Morning briefing

The New York Jets go into Sunday’s game at Cincinnati with a 1-5 record after losing at home to the Philadelphia Eagles, 16-9, last weekend in a game in which Chad Pennington passed for only 128 yards.

Wallace Matthews of Newsday, under the headline “Time to pull the plug on Chad” wrote: “And that concludes the portion of our program known as the Chad Pennington Era. . . . In the blink of an eye, Pennington’s time came and went. Soon it will be his turn to sit.”

OK.

They blitz Pennington from all over

Peter King said on NBC that if Pennington doesn’t play well at Cincinnati “the starting job likely will go to Kellen Clemens.”

OK.

Then there was this from analyst Cris Collinsworth: “If he doesn’t play well in Cincinnati, he should get cut.”

Ouch!

Trivia time

When Pennington became the Jets’ starting quarterback in 2002 after two seasons as a backup, whom did he replace?

They can’t hide

The Jets wore throwback jerseys from their New York Titans era in the loss to the Eagles.

“You can disguise the Jets, but we still know who you are,” Keith Olbermann said on NBC.

Credit an assist

Lissett Mendoza, a freshman at Costa Mesa High, was presented with the first Chick Hearn Legacy Scholarship by the broadcasting icon’s widow, Marge, last weekend at the YMCA of Orange County’s Reach Out Awards.

Marge Hearn donated $50,000 to launch an endowment fund last year and donated another $50,000 to the fund this year.

“Chick always wanted to help kids,” Marge said. “He thought kids were for real. One time an usher at the Forum shooed away a kid who wanted an autograph, and Chick told the usher to never do that again. He was always willing to give an autograph to a kid.”

Does this make 101?

The team of Jeffrey Schrader, Blake Haas, Jason Chu and Barry Ko will be honored Sunday at the Pacific Palms in Industry Hills for bringing another collegiate national championship to UCLA.

The sport? Bridge.

Distance races

Jockey Richard Migliore has been riding in Southern California for more than a year, but his main residence remains in the New York area. That’s where his wife and four children live, prompting a hectic travel schedule.

On Sunday, after riding Gotta Have Her to a stakes win at Santa Anita, he was off to New York on a red-eye flight. On Wednesday, he was back at Santa Anita to exercise Breeders’ Cup-bound Dixie Chatter. Upcoming is a trip to Keeneland in Kentucky, then home to New York and back to the Oak Tree meet at Santa Anita before heading to the Breeders’ Cup in New Jersey. And the day after the Breeders’ Cup, he plans to be back at Santa Anita.

“Fortunately, I’m a world champion when it comes to sleeping on a plane,” he said.

Sign of the times

From Dan Daly of the Washington Times, envisioning the next popular bumper sticker in State College, Pa.: “I brake for Joe Paterno.”

Trivia answer

Vinny Testaverde, who returned to the NFL last week and led Carolina to a 25-10 victory over Arizona after only four days of practice. Testaverde, who turns 44 next month, completed 20 of 33 passes for 206 yards and a touchdown in his return.

And finally

Vince Young is listed as day to day because of a strained right quadriceps muscle, and we should have probably seen this coming. Here’s what Maxim.com predicted in August in its NFL preview “Fantasy Benchwarmers” feature on the Tennessee Titans’ quarterback:

“His image graces the cover of Madden NFL 08 -- which means that, like Madden cover boys of the past, he will suffer some kind of traumatic injury within the season’s first six weeks. (Our guess: an achy-breaky shinbone.) Indeed, the Madden Curse is a more powerful force than a category-three hurricane and Beyonce combined.”

larry.stewart@latimes.com