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Pennington Ready to Play
Dec. 2, 2004

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. -- On his first day back under center with the first-team offense, Chad Pennington went for it all.

He lofted a deep pass for Justin McCareins, hitting the receiver in stride. His teammates were relieved. So was Pennington.

"It kind of raised your eyebrow, like, 'Oh, OK, got through that one OK,"' Pennington said Wednesday after taking most of the snaps with the starters during practice. "Let's move on to the next one."

Pennington has missed the last three games with a strained right rotator cuff and is listed as questionable for the Jets' game Sunday against Houston. But if there are no setbacks with his shoulder, Pennington will start the game.

Coach Herman Edwards and Pennington want to see how the shoulder responds to three straight days of practice before making a decision Friday.

All signs point to the return of the franchise quarterback, who was hurt Nov. 7 at Buffalo after a scramble. Without their leader, the Jets (8-3) have won two of three and stayed in the playoff hunt, but the offense has been anything but pretty.

They have scored a combined 23 points in wins over Arizona and Cleveland, not exactly NFL powers. The Browns just gave up 58 points last week in a loss to Cincinnati.

While no one criticized the work of backup Quincy Carter, the team is excited to have Pennington back.

"Chad brings a different attitude to the team," running back Curtis Martin said. "He's the man. He's the one we've learned to count on. Now we get him back. It's no slight to anyone, Chad is our leader."

To show just how much Martin wants Pennington back, he kept asking the quarterback during practice, 'Are you OK? Are you OK?' Pennington responded: "You are making me feel a little nervous. Am I not doing good?"

Martin said, "Yeah, you are doing good."

Everyone seemed to agree.

"Physically, he looked like the normal Chad," McCareins said.


AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service