KELLEN Clemens has five games, including today’s in Miami, to convince the Jets they don’t have to draft Matt Ryan. Maybe a tighter deadline would work better for him.
In four games as a starter, the quarterback has completed 49.1 percent of his passes, thrown six interceptions against three touchdown passes, averaged 5.6 yards per attempt and earned a 56.9 rating, which is 30.6 below what got Chad Pennington benched.
Nevertheless, Clemens also has conducted final two-minute drives of 64 and 76 yards that led to game-tying field goals against the Redskins and Steelers. He also rallied the Jets to 10 fourth-quarter points at Baltimore that almost surely would have turned into 17 and overtime but for Justin McCareins’ butterfingers near the goal line.
Clemens seems to be at his best when the pressure is squarely on his head, which would be keeping Jets fans from putting their hands to their heads if they hadn’t seen him throwing high, wide, low and behind his receivers all day in a 34-3 Thanksgiving-day loss to Dallas. Terence Newman, who suckered the kid into an interception and a 50-yard runback for a touchdown, had a lot easier time figuring out Clemens than the fans and media. Why does he look like Browning Nagle in the first 58 minutes of games and John Unitas in the final two minutes?
“It could be a lot of things,” Eric Mangini said. “Two-minute drills are something we spend a lot of time on, so that may be part of it, having more repetitions there.
“Some of it is just a function of how the game unfolds, the type of defenses you are getting in that situation as opposed to in the course of the game.
“A two-minute drive would increase the adrenaline. You know I’d like it to be more consistent. But you’re always looking to see how a quarterback performs in critical situations. I’ve seen a lot of quarterbacks who have operated very effectively, then get in a two-minute drive and it’s just not the same.
“So to be able to function in that area, I think, is extremely encouraging.”
Clemens has had a tough introduction against defensive units like the Steelers (first in the NFL), Ravens (fourth) Cowboys (seventh), and even the Redskins (ninth). With winnable games left against the winless Dolphins, faded Chiefs, dying Titans and hardly bulletproof Browns, the Jets would like to see some second- and third-quarter touchdowns as an all-clear to use what likely will be at least a top-six pick on a potential defensive difference maker.
“There were a couple throws [in Dallas] where I just missed,” said Clemens, who obviously lost count. “My completion percentage was lower than you hope, but there were a lot of [plays] I was flushed out of the pocket and threw the ball away to avoid a sack.
“Some of those balls that maybe looked like they were missing actually go out of bounds on purpose.”
That’s a relief. Those Jets die-hard fans who can’t quite retire in Tahiti on the tickets they scalped to Steelers fans, might be wishing they had been more careful what they wished for in booing Pennington to the bench.
Nevertheless, they should not despair. At this stage in the long, painful, evolution of an NFL quarterback, it is better to see that a neophyte is cool in the clutch than not.
“I’ve done some reflecting on it,” said Clemens, in no hurry to reveal why he’s better when he is in a hurry. “[Two-minute drills] are an area we stress as a team.
“It’s do-or-die. You get four downs to get 10 yards instead of three. But I didn’t have a ton of fourth quarter come-from-behind stuff in college. No more than the next guy.”
He has five games to convince the Jets they shouldn’t move on to the next guy. This kid should be cool with that, if nothing else.