"Labor Day present?" Henning joked.

Pennington's remarkable comeback season has come full circle. It started with the Jets discarding him like junk mail two days after trading for jilted Packers legend Brett Favre last August. They immediately met in a ballyhooed season opener in which Favre and the Jets got the best of Miami, 20-14, mostly because Favre's no-look fourth-down heave into the end zone stuck to Chansi Stuckey's outstretched hands moments before halftime.

Now, Pennington -- the second-ranked quarterback in the NFL -- not only has a chance to avenge that loss but he could also eliminate the tail-spinning 9-6 Jets from playoff contention while leading the greatest turnaround in NFL history -- the 1-15 Dolphins to an 11-5 season and earning Miami its first AFC East title since 2000. He could also send Favre into permanent retirement once and for all.

"This could be my final game, too," Pennington said, trying his best not to feed into the revenge theory. "We never know. You're always one play away from hanging the cleats up. I never think about that. We've all been around long enough to know that with Brett, you never think that either. That's just part of the business; not knowing what your fate is.

"As only fate would have it, this is how sports always works out so this situation doesn't surprise me. I pretty much banked on it. It's a good thing. I'm excited about it; the whole team is excited about having the chance to be able to have one shot into the playoffs."

If the Dolphins win, they're in. If the Jets win, they've still got to depend on the favors of others as in either the Patriots or Ravens having to lose for them to get in.

Not even Favre, the NFL Iron Man, could handle all the irony surrounding this game. The Dolphins cast aside veteran kicker Jay Feely for an undrafted rookie from Montana named Dan Carpenter. At one point, Carpenter nailed 14 straight field goals, while Feely has also been solid, making 23 of 27 field goals, including a 55-yarder.

Of course, Parcells drafted Pennington when he was running the Jets in 2000 and Pennington's first offensive coordinator was Henning.

Still, the Dolphins have lost eight of their last nine to the Jets, and haven't won at the Meadowlands since 2003.

Pennington, who has thrown just seven interceptions compared to Favre's NFL-leading 19 -- including six to just one touchdown pass in the last four games in which New York has gone 1-3 -- should be able to pick apart the Jets' 29th-ranked pass defense. He, of course, is used to the swirling winds of the Meadowlands, having played there his whole career.

Pennington is treating the 'R' word or revenge as if it were not fit for family newspapers.

"As an athlete, you've got to be realistic about it and can't get caught up in the extremes. Realistically, over the last three years, I've felt like I've played my best football, regardless of the win-loss record, I feel like I've really come back from a serious injury twice and the last three years I feel like I've gotten better as a professional quarterback, regardless of what's happened in the win-loss column," he said. "It's never a redemption factor; it's always gratifying to know that the things you believe in as an athlete; the work ethic, the preparation, all of the different things you believe in as a quarterback, it works. Sometimes it's hard to believe that when things aren't going your way and it's really easy to start second-guessing your work ethic and how you prepare and things like that. When you do experience some success, that kind of solidifies exactly what you believe in."

Pennington still has plenty of loyal friends on the Jets, including running back Leon Washington and wide receiver Laveranues Coles.

"No, I'm not surprised at all," Washington said of Pennington's success. "The way Chad prepared himself when he was here, the type of teammate that he was when he was here, his leadership that he displays on and off the field, I'm not surprised at all. I'm very happy for Chad and the things he's doing down in Miami. It says a lot about his character and his perseverance to overcome certain obstacles in his life."

SERIES HISTORY: 86th regular-season meeting. Jets lead series, 46-38-1, but the Dolphins are 1-0 in the postseason. The Jets have won five straight, eight of the last nine and 17 of the last 21. The last time the Dolphins beat the Jets in the Meadowlands came on Sept. 14, 2003 in a 21-10 victory. The most important meeting between these two archrivals was their only postseason matchup, a 14-0 Dolphins win in the 1982 AFC Championship Game. Jets quarterback Richard Todd was picked off five times, including three by linebacker A.J. Duhe -- his last a 35-yard touchdown that secured the victory. The Dolphins held the Jets to 139 yards. The Dolphins became the first team to beat a team three times in one season.