We took some shots at Kellen Clemens in The Nooner today, but we want to sort of take them back. Because as Jets fans, we’ve seen way, way, way too much of Chad Pennington at this point. Dude can’t throw the ball. It’s kind of sad, to be honest, that someone purporting to be an NFL quarterback can’t throw the ball farther than we can. Go deep, Laveranues! No, no — not that deep. Let’s try like 15 yards.

SNY.tv’s Mike Salfino once pointed out that watching Jets games with Pennington on TiVo, fast forwarding from snap to snap, tests an announcer’s ability to come up with synonyms for the word “lob.” “Pennington floats one over the middle. … Pennington with a soft toss out to Washington. … Pennington shovels one to the left. … Pennington lofts a sissy girlie pass to Cotchery. …” Etc.

So Kellen Clemens wasn’t so good in his few starts last year. So what? At least the dude can throw the ball more convincingly than we can, and that’s got to be worth something in the NFL. Everyone loved him coming out of Oregon, and this season the Jets will actually field an offensive line. Why not pick a young guy with some upside over a veteran with a lengthy history of shoulder surgeries and an arm that can’t even toss a salad?

Because you’re the Jets, that’s why. And the Jets obviously want to live up to their rich tradition of torturing their fans. The sad thing is we just can’t quit. When Chad Pennington floats up his first 10-yard bomb in the Jets’ home opener, take all that time you have waiting for it to come down to scope out the stands. We’re the guys in the back with the bags over our heads.