He and His Receivers on Same Wavelength

Had Chad Pennington gotten his wires crossed, he would have had a ready excuse.

The third-year New York Jet quarterback, in his first season as a starter, heard his in-helmet radio headset sputter and fail within the opening moments of a Nov. 17 game at Detroit. It was up to him to interpret hand signals from the sideline and sometimes call his own plays.

It was a good test for Pennington, a regional Rhodes Scholar finalist at Marshall, and he passed it with ease. He completed 21 of 26 passes for 229 yards and four touchdowns in a 31-14 victory. It wasn’t until four days later that anyone outside the Jets learned his headset had failed.

Pennington, Randy Moss’ college quarterback, stepped in for Vinny Testaverde last season and went 8-4 as the starter, leading the Jets to the playoffs after a 1-4 start. Now, the pressure is on to prove he’s not a one-season wonder.

Question: You turned down appearance requests from David Letterman and Regis Philbin after the season. Why?

Answer: First of all, it’s all about timing. When I was asked to do some of the late-night shows and TV shows, it was right after the season. After a very surprising season, not only for myself but for our team. And I was very conscious of making sure my teammates did not see me put myself before them, that they understood that I know how important they are to me and that I’m not capitalizing on their success.

Q: So humility is key?

A: It’s a process becoming the leader and quarterback of your team. It involves earning your respect, earning your stripes, paying your dues. And it doesn’t stop at any moment in your career. It’s an ongoing thing where you continually build trust, build respect, and your teammates understand what you’re made of.

Q: The Jets lost three key offensive players to free agency: Laveranues Coles, Chad Morton and Randy Thomas, plus kicker John Hall. Can you make the playoffs that way?

A: Absolutely. I think our team is stronger because of our off-season transactions. I think our team has come closer together knowing we lost some good players and we have to step it up. We have to expect more out of ourselves as players and teammates.

Q: Coles was your favorite target. Will it be strange not having him?

A: Our receiving corps is stronger this year, because the whole corps including myself knows what is expected of us. We know we have to step it up. We lost our best receiver. We lost a receiver that I have a great feel for. But the NFL’s about change. And if you can’t adapt to change, you’re not going to be in the NFL very long. So there’s no use to cry over spilled milk and worry about the past.

Q: You don’t have the strongest arm around. Is that a problem?

A: I believe not having the strongest arm in the league actually benefits me because I have to use other assets and other aspects of my game to get the job done. So there are only a few balls that require total arm strength, and I feel like I have adequate arm strength to throw any and every ball. To me, physically, timing and accuracy is more important than arm strength when it comes to playing quarterback. If you talk to any receiver in the league, they would much rather catch a zipped ball that has nice velocity on it than to catch a rocket ship that’s coming at them at Mach II. It’s not the most fun in the world to catch one of those footballs.

Q: You threw four touchdowns in a game at Detroit even though your helmet headset went on the fritz. What do you remember about that game?

A: In quarterback meetings, you always talk about the possibility of headsets going out. But you never believe it will truly happen. And when it does, the first thing you have to do is stay calm. The preparation of the game plan, of understanding the plays and formations, play a major part of getting things accomplished when the headsets go out. [Testaverde] did a great job of communicating with me in trying to get the plays in. He just made up signals. We were able to feed off each other and read each other.

Q: Did you freak out at first when all you heard was static?

A: No, it was one of those games where I felt very much in control. We felt good about what we were doing, and what I had to do is just remain calm and act like nothing was going on. It definitely provided an extra challenge.

Q: When’s the last time you panicked?

A: Well, there have been times in my life where I haven’t handled a situation the way I wanted to handle it. The last time that happened in football was the Oakland game in the playoffs. I felt like I didn’t remain as calm as I should have under pressure. I felt like I got caught up in the emotion of the game and had a lot of energy and excitement in my body.

Q: What do you remember about those summer trips to Central America your family used to take?

A: Well, growing up I had the opportunity to do some mission work. I traveled to Belize and worked with the Mayan Indians, worked with other numerous native tribes there -- the Garifunas, the Creole. I was there four times. An eye-opening experience for me. What I enjoyed most about it was we didn’t go down there to build a building and leave. We didn’t go down there to just totally intrude. We went down there to mix, to mingle, to fellowship with those people, and I think they enjoyed it as much as we did.

Q: Is there a Belize memory burned in your brain?

A: The one memory that stands out in all of those trips was the time a Mayan Indian family took me in for a couple nights and I helped build their house. They were newlyweds. I helped build their thatched-roof house. We traveled into the jungle, brought out this certain type of leaf to make the roof, and help them -- whatever help I was, I was about 11 or 12. That was quite an experience for me. The reason it was so neat is I wasn’t trying to implant my American ways on them. I was able to just blend in with them and help them build the house the way they build it, and let them live the way they like to live, not show them a quote better way or easier way.

Q: Are you comfortable with fame?

A: I’m comfortable with fame because I don’t ever think about fame. I don’t ever think about how people view me in a famous light. I’ve always concentrated on making sure that my inner person and inner soul never changes.