Jets football blog

Clemens to stay with Jets

Final roster cuts aren’t until Saturday, but the Jets cleared up their reserve quarterback situation today.

Kellen Clemens took a pay cut in order to stay with the team, as the third quarterback, and Kevin O’Connell was waived.

Clemens, who has had a see-saw ride of a career with the Jets, said he signed a new, one-year deal this morning, less than the $1.176 million tender he signed in April.

Despite serious interest from two teams to be their No. 2 quarterback -- four teams in total were in the picture, the quarterback said -- Clemens said he decided to stay with the Jets as their No. 3 after meeting with coach Rex Ryan and general manager Mike Tannenbaum Monday night. Clemens said both sides felt they would have a positive working relationship moving forward. (Ledger)

Jets' QB quandry

Will he stay or will he go? Will Chad Pennington remain with the Jets in 2008, or are they ready to commit wholeheartedly to Kellen Clemens and eschew their most competent safety net in the process by jettisoning Pennington?

That's the most pressing question that faces the Jets as they embark on what's certain to be an active offseason of changes. Yesterday, the day after their season-finale victory over the woeful Chiefs, the Jets offered no answers - mostly because they don't have any answers at the moment. As for Pennington, he reiterated his burning desire to be a starter in the NFL, regardless of where he starts. Continue

Clemens isn't the QB answer

Of all the question marks that will follow Mike Tannenbaum and Eric Mangini into an offseason that began last night - and there are plenty - the biggest one is the quarterback. If the Jets' braintrust is dead wrong about Kellen Clemens - and in truth he did little over the second half of the season to offer hope that it was dead right - then 2008 promises to be as ghastly as 2007.

Whatever Tannenbaum and Mangini saw in Clemens and convinced them to pass on Vince Young, Matt Leinart and Jay Cutler and select him in the second round of the 2006 draft, seemed to become swallowed up in a Bermuda Triangle of poor offensive-line play, injuries at wide receiver and gimmick play-calling. Still, it is worrisome that Clemens did not make a better case for himself. It means the Jets, 13-10 overtime winners last night over the sorry Chiefs, better find their own Jeff Garcia . . . or draft another quarterback. Because 2008 will be all about growing pains for Clemens, and the franchise. Continue

Kellen Clemens likely to start for Jets

Kellen Clemens blew on his hand, took a shotgun snap from a ball boy, and heaved a perfect 40-yard strike that landed in Justin McCareins' lap for a post-pattern touchdown. It didn't matter that there was no one guarding McCareins on this play - and no one rushing the quarterback to get up in Clemens' grill.

What mattered is that Clemens' injured ribs and shoulder appear to be improving to the point that he is still hoping to start in the season finale Sunday against Kansas City, possibly signaling the official end of Chad Pennington's days under center in green and white. Continue

Mangini muddies Jets' QB situation

If Kellen Clemens is healthy enough to play Sunday, he will. That's one of the things Eric Mangini could have said yesterday. End of story. We all move on delighted in the stability of the franchise. He did not say those words. Instead, the Jets coach muddied the waters like a thrashing catfish, refusing to divulge much of any information about the quarterback situation with two games remaining in a long-ago doomed season.

Given several opportunities to throw his support behind Clemens, the struggling second-year player who was knocked out early in Sunday's loss with what is being called a rib injury, the coach who pulled the plug on the Chad Pennington Era held tight to the possibility of reinserting those prongs in the outlet. Continue

Kellen Clemens can't afford interceptions against Patriots

Each week, Kellen Clemens feels he is growing stronger as a quarterback. Sunday in Foxborough, facing an undefeated Patriots team that feasts on inexperienced signal callers, Clemens will find out just how strong he is. Clemens will not only be facing the Jets' biggest rival, but he will also face a Bill Belichick-designed defense that is a nightmare for an elite quarterback such as Peyton Manning.

Clemens, who has thrown just two touchdown passes and five interceptions in the last four games, will have to show more poise and avoid turnovers for the Jets to have any chance to derail New England's run toward a perfect season. Continue

Kellen Clemens won't sack analyst

Kellen Clemens appeared a bit chagrined on Wednesday when asked to respond to a comment made by CBS analyst Steve Tasker, who said during Sunday's telecast that Clemens "sometimes gets skittish" in the pocket. Tasker made the remark after Clemens, perhaps leaving the pocket too soon, took a first-quarter sack in the Jets' win over the Dolphins.

"I'm sure that Mr. Tasker is making the best evaluation that he can," Clemens said. "It's my job to go out and play. I'm making the decisions the best I can in the spur of the moment. Sometimes they're correct, and there are other times when they're not, but I'm out there doing the best I can." Clemens believes he made the right decision on the play in question. Continue

Kellen Clemens must improve footwork

Another week, another "S" bomb drops on a New York quarterback. This time, the victim was Kellen Clemens. During Sunday's Jets-Dolphins telecast, CBS analyst Steve Tasker referred to Clemens as "skittish" after a first-quarter sack. It's not quite the same as a general manager saying that about his own quarterback - see the Giants' Jerry Reese and Eli Manning - but it bears repeating and some analysis. Tasker's tweak came on the opening possession of the Jets' 40-13 victory, when Clemens got happy feet in the pocket and was sacked by DE Jason Taylor at the line of scrimmage. Continue

Clemens struggles undre pressure

This was why the Jets waited so long to bench Chad Pennington. All of the pitfalls of starting an inexperienced quarterback in the NFL - the slow reads, the costly sacks, the back-breaking turnovers - were on display yesterday with Kellen Clemens under center.

Making just his fourth career start, Clemens had a deer-in-the-headlights look for most of the afternoon while being manhandled by Dallas' relentless defense in a 34-3 Jets loss that was never in doubt. So much for the optimism Clemens generated just four days earlier by orchestrating an overtime upset of the Steelers. Along with a porous pass defense, this was a Thanksgiving Day disaster that could be pinned largely on the second-year passer from Oregon. Continue

Kellen Clemens gets taste of spotlight

A year ago, a new star was born in the Lone Star State. A nobody named Tony Romo, in his fifth NFL start, threw five touchdown passes on Thanksgiving, becoming a flat-screen phenom in living rooms across America. In this case, Romo was built in a day.

There's no bigger regular-season showcase than a game on Thanksgiving, and today Kellen Clemens will have his first chance to go from the Jets' little secret to a national quarterback. Fittingly, Clemens will oppose Romo's Cowboys at Texas Stadium, where his familiar last name will create more buzz than his skimpy resume. Many of those in attendance probably will wonder if he's kin to Roger Clemens, one of the state's favorite sons. Continue