Inaccurate comparison of Pennington to Fiedler

[endorPHINS72]

I've read several articles this week in the South Florida papers that have compared Chad Pennington to Jay Fiedler. Despite the leadership he displayed and the fact that Fiedler gave it all he had when he was a Dolphin, this is inaccurate. The biggest thing that separate Chad Pennington and Jay Fiedler is that Jay could be reckless with the football and Chad is not. Also, Jay was not very accurate and Chad has been one of the most accurate in NFL history. Their statistics prove this point:

Chad Pennington (Career)
66% completion percentage
90.6 QB Rating

Jay Fiedler (Career)
58.7% completion percentage
77.1 QB Rating

This is not a thread that was written to trash Jay Fiedler. It's purpose is to give Chad Pennington the credit that he deserves. As Don Shula said recently, Chad Pennington compares favorably to Bob Griese in the way he manages and plays the game.

 

[Itsdahumidity]

I've read several articles this week in the South Florida papers that have compared Chad Pennington to Jay Fiedler. Despite the leadership he displayed and the fact that Fiedler gave it all he had when he was a Dolphin, this is inaccurate. The biggest thing that separate Chad Pennington and Jay Fiedler is that Jay could be wreckless with the football and Chad is not. Also, Jay was not very accurate and Chad has been one of the most accurate in NFL history. Their statistics prove this point:

Chad Pennington (Career)
66% completion percentage
90.6 QB Rating

Jay Fiedler (Career)
58.7% completion percentage
77.1 QB Rating

This is not a thread that was written to trash Jay Fiedler. It's purpose is to give Chad Pennington the credit that he deserves. As Don Shula said recently, Chad Pennington compares favorably to Bob Griese in the way he manages and plays the game.

Then why waste time and post something that is already known. Just saying, if YOU know Pennington is much better than ears what's the point. All anyone needs to know is that the real difference is he would have never started in the nfl if not for perhaps the dumbest football mind we have ever seen.

 

[GRYPHONK]

I disagree with one point. Fiedler was definitely an accurate passer for us. His WR'S let him down quite often.

However you are correct about 1 thing. Fiedler was definitely more reckless.

I am and will always be one of the biggest supporters of Fiedler, but I didn't have the same amount of confidnece in him as I do Chad when we needed a drive to win a game.


The main difference for me is this. If we needed a score to win or 10 yards to complete a 1st on a crucial drive. Fiedler would throw a perfect pass and it would be dropped. He would then go and throw an INT.

With Pennington that INT on 2nd down didn't happen. He didn't let the lack of running game or his WR'S dropping passes or his WR'S causing his INT'S (Remember 3 of his first 4 or 5 INT'S came from passes the WR'S practically handed to the defenders) he never let any of that cause him to get reckless.

Both were confident QB'S but Pennington was more apt to pay attention to his limitations. Only if needed will Penny throw a pass his arm strength hinders him from throwing. Fiedler had the Marino confidence but not arm strength so therefor he believed he could make the throw everytime.

Another difference is we have an OC who understands he shouldn't have Pennington throwing those out patterns every other attempt. Unlike Norv "Stubborn" Turner who felt Fiedler should throw one almost every series.

 

[endorPHINS72]

Then why waste time and post something that is already known. Just saying, if YOU know Pennington is much better than ears what's the point. All anyone needs to know is that the real difference is he would have never started in the nfl if not for perhaps the dumbest football mind we have ever seen.

The newspapers had to be called out on this. Just saying, "Oh well, as long as you believe it, nothing else matters" isn't good enough. When alleged members of the press put crap out there, they need to be called out on it. And here is an exerpt from David Neal's article in The Miami Herald:

"From 1983-99, the Dolphins had Dan Marino, one of the few quarterbacks with (Jeff) George's talent and (Bobby) Layne's leadership skills. Since Marino's retirement, it has been Jay Fiedler, who bore many similarities to Pennington but was unappreciated by fans because he bore few physical similarities to Marino."

Please elaborate, David. Besides being tough and a good leader, what are the other similarities between Fiedler and Pennington, besides the fact they both play the same position and wore football helmets?

 

[endorPHINS72]

I disagree with one point. Fiedler was definitely an accurate passer for us. His WR'S let him down quite often.

However you are correct about 1 thing. Fiedler was definitely more reckless.

I am and will always be one of the biggest supporters of Fiedler, but I didn't have the same amount of confidnece in him as I do Chad when we needed a drive to win a game.


The main difference for me is this. If we needed a score to win or 10 yards to complete a 1st on a crucial drive. Fiedler would throw a perfect pass and it would be dropped. He would then go and throw an INT.

With Pennington that INT on 2nd down didn't happen. He didn't let the lack of running game or his WR'S dropping passes or his WR'S causing his INT'S (Remember 3 of his first 4 or 5 INT'S came from passes the WR'S practically handed to the defenders) he never let any of that cause him to get reckless.

Both were confident QB'S but Pennington was more apt to pay attention to his limitations. Only if needed will Penny throw a pass his arm strength hinders him from throwing. Fiedler had the Marino confidence but not arm strength so therefor he believed he could make the throw everytime.

Another difference is we have an OC who understands he shouldn't have Pennington throwing those out patterns every other attempt. Unlike Norv "Stubborn" Turner who felt Fiedler should throw one almost every series.

I agree with you that Fiedler didn't realize the limitations of his arm and that was such a crucial thing for any player to know. He did play with a Danny-esque style but without the arm. I'm not saying that Fiedler was a wildly inaccurate QB. His career completion % is decent. This is more about making a more accurate comparison of Pennington to Bob Griese. Now Griese had a stronger arm and played A LOT longer than one season in Miami, but when I see the kind of leadership and playmaking that Chad does, I can't help but be reminded of Griese. Hopefully Chad will stick around another four years or so to see if that comparison is accurate! :up:

 

[Viggen]

I do not understand how someone can equate the two at all.

Fiedler was always trying to prove that he was the new "man" in Miami and could do whatever that dude, #13, could. He was out to prove just that, and it burned the team many a time because he was not a whisper of Marino. He was reckless.

I do not agree that the receivers are to blame for Fiedler, that is making excuses, period. He had some good recievers back then. Tony Martin and OG caught 1800 yards from Marino in '99, and Fiedler could only muster 1150 from TM and OG in 2000.

Chad is out there to manage the game and just move the chains. He does not play with a paranoid shadow over him like Fiedler did.

Chad is very accurate, and I do not know how but his throws get to the right spots for the receivers. I agree with the Bob Griese comparison is much more appropriate.

 

[TorontoFin]

Then why waste time and post something that is already known. Just saying, if YOU know Pennington is much better than ears what's the point. All anyone needs to know is that the real difference is he would have never started in the nfl if not for perhaps the dumbest football mind we have ever seen.

why would you, then, waste time clicking on this thread and then waste more time commenting on how useless you thought it was.

 

[Lungoystr]

I agree with you that Fiedler didn't realize the limitations of his arm and that was such a crucial thing for any player to know. He did play with a Danny-esque style but without the arm. I'm not saying that Fiedler was a wildly inaccurate QB. His career completion % is decent. This is more about making a more accurate comparison of Pennington to Bob Griese. Now Griese had a stronger arm and played A LOT longer than one season in Miami, but when I see the kind of leadership and playmaking that Chad does, I can't help but be reminded of Griese. Hopefully Chad will stick around another four years or so to see if that comparison is accurate! :up:

I also believe one thing that killed Jay was his vision (or lack of it). All of his pick-6's on the out patterns support this. For some reason the guy just couldn't seem to avoid the defender on many of those throws. To other teams, that pattern was their D's bread and butter. Personally, I liked Jay Fiedler. He was tough and he had a decent arm (although I still believe the best arm in the stable was that of Sage Rosenfels). In the end, it was just too much and too soon for Fiedler to have to live in the shadow of Marino.

 

[endorPHINS72]

I do not understand how someone can equate the two at all.

Fiedler was always trying to prove that he was the new "man" in Miami and could do whatever that dude, #13, could. He was out to prove just that, and it burned the team many a time because he was not a whisper of Marino. He was reckless.

I do not agree that the receivers are to blame for Fiedler, that is making excuses, period. He had some good recievers back then. Tony Martin and OG caught 1800 yards from Marino in '99, and Fiedler could only muster 1150 from TM and OG in 2000.

Chad is out there to manage the game and just move the chains. He does not play with a paranoid shadow over him like Fiedler did.

Chad is very accurate, and I do not know how but his throws get to the right spots for the receivers. I agree with the Bob Griese comparison is much more appropriate.

I agree with you. Remember that one handed beauty Gadsden caught against the Jets in '02? In my opinion, the best catch in NFL history.

 

[RavensD]

Man, I used to love Fiedler! Say what you want about him, but the guy had heart for days.

 

[GADOLPHIN]

There is no comparison betewen Jay and Chad. Chad is leader and accurate passer, Jay was neither. Not only has he proven it this year but he has his whole career. The only reason Jay won any games because he had good defense to back him up. How many fourth quarter drives did Jay comes up to.

 

[Itsdahumidity]

why would you, then, waste time clicking on this thread and then waste more time commenting on how useless you thought it was.

Why would you TorontoFin, quote my comment? To complain about someone complaining? You don't see the irony in what you're accusing me of doing? We can play this game all day.

The thread starter has been here long enough to know that the mere mentioning of JF is like yelling fire in a crowded room. He's a lightning rod topic. That's why his name was used in the columnist's non-story. It's a go-to tactic on a slow news day.

Again, like I mentioned in another "past Dolphins news" thread, this should be a happy time for us - Playoffs this Sun/Div Champs/proud Franchise back on track. But JF will always be a sore spot in our history regardless of your personal feelings about him.

 

[Metal Panda]

To be fair, that article said there were 'some' similarities. And there were...Jay was a fairly accurate quarterback in his first few years (he just also happened to be quite turnover prone).

Jay was also a competitor and led quite a few comeback victories. In spirit, they were similar.

I wouldn't go on to say they were 'really' similar though - Pennington has better field vision and decision making, and is probably the quarterback Fiedler wished he could be. Fiedler would be brilliant at moments but then he'd come back with another one of those chin-scratching moments.

 

[X-Pacolypse]

Chad Pennington was everything Dave Wannstedt wanted Jay Fiedler to be. Unlike Jay, Chad knows what his weaknesses are, and plays much more to his strengths. Whereas, Jay tried so many times to do things that he was just not meant to do and it cost the Dolphins a lot of ball games.

 

[juniorseau55]

Why are we discussing a player that is not even in this league anymore. I can understand if you name Joey Harrington, Daunte, AJ Feeley but why Jay Fiedler?

Jay Fiedler was inaccurate with every throw and the only thing he had going for him is his legs. I still remember that horrible pass after his Thumb Injury against the Patriots.

Lets not talk about the Wanny era anymore please. I am not being a you know what hole but this is totally unacceptable in finheaven.