoss, a Rookie, on 8/10/08 at 6:05 am
This might have gone over my head but…what’s the Kordoza line? I’ve heard of the Mendoza line in baseball being .200 but never heard of the kordoza line…might as well be named the Florio line…
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bgman, a Division Champ, on 8/10/08 at 6:41 am
Misleading stats. Favre throws a better deep pass; Pennington is smarter with his decisions if/when to throw the long ball.
Favre is just trying to appear humble to the media and Jets fans and keep expectations from being unrealistic.
Plus, there’s no sense in Favre trashing Pennington if he’s trying to win over the locker room.
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steve2e, a Head Coach, on 8/10/08 at 7:32 am
Yes, all true. The real difference? Farve went to the NFC championship game and Pennington was 4 and 12. If this wasn’t true, Farve would be somewhere else
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joetoronto, a Division Champ, on 8/10/08 at 7:58 am
Since when is a “long ball” 20+ yards?
Facts are facts, Favre can throw a true “long ball” off balance and off his back foot much further than Pennington, and with more accuracy too.
I’ve always liked Pennington for his leadership and accuracy but just TRYING to compare him to Favre on “long balls” is insane.
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Hollywood Wags, a Division Champ, on 8/10/08 at 8:06 am
He’s like a kid, out there.
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empty13, a Hall of Famer, on 8/10/08 at 9:02 am
bf made sense. give him some credit there. chad aint BAD. he just isnt a big long ball guy.
i made some of the same points as florio did, in a post the other day.
bf didnt play well in that 42-17 game, and he played most of it (33 pass attempts to 8 for pedersen)however, while he was in it. and as usual, when a team “lays it down” (or feels they have nothing to play for, compared to the oppo) the last week of the regular season, disaster ensues. they lost to a one dimensional atlanta team 27-7 the next week IN LAMBEAU IN THE COLD. another cold weather playoff loss for the quintessential cold weather qb…
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ingreenmts, a Cheerleader, on 8/10/08 at 10:03 am
Florio give it up already. If Chad is so good how come we never won a superbowl with him? Those of us who are real Jet fans know why Chad is no longer a Jet - he has no velocity on his throws. He may throw it 20 yards but your grandmother could intercept it. His long passes float! He killed us with his interceptions last year. His completion rating is so high because most of his passes are 5 yards! He is a great game manager, but he can not make all the NFL throws so much so the defenses cheat the line and kill the running game as well. I loved Chad when he first started, but I am so glad he is gone so we can actually compete with the rest of the NFL!
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Vox Veritas, a Hall of Famer, on 8/10/08 at 10:24 am
“Facts are facts, Favre can throw a true “long ball” off balance and off his back foot much further than Pennington, and with more accuracy too.
Great, all you have to do is get BertFarve to throw off his back foot and off balance more.
Seriously, BertFarve’s arm is trashed. Check out his long passes last year. I can’t count how many times his WRs had to make big adjustments (to their credit) to catch a lot of those ducks and a bunch of those ducks weren’t caught by anybody or were caught by the other guys. He had a pretty good year because he kept the >20 yard passing to a minimum. He needs to continue to resist the temptation to go long and stick with the <20 yard stuff when he can. Like I said, just find the open guy and let him do his job. BertFarve ain’t carrying anybody anywhere at this point in his career and if he tries he’s gonna fall flat on his face. I don’t even know what the JEST are thinking by trading for him, especially at that salary. Are they having attendance problems? Were they thinking that he’d put more butts in seats? Nobody’s a BertFarve away from the Super Bowl and if he doesn’t at least get them to the playoffs, his career in NY should be considered a colossal failure and the JEST should be universally ridiculed for wasting a draft pick on him. And I’m being generous, you take on an old short-timer like that with an 8 figure paycheck, it should be because he makes you a Super Bowl contender.
And no, 20 yards isn’t that “long” but it’s long compared to screens and <10 yard passes.
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Vox Veritas, a Hall of Famer, on 8/10/08 at 10:51 am
“Florio give it up already. If Chad is so good how come we never won a superbowl with him? Those of us who are real Jet fans know why Chad is no longer a Jet - he has no velocity on his throws. He may throw it 20 yards but your grandmother could intercept it. His long passes float! He killed us with his interceptions last year. His completion rating is so high because most of his passes are 5 yards!”
Funny you should mention that. 73.5% of BertFarve’s 2007 attempts never went further than 10 yards downfield. That number’s 76.9% for Pennington. Not a huge difference. Furthermore, 21.1% of Favre’s attempts were behind the line of scrimmage, Pennington’s was 18.4%. Again, not a huge difference.
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Rating: 3 / 5 with 2 rating(s)