At This Rate, Kellen Clemens Will Be Lucky to Dress for Games This Season

And Kellen Clemens' decent into whatever comes after mediocrity continues. A month ago, he had a legit shot at winning the Jets starting quarterback job and then Brett Favre had to go and wreck those plans.

Clemens still seemed in pretty good shape after New York released Chad Pennington -- worst case, he would back up Favre for a year (or three) and then assume the job he had rightly earned. Jets backup to the backup Brett Ratliff has other ideas, though, and through two weeks of training camp and two preseason games, he seems to be the favorite to win the No. 2 gig.

Quarterback Brett Ratliff ... continued his case to push Clemens for the No. 2 quarterback job. Even without his favorite target David Clowney, who left the game with an injured right shoulder, "the other Brett" showed moxie as he completed 13-of-19 passes for 148 yards.

"I'm getting comfortable with the guys, and it's showing," Ratliff said. "If I make a mistake, I make a mistake -- it's not the end of the world."

Well, it's decided then; if Ratliff is busting out the moxie then Clemens doesn't stand a chance. Or maybe moxie's overrated -- who knows.

In any event, Clemens was just 5 of 12 for 63 yards against the Redskins last night and he admitted that "getting out from under center was a bit of an issue, which is kind of funny because that hasn't happened in quite a while." On the upside, he didn't miss a game-tying 23-yard field goal as time expired so he has that going for him.