Chad Pennington, center, greeting New York's Tony Richardson and Jerricho Cotchery after Sunday's game.
Brett Favre walked solemnly through the tunnel, paused to give Ricky Williams a congratulatory pat on the shoulder pad and continued on toward what would now appear to be an overdue retirement.
Chad Pennington jogged off the field followed by a horde of cameras, to a chant of “M.V.P., M.V.P.,” and then at the locker-room entrance fell into the embrace of a Dolphins teammate, cornerback Jason Allen.
“Go get your hat, boy,” Allen said. “Go get your hat!”
He meant the gray division championship cap that Pennington would wear above his combed blond hair to his postgame news conference, where he smiled for America and said, “It’s always a sweet feeling to be a champion — that’s what we are.”
He didn’t have to remind anyone that it was at the expense of the Jets, the luckless franchise that sent him away less than five months ago and lived to regret it.
“It’s not a revenge factor — it’s really not,” Pennington said after throwing two touchdown passes in a 24-17 Dolphins victory. But how could it not be?
When it was fully apparent that the Ravens had a chokehold on their own playoff berth against the Jaguars, what was left for the Jets but to push through the despair in a game of pretend?
Play for pride. Play for Bill Belichick’s Patriots, a revolting development for Jets Coach Eric Mangini. Fate could not have meted out crueler punishment than the perfect storm of Sunday’s circumstances, but as it turned out, losing to Miami in addition to playoff elimination brought the consolation of keeping the 11-victory and deserving Patriots out, too.
Even with the New England and the Baltimore scores hidden from fans, everyone knew by the start of the third quarter that this was the end to a season that a month ago seemed to be on the express track through December. The grand Favre experiment was officially a fiasco, unless gauged strictly as a business arrangement, a desperate means of making the Jets — 4-12 last season, irrelevant in their own market — a topic of continued conversation.
Even as Favre spun right, threw a short pass into the arms of Dolphins defensive end Phillip Merling and dived futilely to keep the rambling Merling out of the end zone minutes before halftime, it was impossible to dispute that Favre and the Jets had been a season-long spectacle. And what a coincidence that their marriage of convenience was refereed just as Jets ticket holders were about to be presented the privilege of buying a personal-seat license for the football palace under construction next door.
Who believes that the decision to go geriatric with Favre, now 39, was not made at least partly for the sake of salesmanship? Before he determines the fate of Mangini or General Manager Mike Tannenbaum, the Jets’ owner, Woody Johnson, should take a long look in the mirror and ask himself: Did I want Favre as much or more than they did? Did I tempt fate by letting Pennington slip into the clutches of Bill Parcells?
We were reminded at times Sunday of Pennington’s inability to throw deep, to stretch a defense. But he did escape what looked to be a certain sack to keep alive a drive that ended with a 28-yard touchdown pass to Ted Ginn Jr. He did throw a gorgeous third-quarter 20-yarder to tight end Anthony Fasano for the winning score.
Pennington did engineer the unlikeliest of playoff runs, taking a Dolphins team that was 1-15 last season to a division title. He did make the playoffs for the fourth time in his career — four of six seasons in which he has played in at least nine games.
And Favre? His third interception Sunday killed off the Jets’ last legitimate chance. His last five games will be among the more forgettable of his Hall of Fame career — which he said will most certainly end if he needs surgery on the throwing shoulder he finally acknowledged was sore.
“I’m glad I made the decision to come here and play,” he said. “I wish I could have held up my end of the bargain.”
In other words, thank you for the opportunity, and goodbye. Where do the Jets go from here? There are reports that Tom Brady may not be ready for next season in New England, and that would no doubt take his replacement, Matt Cassel, off the free-agent market.
Maybe what they need even more than another quarterback or coach is a new football man atop the organization. Could it be the consummate Jersey guy and former Jets savior? Wayne Huizenga, the Dolphins’ owner, said after the game that Parcells would have the option to void his contract, with full pay, when Stephen Ross, a New York developer, becomes the controlling owner of the team next year.
“I told him, ‘You ought to stick around,’ ” Huizenga said. “He just has to decide what to do.”
What Parcells has already done is front a made-for-TV turnaround, beginning with his handpicked coach, the dramatically named Tony Sparano, as his field boss, and Pennington, the Jets reject.
“The only way fate would have it,” Pennington said, and that said it all.
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