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Mangini, The Jets and other things


peterbell

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Thursday, January 21, 2010

Newark Reporter Sets Out to Teach Eric Mangini a Lesson, Children Galvanize Behind Popular Babysitter

 

We've been wondering lately whether Rex Ryan and the Jets are thankful for the work that Eric Mangini did in his three years as head coach in New York in laying the foundation for much (most? almost all?) of the Jets' current run to the AFC Championship game.

 

It looks like Steve Politi of the Newark Star-Ledger has at least approached the question in a schadenfreude-soaked piece that goes as far as to suggest that Mangini "won't be able to stand watching" his former Jets play for a Super Bowl berth on Sunday. Sadly, Politi doesn't seem to consider that Mangini might be proud, and happy to watch.

 

Politi quotes Kerry Rhodes as noting that the change from Mangini to Ryan has been "dramatic" and reports that "Rhodes made it clear that he prefers [Ryan]," without offering the reader a quote from Rhodes to let us know just how Rhodes made this clear.

 

Of course, that the change between Mangini and Ryan has been dramatic is news to no one. Nor is it a surprise that players like a players' coach.

 

Bart Scott, who never played for Mangini, lauds Ryan for "understanding" that "you can go about your business and have fun, too.”

 

Fun fun fun fun fun! This Ryan, this guy gets it. He understands that fun is fun. But still, nothing tells us that Ryan's fun house isn't piggybacking on the work Mangini did to lay the foundation for the Jets' success.

 

Damien Woody at least acknowledges that Mangini “played an integral part in constructing this football team," but still concludes that "Rex . . . took it to a whole different level.”

 

A whole different level? Like the same 9-7 regular season record as last season's Jets, but achieved against teams with a .516 winning percentage as opposed to the .568 winning percentage of last year's Jets opponents? And with the benefit of the season's final two opponents having laid down to rest starters for the playoffs? 7-9 would have been "a whole different level" too.

 

Of course, one might think that another year playing together as a unit might have helped these Jets just as much as anything Ryan has done there, as well as the addition of a few good free agents, and keeping some key parts of Mangini's coaching staff on the job. Playing without a broken gunslinger had to help too. Here at least, Politi acknowledges that Favre's "noodle arm and untimely interceptions helped Mangini get fired."

 

Yet Politi still asks the reader to connect "the success Ryan has had in galvanizing this team" to the success the team has enjoyed on the field.

 

So I'll ask Politi to accept the notion that: 1) Because I let my little cousins watch R-rated movies and eat Pop Tarts and bacon for breakfast when I babysit them, and Skittles, cheeseburgers and banana splits for lunch; then 2) my little cousins go on to tell reporters that I am, in fact, their favorite babysitter (galvanized, those kids are!); that 3) I am responsible for all of the success that my little cousins enjoy in math class, despite that I only one year ago replaced a babysitter who for three full years made them work harder on their math homework than I did.

 

I am a genius! Let's go out for Rexican!

 

Politi finally concludes that "Ryan’s success and the Jets’ run [might] serve as a lesson for future NFL head coaches, that they don’t have to act like they’re protecting national security secrets instead of just coaching a game."

 

These Jets are really showing Mangini, aren't they? Maybe now he'll see that NFL coaches should be nicer to reporters. "Maybe now he'll realize he should have been nicer to me! I bet he won't even be able to stand watching on Sunday. Ha!"

 

Of course, if Rexy's run with the Jets peaks here -- a possibility that seems as likely as any, as the structure that Mangini built in New York eventually erodes in his absence -- future NFL head coaches, and reporters, might learn an entirely different lesson.

 

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In the meantime, the Jets are glad to follow their current coach's lead. According to Page Six:

 

A contingent of 15 Jets -- led by Braylon Edwards, Darrelle Revis and Kerry Rhodes -- was cheered and applauded as the players entered Tao on East 58th Street Monday night. They washed down copious quantities of steak and seafood with lichee martinis, shots of tequila and, our sources stressed, "lots and lots of water."

 

 

Can you imagine?

 

A contingent of 15 Colts -- led by Peyton Manning, Jeff Saturday and Dwight Freeney -- was cheered and applauded as the players entered Applebee's on West Pike Plaza Monday night. They washed down copious quantities of steak and seafood with Main Street 'Ritas and AppleBeeTini's and, our sources stressed, "lots and lots of riblets."

 

 

Is it humanly possible for us to pick the Jets to cover on Sunday after this? Stay tuned.

 

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After the jump, a series of remarkable stats compiled by the Plain Dealer that show how Mangini was able to "galvanize" the Browns after Braylon Edwards left town:

 

 

• The Browns became the second NFL team to start a season 1-11 and win its final four games since the NFL switched to a 16-game schedule in 1978. The New England Patriots in 1993 are the other.

 

• The Browns committed eight turnovers over their final eight games of 2009, which tied for the third-lowest total over a teams' final eight games this year: 1. San Diego 6 (4 interceptions, 2 fumbles); 2. Carolina 7 (6, 1); 3. Cleveland 8 (5, 3).

 

• Over the last four games, the Browns led the league in rushing offense: 1. Cleveland - 181 carries, 900 yards, 5.0 yards per carry, 7 touchdowns; 2. Baltimore – 144 carries, 847 yards, 5.9 yards per carry, 8 TD; 3. Kansas City – 120 carries, 753 yards, 6.3 yards per carry, 5 TD.

 

• The Browns set a franchise record with four regular-season wins in the months of December/January.

 

• Over the final seven games, the Browns scored 167 points, the 10th-highest in the NFL: 1. Green Bay – 229 points, 32.7 points per game; 10. Browns – 167 points, 23.9 ppg.

 

• The Browns had 40 sacks, the most since 2001 (43) and had 11 multi-sack games, also the most since 2001.

 

• The Browns rushed for at least 160 net yards in four consecutive games for the first time since 1968.

 

• In their five victories, the Browns averaged 44.4 rushing attempts, 214.2 net rushing yards per game and totaled seven rushing touchdowns.

 

• Over the final four games of the season, Jerome Harrison rushed for 570 yards and five touchdowns on 113 carries (5.0), the second-highest rushing total in the NFL over that four-game stretch: 1. Jamaal Charles, Kansas City — 94 attempts, 658 yards, 7.0 average, 4 TD; 2. Jerome Harrison, Cleveland — 113 attempts, 570 yards, 5.0 average, 5 TD; 3. Chris Johnson, Tennessee — 114 attempts, 497 yards, 4.4 average, 5 TD.

 

• The Browns allowed seven sacks over the final seven games, tied with New Orleans for fourth-lowest in the NFL over that stretch (Indianapolis 5, New England and San Diego 6).

 

• The Browns finished in the top five in several special teams statistical categories, including kickoff return defense (first, 18.9), average drive start after kickoffs (first, 31.4), punt return offense (third, 11.7), field goal percentage (fourth, 92.0) and punt return defense (fifth, 6.6).

 

• The Browns committed 77 penalties, third-lowest in the NFL: 1. Jacksonville – 70; 2. Indianapolis – 74; 3. Cleveland – 77.

 

• Over the final seven games, the Browns held the advantage in time of possession five times and controlled the clock for an average of 30:36 per contest.

 

• Offensive lineman Alex Mack became just the fifth rookie to start all 16 games at center since 1998, joining Damien Woody (New England, 1999), Alex Stepanovich (Arizona, 2004), Nick Mangold (Jets, 2006) and Samson Satele (Miami, 2007).

 

• With 561 rushing yards over the final three games, running back Jerome Harrison recorded the eighth-highest three-game total in NFL history.

 

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That's all for now. We'll probably be back later to preview tonight's Cavs/Lakers game.

Posted by Cleveland Frowns at 12:30 PM

Labels: Abdication of Journalistic Responsibility, All Politricks is Local, Browns, Dumb Dumb Dumb, New York Jets, NFL

 

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I have a response to Politi...The Jets success this season could very well have been part of the reason Mangini kept his job here in Cleveland. Mangini has said all along that he is building for long term...not for a one-shot deal. I'm sure Randy and Holmgren can see that the Browns are headed in the same direction as the Jets and that the big Rexican is enjoying what Mangini built in NY. Anyone can see that...unless of course you are a NY resident or a Jets fan!

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The media in general has never gotten off of mangini's back and yeah watching the jets is tough on me as well ,because i see mangini's work ethic and techniques at play and the jets offense looks exactly like ours was suppose to function but didnt sexy rex walked into a great situation and mangini walked into hell and began to to freeze it over..with mh and th running the team i have no doubt hell is going to freeze over in cleveland leaving us a nice cold frozen field to play the championship games on and hell will move to pittsburgh. and rexxy will still be an outstanding coach and rob will be also..someday..;)

 

I think mangini is the kind of guy that would be proud of his new york product yet he wouldnt boast about it to rain on ryans boastful basking of glory..however he has eluded to his work there many times during the season...;)

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All the NY reporters know who's team the Jets are..and they can't stand it..If we know anything about Coach Mangini is his only concern is the Cleveland Browns..Thats what he controls..Mangini has probalby long ago moverd on unlike the sharks that work for the NY newspapers..who can't let Eric go.

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Thursday, January 21, 2010

Newark Reporter Sets Out to Teach Eric Mangini a Lesson, Children Galvanize Behind Popular Babysitter

Damien Woody at least acknowledges that Mangini “played an integral part in constructing this football team," but still concludes that "Rex . . . took it to a whole different level.”

 

A whole different level? Like the same 9-7 regular season record as last season's Jets, but achieved against teams with a .516 winning percentage as opposed to the .568 winning percentage of last year's Jets opponents? And with the benefit of the season's final two opponents having laid down to rest starters for the playoffs? 7-9 would have been "a whole different level" too.

 

Thanks for sharing that Peterbell! I'm not sure I GET the NY media - they're happier with a team that could only win 7 regular season games WITHOUT help than they were with Mangini's 10-6 following a year they had to fire someone? Like it's been said in here, Ryan inherited a 9-7 team so what exactly did he build from scratch? Truth be told, they can thank the football team they're playing this weekend for taking a knee and inserting a Painter instead of a QB in their starting lineup the 2nd half.

 

Seriously, I have NOTHING against the Jets team. What's not to like about underdogs? I'm rootin for their ass! I've said it before and I'll say it forever, the media will NEVER like a BB pupil that wants to pattern himself after BB. To this day, BB acts like he's getting an extended Heimlich Maneuver whenever it's time to stand in front of the media. He has more fun with the SECRETS they can't have. They wanted Josh McDaniels before the very first kickoff. And for what? Getting rid of a Diva QB that couldn't make a 9-7 Bears team at least 9-7?

 

Point is - the Jets head a BETTER head start than we did in 2009 like we only had 4 draft picks to our name while they were adding Bart Scott to 9-7. We finsihed the season winning 4 in a row with guess who's TWIN coordinating our defense? If ALL these Jets allegedly didn't like Mangini - how'd we end up with so many of them rotating in with our starting rotation? Why did Thomas Jones feel the need to stick up for Mangini when he told fans don't blame Mangini?

 

I think the NY media just HATES knowing that Mangini was behind additions like Mangold, Ferguson, Harris, Revis, Woody and even Favre to an extent. Thomas Jones as well. And now we're seeing some promising young players in our mix that contributed to the last 4 wins. For what it's worth...

- Tom F.

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Thanks for sharing that Peterbell! I'm not sure I GET the NY media - they're happier with a team that could only win 7 regular season games WITHOUT help than they were with Mangini's 10-6 following a year they had to fire someone? Like it's been said in here, Ryan inherited a 9-7 team so what exactly did he build from scratch? Truth be told, they can thank the football team they're playing this weekend for taking a knee and inserting a Painter instead of a QB in their starting lineup the 2nd half.

 

Seriously, I have NOTHING against the Jets team. What's not to like about underdogs? I'm rootin for their ass! I've said it before and I'll say it forever, the media will NEVER like a BB pupil that wants to pattern himself after BB. To this day, BB acts like he's getting an extended Heimlich Maneuver whenever it's time to stand in front of the media. He has more fun with the SECRETS they can't have. They wanted Josh McDaniels before the very first kickoff. And for what? Getting rid of a Diva QB that couldn't make a 9-7 Bears team at least 9-7?

 

Point is - the Jets head a BETTER head start than we did in 2009 like we only had 4 draft picks to our name while they were adding Bart Scott to 9-7. We finsihed the season winning 4 in a row with guess who's TWIN coordinating our defense? If ALL these Jets allegedly didn't like Mangini - how'd we end up with so many of them rotating in with our starting rotation? Why did Thomas Jones feel the need to stick up for Mangini when he told fans don't blame Mangini?

 

I think the NY media just HATES knowing that Mangini was behind additions like Mangold, Ferguson, Harris, Revis, Woody and even Favre to an extent. Thomas Jones as well. And now we're seeing some promising young players in our mix that contributed to the last 4 wins. For what it's worth...

- Tom F.

 

Tom, I would argue that the issue about McDaniels is not what Cutler did in Chicago. It's simply that we can't deny the kid has serious talent and this coach pulled a bush-league move to try and trade him and then screwed up any chance at palliating the situation. If it were simply that then perhaps we could give Josh McDaniels a "pass". The problem is that he repeated the same behavior with his star WR later in the year. When EM had Shaun Rogers all pissy because he "dissed" him, somehow OUR coach managed a mea culpa and salvaged the relationship. The world will be full of Brandon Marshalls, Jay Cutlers and Shaun Rogerses. You can trade some. You can't trade all of them. I can buy shipping Marshall out of town but in all fairness, I don't see what Jay Cutler did to deserve a nobody like Josh McDaniels coming in and trying to trade him straight off the bat. I've never really been a fan of Cutler but I thought it was bush-league.

 

As for the NY Media...they're full of crap anyway. I know on good authority that EM was KEY in acquiring the man that I believe to be the key cog....Kris Jenkins. I will grant you that they've won since he's been out but before Kris Jenkins arrived....the Jets were porous on run defense and he plays the 3-4 nose the way it's meant to be played. EM was the guy responsible for getting Jenkins to sign on....work hard and achieve Pro Bowl status. He acknowledged that in his disappointment after EM was fired. EM picked Darelle Revis over Michael Griffin and Aaron Ross. He knew well enough which guy was best. EM has an eye for DBs. When the New England secondary was decimated and Troy Brown was inserted in nickel situations, whose idea was that? Eric Mangini's...that's who.

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Tom, I would argue that the issue about McDaniels is not what Cutler did in Chicago. It's simply that we can't deny the kid has serious talent and this coach pulled a bush-league move to try and trade him and then screwed up any chance at palliating the situation. If it were simply that then perhaps we could give Josh McDaniels a "pass". The problem is that he repeated the same behavior with his star WR later in the year.

 

I think I've seen enough of the Cutler body of work to respectfully disagree.

 

Let me ask you something Earl. If you see a QB that turns the football over alot; and your new career upgrade as a Head Coach banks largely on THAT QB - do you want to keep him or try for someone you're more comfortable with? Hold that thought. Did you know Jay Cutler has 63 INTs in just 4 NFL seasons? On top of that, he's fumbled 20 times and lost 5 of those. That's not slam dunking poised at crunch time to me any more than pouting or shouting at the opponent when they've gotten inside your head.

 

Therefore, the NEXT important question is: does the guy WIN? Can you tell me how many of Jay's seasons (college or pro) he led his teams to winning records? Keep in mind, the year BEFORE Cutler started in Denver - Jake Plummer was the starting QB in the AFC Championship Game on Denver sod. That means he went to a pretty freakin talented team and when he couldn't win there for 3 straight seasons - a great coach got fired.

 

Meanwhile, Kyle Orton had Chicago 9-7 in 2008 before Cutler showed up to go 7-9 in 2009. 365 days after Shanahan got fired, Chicago fired their OC. That's now a trend which leads me right back to my point about WHY McDaniels wanted to hand pick his QB. Also worth noting: 2 years after Cutler left Vandy - they made their very first Bowl appearance in 2008. We might be debating the most overrated QB to average 5-6 wins per season over a 7 year span ever.

 

Does Cutler have a strong arm? Sure! Does he have the poise, confidence and intangibles to win at the most competitive levels of football? I'm not so sure because I call it like I see it. I haven't seen him string together 1 season where he won more than half his starts. At what point do we call 7 consecutive losing seasons a trend instead of an exception to the rule? Seriously, what makes him any better than Jason Campbell at this point? Campbell is 16-20 as a starter with 55 TDs to 38 INTs 61% comp rate and a career passer rating of 82.3. Would you insult the next Head Coach in Washington if he wanted to hand pick his own QB?

 

ALL head coaches want to have their hand picked QB especially if it's gonna lead to tenure or walking papers.

- Tom F.

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I think I've seen enough of the Cutler body of work to respectfully disagree.

 

Let me ask you something Earl. If you see a QB that turns the football over alot; and your new career upgrade as a Head Coach banks largely on THAT QB - do you want to keep him or try for someone you're more comfortable with? Hold that thought. Did you know Jay Cutler has 63 INTs in just 4 NFL seasons? On top of that, he's fumbled 20 times and lost 5 of those. That's not slam dunking poised at crunch time to me any more than pouting or shouting at the opponent when they've gotten inside your head.

 

Therefore, the NEXT important question is: does the guy WIN? Can you tell me how many of Jay's seasons (college or pro) he led his teams to winning records? Keep in mind, the year BEFORE Cutler started in Denver - Jake Plummer was the starting QB in the AFC Championship Game on Denver sod. That means he went to a pretty freakin talented team and when he couldn't win there for 3 straight seasons - a great coach got fired.

 

Meanwhile, Kyle Orton had Chicago 9-7 in 2008 before Cutler showed up to go 7-9 in 2009. 365 days after Shanahan got fired, Chicago fired their OC. That's now a trend which leads me right back to my point about WHY McDaniels wanted to hand pick his QB. Also worth noting: 2 years after Cutler left Vandy - they made their very first Bowl appearance in 2008. We might be debating the most overrated QB to average 5-6 wins per season over a 7 year span ever.

 

Does Cutler have a strong arm? Sure! Does he have the poise, confidence and intangibles to win at the most competitive levels of football? I'm not so sure because I call it like I see it. I haven't seen him string together 1 season where he won more than half his starts. At what point do we call 7 consecutive losing seasons a trend instead of an exception to the rule? Seriously, what makes him any better than Jason Campbell at this point? Campbell is 16-20 as a starter with 55 TDs to 38 INTs 61% comp rate and a career passer rating of 82.3. Would you insult the next Head Coach in Washington if he wanted to hand pick his own QB?

 

ALL head coaches want to have their hand picked QB especially if it's gonna lead to tenure or walking papers.

- Tom F.

 

All good points but I would argue that it's McDaniels' approach to it that's objectionable. I personally believe he's the next Jeff George. McDaniels was certainly entitled to get his own guy but I don't think many people liked his method.

 

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All good points but I would argue that it's McDaniels' approach to it that's objectionable. I personally believe he's the next Jeff George. McDaniels was certainly entitled to get his own guy but I don't think many people liked his method.

 

Very true! But think about how many of those people gave Orton the respect of an NFL starter that's 21-12? Chicago gave up 2 first round draft picks for Cutler and he's costing them alot more cake than Orton costed either franchise. That being the case, Chicago shouldn't be the team losing 2 more games than the previous year while Denver stayed the same. Too many people prematurely concluded Chicago was the big winner in that one.

 

Earl, I wasn't even thinking about this in our conversation but BB brought Vinny Testaverde here to be HIS hand-picked QB. Kosar didn't like it and was waived while Vinny got hurt and we spent the year wtaching Todd Philcox football follies. BB didn't handle that one nearly as well as he handled the Brady over Bledsoe move in his next Head Coaching gig. Injury helped that one but the pr side of it all was much improved from the learnign experience in Cleveland.

 

Back to why Josh McDaniels even entered this conversation in the first place - he shares that BB coaching tree with Mangini which makes him just as unfavorable with the media as BB and Mangini. Let's face it, the media WANTS these guys to fail while they just want to hug Rex Ryan.

- Tom F.

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The whole thing is pretty eerily similar to what happened in Dallas a few years ago.

 

Cowboys were a complete mess to start the 2000s, with three straight 5-11 seasons.

 

Parcells, the ultimate hardass take over and goes 10-6 in his first year.

 

Second year had to deal with some terrible QB-ing and finished 6-10.

 

Third year finally finds a franchise QB and the team goes 9-7.

 

But Parcells got a 4th year and went 9-7 again.

 

 

Then the Cowboys' gang of me-first players gets upset and Jerry Jones runs Tuna out of town.

 

Players are thrilled that the hardass is gone and they got to play for the fun-loving Coach Wade and went 13-3 in his first year.

 

 

 

 

Just replace Parcells with Mangini and Phillips with Ryan and you get the picture. It takes a hardass to change the losing attitude of bad teams. Players like having fun, but that hasn't been a very lasting strategy. We'll see how the Jets do against Indy and how they do next year. But there's no denying Mangini laid the foundation, and hopefully he's doing the same thing here.

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Very true! But think about how many of those people gave Orton the respect of an NFL starter that's 21-12? Chicago gave up 2 first round draft picks for Cutler and he's costing them alot more cake than Orton costed either franchise. That being the case, Chicago shouldn't be the team losing 2 more games than the previous year while Denver stayed the same. Too many people prematurely concluded Chicago was the big winner in that one.

 

Earl, I wasn't even thinking about this in our conversation but BB brought Vinny Testaverde here to be HIS hand-picked QB. Kosar didn't like it and was waived while Vinny got hurt and we spent the year wtaching Todd Philcox football follies. BB didn't handle that one nearly as well as he handled the Brady over Bledsoe move in his next Head Coaching gig. Injury helped that one but the pr side of it all was much improved from the learnign experience in Cleveland.

 

Back to why Josh McDaniels even entered this conversation in the first place - he shares that BB coaching tree with Mangini which makes him just as unfavorable with the media as BB and Mangini. Let's face it, the media WANTS these guys to fail while they just want to hug Rex Ryan.

- Tom F.

 

 

I think that the media learned their lesson with BB. They don't like his personality so they want to trash his students BEFORE they are winners so that they don't entrench themselves as he did. Trust me when I say that Bill Belichick's popularity in Boston is ONLY tied to his winning percentage.

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