Although Sunday’s scenario seems surreal to those on the periphery, that isn’t the case for the player who will be the focal point for two fan bases.

“As only fate would have it, this is how sports always works out, so this situation doesn’t surprise me,” Dolphins quarterback Chad Pennington said. “I pretty much banked on it.”

Few did, foremost the New York Jets, who cut Pennington loose Aug. 7, the day after completing the trade for Brett Favre. But Pennington has Miami 10-5, one victory from clinching an unexpected AFC East title and putting the finishing touches on the Jets’ December collapse.

Pennington, however, insisted that’s not part of his motivation for Sunday, even after being discarded last summer.

He was in a neck-and-neck battle with Kellen Clemens at the time of the Favre trade, and most observers thought Pennington was ahead in that race. But it was no secret that within the organization, there was the feeling that Pennington’s time as a successful starter had passed.

That, more than the way he was released, is what has driven Pennington this season.

“If you don’t have those expectations for yourself as an individual, especially as a quarterback, you don’t believe you can help change a team, help a team and lead a team to victory, you really don’t have business being behind a center,” Pennington said.

“I didn’t know exactly what to expect; I think our whole team, we really didn’t know what to expect from ourselves. At the same time, we expected ourselves to

play well, we expected a lot out of ourselves and we expected ourselves to be successful.”

The last statement is only partially true. The Dolphins went 1-15 last season and brought in Bill Parcells to lead their football operations. His first major move was hiring former Cowboys assistant Tony Sparano as coach.

The two of them began a roster overhaul, but two weeks into training camp, Sparano still was searching for a starting quarterback. When the Jets sent Pennington away, it took the Dolphins less than 24 hours to sign him. They’ve been repaid in ways no one, other than maybe Pennington, could have imagined. He is the league’s second-rated passer (96.4), having completed 67 percent of his passes in throwing for 3,453 yards with 17 touchdowns and only seven interceptions.

This season, Pennington said, hasn’t been so much redemption as it has been validation. Despite what others said, he never believed he “lost it.”

“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,” Pennington said.