Topic: How did you end up at Marshall and not at Tennessee?

[W0lfman]

Pennington Q&A from Steelers.com

http://www.steelers.com/article/49512/

Quarterback Chad Pennington

Can you talk about your relations with the New York media since your press conference with them a few weeks ago?


My relationship with them is fine. It was painted to be a bigger issue than what it really was. I’ve had conversations like that before. It just so happened that it was on television and everyone saw it. My relationship is fine. I plan on it being fine from here on out. I don’t plan on anything like that happening again. Everything is going well.

 

What is it with MAC quarterbacks these days? They seem to be coming out of the woodwork.
 

I just think the Mid-American Conference has give some players like myself and Ben (Roethlisberger) and Byron (Leftwich) a chance to play college ball and not wait until you are junior or a senior to play for a year, but to play when you are young, freshman and sophomore years and get a lot of experience playing in some big games and play some really good competition. It just provided an avenue for players like us to be successful and to develop some confidence and have really good coaches and be able to take it to the next level.

 

Have you had the chance to meet Ben and get to know him at all?

 

I just spoke with him for about 30 seconds after our first game. I know there are a lot of things going on in his world like there are in mine. Hopefully one day in the off-season we may get a chance to sit down and talk. He’s done a great job and the one thing I admire about him is how he has come in as a young quarterback and just inserted himself as a piece of the puzzle. For young quarterbacks that is hard to do because when you come from your college team where everything was on your shoulders and you had to do everything, it’s hard to get away from that when you step into the pros and realize you need to trust your teammates and not try to do too much. You need to let your teammates make the plays for you. He’s been able to do that and that really shows signs of maturity and understanding of what your role is as a quarterback.

 

You didn’t have the same opportunity to do that your rookie year, but would you have been ready to do that if the Jets had called upon you to do it?

 

I can’t answer that. You always think as a competitor you would be able to handle the situation. You never know. It all depends on the situation and the teammates that you have around you and how much supporting cast you have. There are a lot of variables.

 

The variables that are affecting Ben and helping him maybe wouldn’t have been there for you your rookie year?

 

We had a good team. We didn’t make the playoffs. We missed it by one game. The next year we did make the playoffs. We had a really good team too. You never know how it would have turned out.

 

There aren’t too many instances of rookie quarterbacks in the playoffs. Do you think at some point that could cause a problem for him?

 

Playing in the playoffs at home helps you as a quarterback. I know my first playoff game was at home and it definitely helped me. I think that will help break the ice because you are in familiar territory. He’s handled the pressure so far. When you win 13 games in a row and each game there is a little more pressure that mounts, and he has handled it with style and grace. He has done a great job. I don’t expect him to be any different come Saturday.

 

You played them a month ago. Is it an advantage because you know a little bit about them?

 

When you have played a team once you are familiar with what type of team they are athletically and how they play physically, those types of things. There will always be things that will be new within the game plan and how each team wants to attack each other. It does help both teams that we have played each other and we at least know how each other plays and runs around and the physical parts of the game. There is no surprise element there.

 

Was your arm hurting in that game and has it improved a lot since then?

 

My arm has been doing pretty good ever since I came back. I think it’s gotten stronger. I wouldn’t say it was hurting in that game. I think the Steelers did a great job of putting me in some positions where I forced the ball and they did a great job of taking advantage of those forces and turning them into opportunities and turnovers. That’s what they have done a great job of all year, being opportunistic and aggressive. They definitely did that in the first game.

 

Is that the best defense you faced all year?

 

No doubt about it. They know how to play defense. Their scheme is different from other really good defenses, but within their scheme they understand how to play defense. The first sign of a great defense is they can stop the run. The Steelers are the best at that. They do a great job stopping the run. Their safeties are really aggressive. They are great tacklers. They can fill the run support lanes and make tackles. You don’t see them miss a lot of tackles. When you have great tacklers you really put the offense in some longer yardage situations.

 

We kept hearing last week you didn’t have the arm strength. Did you feel you had something to prove and did you prove it last Saturday?
 

It was redemption for me personally to play up to my expectations. It wasn’t redemption to meet anyone else’s standards. My standards are much higher than anyone else can set for me. I felt good about the game because we played as a team and I was able to help our team win and play at a high level. As far as proving anything to anyone, I quit doing that a while ago because there are always going to be critics and doubters. What you have to do as an athlete is trust your God-given ability and trust yourself and don’t second-guess yourself. When you start doing that, that’s when you play hesitant and you look like you don’t have the arm strength. It’s amazing, when you win people don’t talk about stuff like that but when you lose they find things to talk about.

 

How did you end up at Marshall and not at Tennessee?

 

I wasn’t recruited by Tennessee.


Why do you think that was?

I wasn’t good enough at the time. Coming out of high school I was only about 6-2, 175 pounds. I wasn’t fully developed yet. I hadn’t matured enough yet. At the time they had Peyton Manning and Brandon Stewart there as quarterbacks. It wasn’t the best thing for me to just go walk-on and run through the T. That wasn’t what I wanted to do. I wanted to play at the highest level I could play at but at the same time experience some success on the field and contribute on the field. That was really important to me, to be able to play on the field and enjoy the college experience.

 

Did you think the Steelers were going to draft you?

 

I thought the chances were pretty good that the Steelers were going to draft me.

 

Was it because things that were said to you before the draft?

 

No. I knew they definitely had interest from the combine, my personal workout and then from my visit. I knew they definitely had interest. That is the beauty of the draft and how things go. Things don’t go as the prognosticators say they do. Some times a team has to make a decision on which way they want to go and what way is best for them as an organization. Obviously the Steelers did the right thing because they are sitting pretty good right now.

 

It didn’t bother you that you fell a little bit because they took Plaxico Burress?

 

No. It’s not a situation where they picked one quarterback over another quarterback. It was addressing certain needs on the team. They felt like one of the needs on the team was to be able to bring in a big-time receiver as well and they were able to do that.