zippo59
Experienced Starter w/First Big Contract
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When Mangini left to coach the Jets there was a lot of animosity between him and Belichick, and according to media reports a lot of this was due to the fact that Mangini took the scouting book the Patriots had on Chad Pennington with him to show Chad how the Patriots prepared for him, the tendencies of his they picked up on, the defenses they played against him, etc. It is in my humble opinion that this had a huge effect on the field. I didn't realize how big exactly until I looked at the stats.
Between 2000 and 2005 the Patriots played Pennington 5 times. His stats for those games look like this:
91/152, 967 yards, 59.9%, 6.4 YPA, 4 TD, 7 INT, 68.1 rating, TD% 2.6, INT% 4.6
Then I compared that with Pennington's stats against the rest of the league during that same period:
676/1022, 7654 yards, 66.1%, 7.5 YPA, 51 TD, 23 INT, 95.7 rating, TD% 5, INT% 2.2
Statistically the Patriots dominated Pennington. They held him to a whole yard per attempt lower than the rest of the league, and he completed a far lower percentage of his passes. His interception percentage was twice that it was against the rest of the NFL, and his touchdown percentage was cut in half. His passer rating was a whopping 27 points lower than it was against everybody else. Basically they owned him.
Now these are Pennington's stats against the Pats between 2006 and 2007, the years he was in New York with Mangini (4 games):
85/129, 825 yards, 65.9%, 6.4 YPA, 5 TD, 2 INT, 90.1 rating, TD% 3.9, INT% 1.6
Now against the rest of the league during the same time frame:
407/616, 4292 yards, 66.1%, 6.7 YPA, 22 TD, 23 INT, 82.5 rating, TD% 3.6, INT% 3.7
Pennington's play dramatically declined on the whole, yet against us they went up! The completion percentages are very similar, and while his YPA is lower than the his league average and the same as it was against us between 2000 and 2005, it is worth mentioning that two of the four games Pennington played against us were in terrible, rainy weather. His YPA in those two games was 5. In the other two games with good weather it was 8.2.
As for the rest, his touchdown percentage improved from pre Mangini by more than one percentage point, and his interception percentage went down by three percentage points despite the fact against the rest of the league those numbers both declined after Mangini became his head coach. And his passer rating was nearly 8 points higher against us despite the fact that this again declined against the rest of the league.
The Patriots defense has remained very solid, and it has been ranked near the top of the league in most categories since Mangini left, so I don't think saying a decline in the Patriots play is a valid reason for this trend.
Something clearly changed that caused Pennington's career to take a 180, both against us and the rest of the league, and my money is on the book that Mangini swiped. I don't believe he broke any rules by doing so, but it seems pretty dishonorable, doesn't it? If it was simply Mangini's knowledge of our defense that was making the difference then Brett Favre would have played better than he did last week. The fact that this only applies to Pennington specifically makes me think there is something to this. Just something to keep in mind has the Pats play him on Sunday.
Between 2000 and 2005 the Patriots played Pennington 5 times. His stats for those games look like this:
91/152, 967 yards, 59.9%, 6.4 YPA, 4 TD, 7 INT, 68.1 rating, TD% 2.6, INT% 4.6
Then I compared that with Pennington's stats against the rest of the league during that same period:
676/1022, 7654 yards, 66.1%, 7.5 YPA, 51 TD, 23 INT, 95.7 rating, TD% 5, INT% 2.2
Statistically the Patriots dominated Pennington. They held him to a whole yard per attempt lower than the rest of the league, and he completed a far lower percentage of his passes. His interception percentage was twice that it was against the rest of the NFL, and his touchdown percentage was cut in half. His passer rating was a whopping 27 points lower than it was against everybody else. Basically they owned him.
Now these are Pennington's stats against the Pats between 2006 and 2007, the years he was in New York with Mangini (4 games):
85/129, 825 yards, 65.9%, 6.4 YPA, 5 TD, 2 INT, 90.1 rating, TD% 3.9, INT% 1.6
Now against the rest of the league during the same time frame:
407/616, 4292 yards, 66.1%, 6.7 YPA, 22 TD, 23 INT, 82.5 rating, TD% 3.6, INT% 3.7
Pennington's play dramatically declined on the whole, yet against us they went up! The completion percentages are very similar, and while his YPA is lower than the his league average and the same as it was against us between 2000 and 2005, it is worth mentioning that two of the four games Pennington played against us were in terrible, rainy weather. His YPA in those two games was 5. In the other two games with good weather it was 8.2.
As for the rest, his touchdown percentage improved from pre Mangini by more than one percentage point, and his interception percentage went down by three percentage points despite the fact against the rest of the league those numbers both declined after Mangini became his head coach. And his passer rating was nearly 8 points higher against us despite the fact that this again declined against the rest of the league.
The Patriots defense has remained very solid, and it has been ranked near the top of the league in most categories since Mangini left, so I don't think saying a decline in the Patriots play is a valid reason for this trend.
Something clearly changed that caused Pennington's career to take a 180, both against us and the rest of the league, and my money is on the book that Mangini swiped. I don't believe he broke any rules by doing so, but it seems pretty dishonorable, doesn't it? If it was simply Mangini's knowledge of our defense that was making the difference then Brett Favre would have played better than he did last week. The fact that this only applies to Pennington specifically makes me think there is something to this. Just something to keep in mind has the Pats play him on Sunday.