You'd see Penny on the sidelines and he'd be like: "Hey, hey, I'm going to need you now, forget about it, I need you to make some plays for me" The man just won football games.
To be fair Pennington has more ties left here then in New York. Theres no one left in there front office or on the field with whom he had any real ties to. In Miami he has Ireland (ironically) and a few others on the coaching staff and in the locker room. That probably has a lot to do with it.
To be fair, FinD, it seems to me that the wildcat was resurrected from college when the running game more resembled a troop of recruits running through surf with a rucksack full of rocks on their back - specially the line. Ronnie and Ricky were seeing more of the fronts of the opponents defensive line than the backs of the 'Phins jerseys - IIRC. At times, the opponents seemed to have more men in the 'Phins backfield than the 'Phins did. IOW, it wasn't to get the pressure off of a weak armed QB as much as it was to have something with even the vaguest resemblance of a running game in the first place - after all it is called "Football!"
Right....and if you had a QB that would scare opposing defenses instead of dink and dunk stuff, then you wouldn't have to worry about stacked boxes for your running game.
That actually shocked me when I heard this. Obviously he spent the majority of his career in NY and most players after that would consider themselves a Jet. Is Ryan such an ego maniac that they told Pennington to go spit when he told them of his intention to be a QB position coach or consultant? Idiots if they did because I can't think of many teams that have a more screwed up QB situation right now. Sanchez needs all the help he can get to salvage his career and Pennington coming in would have been a smart move even if they just hired him to counsel Sanchez. Glad he came here though. As much as I hated him as a Jet I realize the knowledge he brings.
Off the field? I think you need to re-watch some film. He wasn't off the field. He started under center and then moved wide.
Henne scared opposing teams greatly, they all feared that by sheer happenstance he managed to a part of their team.
IIRC it started out with Penny/ Henne on the field as well into something where they were removed from the field of play more often. We ran the QB flea flicker a few times and teams simply took out the QB on the play as defenses adjusted. Hitting the QB was one the first remedies they tried, and we countered by having them off the field. We saw both options.
I think they did that more with Henne, but we're talking with Penne right now, and I clearly recall him being on the field. The whole point of Wildcat that first year was the element of surprise and confusion.
