Chad Pennington can gain revenge and cap a remarkable turnaround if the Miami Dolphins can win at his old club the Jets.
Former Jets quarterback has chance to book post-season berth
Discarded by the New York Jets before the season, quarterback Chad Pennington takes his Miami Dolphins to his former side a win away from not only revenge but one of the most remarkable turnarounds in football.
For both player and team, making it to the post season would be a superb achievement for a pair of also-rans written off before the first kick-off of the season.
Pennington spent eight years at the Meadowlands but was released as the Jets brought in the legendary Brett Favre - who wanted one last shot at the Super Bowl.
The 32-year-old was merely a side issue in most reports on Favre moving to New York, as he went to join the worst team in the NFL as they attempted a rebuilding process under Tony Sparano.
After going 1-15 last season, the Dolphins have stunned everyone by going 10-5 this term to lead the AFC East with just one game to go - with Pennington instrumental in their success.
Play-offs
Now, the Dolphins need just one more win to clinch a fairytale play-off spot - and as these things usually happen in sport it comes at the home of the team that let him go.
"As only fate would have it, this is how sports always works out," said Pennington.
"So this situation doesn't surprise me. I pretty much banked on it.
"It's a good thing and I'm excited about it; the whole team is excited about having the chance to be able to have one shot into the play-offs.
"That's what you work so hard for the whole season, to get to this point to have an opportunity to play an extra game."
The Jets looked to be cruising into the post-season before recent results, and now even a win would not guarantee them an extra game - but Miami know a victory would give them the AFC East title.
Pennington has also eclipsed Favre in throwing for 3,453 yards, a career-high, and his game management has been an excellent fit for the Dolphins.
Confidence
Pennington insists that the Dolphins always had confidence they would do well this season, but even he had to admit that there was some uncertainty in Miami.
"If you don't have those expectations for yourself as an individual, especially as a quarterback, you don't believe you can help change a team, help a team and lead a team to victory, you really don't have business being behind a centre," he said.
"I didn't know exactly what to expect, I think our whole team, we really didn't know what to expect from ourselves.
"At the same time, we expected ourselves to play well, we expected a lot out of ourselves and we expected ourselves to be successful.
"Are we shocked that we're here? No, not at all because we've worked extremely hard and we've talked about this opportunity and this position for quite some time now."