It's not of a loved one or a favourite childhood memory. Rather, it's a framed reminder of one of the most devastating moments of his football career.

The photo is of the New York Jets quarterback being sacked by Jacksonville's Paul Spicer early in the second half of their game last season in Week 3. The big, bruising defensive end hit Pennington from behind and pulled his right arm behind his back as he was about to throw a pass. The blindside hit left the quarterback's arm grotesquely twisted and put his career in serious jeopardy.

``I'm past the wincing, but I mean, it's pretty amazing that your arm can be in that position, no doubt about it,'' Pennington said Wednesday.

Pennington will take on Spicer and the Jaguars on Sunday for the first time since the injury. He said he hadn't really thought about the matchup, but the moment Spicer's body collided with his arm clearly has remained on his mind.

``I'll see (the picture) every once in a while and it's a quick reminder to count your blessings and take advantage of the opportunity,'' Pennington said.

The Jets recovered the ball on the play and Pennington stayed in, but was sacked again on the next play by Bobby McCray. He lost the ball again, but recovered before being piled on by Jacksonville defenders.

Pennington left with what was called a strained right shoulder, and returned when Jay Fiedler was injured shortly after. But with each floating pass, something clearly was wrong.

The strain turned out to be a torn rotator cuff, his second in as many seasons. The photo on Pennington's desk serves as a symbol of what it took for him to come back from that September day at the Meadowlands.

``It's just to remind me of what it's like to be injured and not to take for granted having the chance to play,'' Pennington said. ``So I do have that reminder, but that's part of football. I don't let injuries scare me. Injuries are part of this game. If you play scared, if you play not to get injured, you get injured.''

Jaguars quarterback Byron Leftwich played with Pennington at Marshall for two years, and the two consider each other close friends. After Spicer hit Pennington, Leftwich recalled fearing the worst.

``I saw the way he was holding that arm, and I was like, `Get up, get up,''' Leftwich said. ``You don't ever want to see anyone get hurt, especially a good friend of yours. It was tough to see him go down in that situation. Then, after the game I saw him and his eyes told me everything.''

Leftwich and Pennington met up in the tunnel outside Jacksonville's locker-room.

``He stopped for a second,'' Leftwich said. ``He didn't know what was going on, but I knew from his facial expressions and from his eyes that it wasn't good.''

A year later, Pennington appears healthy, ranking among the NFL's best with a 102.3 quarterback rating, and is ready to take on Jacksonville's stout defence again.

``They do such a great job up front,'' Pennington said. ``Their size and physicality is unbelievable _ it's unmatched, really. They do a great job of just overpowering offences and playing good team defence. They're definitely a hard bunch to handle.''

The Jaguars are trying to rebound from their defensive meltdown against Washington in last Sunday's 36-30 loss. The line put little pressure on Mark Brunell, Santana Moss caught three TD passes and Clinton Portis ran for big chunks of yardage. There were also a number of missed tackles, uncharacteristic for a team that prides itself on playing tight, tough defence.

``We want to get back up, shake ourselves off and get back to work,'' Jacksonville coach Jack Del Rio said.

The Jets aren't expecting the Jaguars to repeat their poor performance, especially after seeing how they stifled the offences of Pittsburgh and Indianapolis earlier this season.

``They understand how to win football games,'' Pennington said. ``It'll be a big challenge for us.''