Does Chad Pennington have encore in him?

Does Chad Pennington have encore in him?
January 4 Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel columnist David Hyde

"Near the end of any concert there's the hopeful moment after the band has left the stage when the crowd keeps cheering, the lighters start flickering and the chant goes up, "One more song …"

We're officially at that moment in the Dolphins' season.

Do they have another song in them? Does Chad Pennington, specifically, have an encore performance?

Inside the Dolphins' locker room last week, where some cameras focused, linebacker Channing Crowder was saying, "My first three years I played with guys who got up under center and handed off the ball."

He looked at Pennington sitting at his locker with a notebook.

"That guy's made all the difference," Crowder said. "He's the big reason we're here."

The idea that Pennington has anything left to prove is crazier than this season, the craziest Dolphins season ever. This day is still about him, even more than most. It's about whether he can find a way to win and, as importantly considering the opponent, not to lose.

In a season that has provided a dramatic Sunday almost every Sunday, this game's feature matchup comes down to mind against muscle, brains against brawn, Pennington's quarterbacking wits against Baltimore's punishing defense.

"Physical," is one word Baltimore linebacker Ray Lewis used to describe his defense.

Mean, nasty and dominant are words Pennington used to describe it. The Dolphins ran for only 72 yards against it in October — and 25 of those were from Pennington scrambling. Of course, one of those attempted scrambles resulted in him throwing one of his few misguided passes, one that Terrell Suggs returned for a touchdown.

"There aren't a lot of holes against them," Pennington said.

Pennington already has assembled a week for the ages, one that told how he blindsided the NFL this year in the manner he blindsided everyone watching it. Last week started with him beating his old Jets team and getting his old coach fired, and it ended with him finishing second in the Most Valuable Player voting to Peyton Manning.

In between, he was named the Comeback Player of the Year for the second time in three years, causing him to joke the key is to get hurt a lot. He hasn't been hurt here, which says some good luck is involved.

There always is luck in a season as magical as the Dolphins' year. But this team has been opportunists, too. When the AFC East opened up, they were the ones that jumped highest for it. When others crashed and burned against the Oaklands and Seattles, the Dolphins beat them."Link