Pats beat Jets; fans not happy with Pennington

The whole story is not the 38-14 win by the New England Patriots over the NY Jets today. At the game, Jets fans had a lot of angst in their heart about the Jets' starting quarterback, Chad "the oft injured" Pennington.

Jets fans were walking away from their home opener by the beginning of the 4th Quarter. They had booed their starter (from at least from the 300 level) and a guy on the bottom of the escalator was trying to give away his #10 Chad Pennington Jets jersey. More than anything else, it was sad.

At the outset of the game, there was so much hope in the air it was fun (even if it was the Jets). But as the 4th Quarter ticked by, the Jets fan in the seat next to me asked me, "Why do I come here?"

I responded that the Jets are a great franchise and they could rally today. He insisted that was the worst kind of advice: "I'm getting sympathy from a Pats fan. That's too much." Sorry for being upbeat. But at that point they were only down by two touchdowns and anything can happen.

I stuck around until the final whistle, headed to the parking deck, and had a pretty smooth ride out (a lot of people were already gone). You know, it's early in the season: Pennington can be one of the greats. And, really, all the Jets dealt with today was one loss to a very strong division rival that was expected to win anyway. There are 15 more chances to get to the playoffs and, really, the Jets are a great team.

On the way out, a Jets fan said, "Oh yeah, here's a Pats fan, that must be hard: They beat everyone! What about Manning and the Colts? How did they do with them?" I said back, "Not as well last time as they will next time."

You know, a little bit of that from Jets fans might make the season a little more fun. Hey, it's a game; a great game, but a game. But, I will say, maybe a quarterback controversy wouldn't be out of line in Jetville.