Forgive me if this one was posted, I don't see a thread on it... http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/jets/2008/12/hey-woody-wheres-the-plan.html Hey Woody! Where's the plan? December 30, 2008 Some teams, like the Giants, Colts and Patriots (except this year), begin the postseason by preparing for a playoff game. The Jets begin by looking for a coach. The years go by, the faces change, but one thing never changes: the Jets remain a mess. Everybody deserves blame in this latest debacle: Owner Woody Johnson, former coach Eric Mangini and QB Brett Favre. Mangini never wanted Favre, it was learned yesterday, but he welcomed the future Hall of Famer and tried to make it work. I don't think GM Mike Tannenbaum wanted him, either, but Johnson, trying to market his new stadium, was infatuated with Favre and essentially told Tannenbaum, "Go get him." So he did, adding a last-minute wild card and changing the way they played offense. But, hey, they sold tons of "4" jerseys. In the end, Favre cost Mangini his job, throwing nine interceptions in the final five games. You name me a coach that could overcome that many mistakes. That said, Mangini deserves his share of the blame. Under his watch, the team got lackadaisical, didn't improve in key areas, made too many silly mistakes and let inferior teams (see: West Coast) beat them in money games. But did he deserve to be fired? If Johnson has Bill Cowher up his sleeve, then, yes, that would represent an upgrade over Mangini. But that doesn't appear to be the case. The Jets are interested in Cowher, I'm told, but their current power structure (see: Tannenbaum as the No. 1 football guy) isn't going to work for Cowher. So, in the end, they'll probably end up hiring an unproven assistant. In the end, Johnson, suddenly acting like a football guy, caved to the media and fan pressure. If he truly believed in Mangini as much as he said he did, if he was considering a long-term extension only five weeks ago, he would've come out late in the season (maybe after the Seattle loss) and given Mangini a vote of confidence. It wouldn't have stopped the fans from spewing their bile, but it would've stopped the speculation. On Sunday night, after the Miami loss, a visibly upset Johnson told a few reporters he was going to take some time to make a decision, that it wasn't going to be a heat-of-the-moment call. A little while later, like maybe an hour or two, he decided to fire Mangini. If that's not heat-of-the-moment, what is? Johnson was appalled by the late-season collapse. His signs the checks, so he can do whatever he wants. Right now, he looks like an impulsive guy consumed with building a stadium and selling luxury suites. Where's the plan? By Rich Cimini on December 30, 2008 10:02 AM
Yup one crappy player cost our young and promising head coach his job. If we hire some awful retread because Favre sucked it up I will be so pissed.
Didn't mangini name his son's middle name after Brett? For some reason I have a hard time grasping this one.
He probably was going to use Brett as his middle name regardless of Favre's presence. It's a pretty common name.
This is the first thing I have read that has made some sense about what may have gone on during the year.
I know the name thing is odd, but that's basically the only argument against the article I can see. And it's a pretty flimsy one. I could name my son the same name as a co-worker because I like the name, and it wouldn't mean I was naming my kid after him.
Very true, but I was under the impression that it was a direct result of it. Anyway, that's really not that important anymore. I just find in annoying that Woody has more of an ear to Favre than some of his own personnel people.
He gave all his kids middle names after people important to him in football. One after Belichick, one after Rodney Harrison. He also made no secret that he was naming him after Favre.
Actually, he did name him after Brett. I just looked it up. But I think it was more because the kid was born on Favre's birthday than anything else.
Why would Mangini name his kid after Favre, if he didn't believe the guy would be special? The players were not prepared for games they were playing. They got caught up in the hype. It's the coaches job to make sure this doesn't happen. Bone head game calling, conservativeness, poor decision making, etc. That is what got Mangini fired.
Thing is, both Tannenbaum and Mangini worked very hard to get Favre here. It wasn't a matter of just negotiating a deal with the Packers, they spent a lot of time recruiting Favre and convincing him to come here. I doubt they would have worked so hard if they weren't in favor of it. I think maybe Woody really wanted him, and Tangini might have warmed up to the idea, or convinced themselves it was going to work, but I don't think there's any way they were against the move and they had to do it anyway.
Sounds like a giant reach to me. Stranger things have happened, and if true we could be looking at an Al Davis type situation.
Mangini got the royal shaft on this deal. It will come back and bite us in the ass, unless we can pull someone like Cowher out of the ashes.
Sorry Abyz, but I smell BS from Cimini on this one. He was always a Mangini apologist. Mangini cost Mangini his job, not Favre. What in gods name was so promising about him? Under his watch we won every game we got up on team's early (usually bad teams), and lost almost every close game due to the lack of half time adjustments.
Mangini is a freaken defensive cordinator and the defensive schemes all year were attrocious.. The players folded down the stretch.. im sorry but Mangini deserved to be fired
