Pennington to Reed “the new Marino to Clayton”

MIAMI, FL—In the wake of their disappointing 27-9 loss to the Ravens on Sunday, Dolphin fans were left with the consolation of having the biggest turnaround season in NFL history, and the makings of a potentially historic dynamic duo in the partnership of Dolphins quarterback Chad Pennington and Ravens safety Ed Reed. Pennington found Reed twice, once for a 64-yard touchdown, prompting many to wonder if Pennington/Reed was the next chapter of tremendous production in Dolphin history.

“The dynamic-ness of this tandem is truly historic,” commented Boomer Esiason on NFL Today. “The agility of Reed and the ability of Pennington to pick him out of a crowd is an amazing partnership that I have not seen—and I hope I’m not jumping the gun here—since Marino to Clayton.”

The Marino/Clayton partnership in the 80’s, at one point the most prolific in NFL history, has become the standard of excellence to which all future combos must be measured against.

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“I got goose bumps watching the game,” revealed life-long Miami resident Dave Wallmark. “Pennington finding Reed all on his own or in a crowd, all I could say was ‘wow.’”

“These two guys we’re completely on the same page today,” commented ESPN’s Chris Berman. “Namely, the page about interceptions.”

When asked about future workouts together the two offered a mixed reaction. Reed was optimistic about future partnerships saying he “has [Pennington’s] number” (presumably so the two could get in touch later) while Pennington was more cautious, saying he would “have to be careful around [Reed] in the future” apparently hoping to avoid a TO/Witten jealousy situation with other defensive backs.

“That’s the key thing to worry about right there,” Esiason told SSNN. “You need another go-to guy in the corps, not only to take some pressure off your main man, but also because you need to spread the ball around so as not to create an air of favoritism. Marino had the Marks brothers, Brady has Welker in addition to Moss. If Pennington starts giving away all of his interceptions to Reed, there’s going to be some friction there.”

Though the two teams are not scheduled to face off again until the 2010 season, their latest performance has had analysts dreaming of what could be.

“Absolutely explosive work we see from these two,” commented former NFL coach and NFL Today analyst Bill Cowher. “If they were only on the same team, the production they would push out would be unstoppable.”