Mangini brings mean to Green BY RICH CIMINI / DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER Eric Mangini will make himself heard in Jets practice fields and classrooms. Those reporting today for the start of Eric Mangini's first training camp will arrive at the Hofstra dorms with the usual summer survival items, everything from the latest in electronic gadgetry to fluffy pillows. The smart players will bring something else: Thick skin, a necessity in the Jets' new world. One of Mangini's main themes is accountability and, if his style in the offseason camps carries over (and it will), it's going to mean constant scrutiny.Team officials like to call it "changing the culture." Culture shock is more like it.Mangini isn't a screamer, but he calls out players in front of the team and he isn't shy about fining them for breaking rules, according to a person familiar with the inner workings of the team.If a player makes a mistake in practice, it's not unusual for Mangini to point it out the next morning in a team film session, putting the offending player on the spot. No one is immune, not even the most established players.Criticizing a player in front of his teammates doesn't make the coach a tyrant, but it's a change for those accustomed to Herm Edwards' laid-back style. Clearly, touchy-feely is out. "It's new to them; they're in shock right now," the person said. "He's on their butts, but they feel like it should be done." Coming off a 4-12 season, which resulted in the demise of the Edwards-Terry Bradway regime, the Jets are in no position to complain - although grumbling is inevitable if Mangini doesn't let up.Then again, if someone does whine, he could be shipped out. That's how Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick do it, and Mangini and GM Mike Tannenbaum learned their football from them. They have created a law-and-order atmosphere."We've instilled a new culture," owner Woody Johnson said recently. "We've got some very, very bright young people working here, and I'm really pleased."Said quarterback Chad Pennington: "Accountability is very important. That has definitely been stressed to us." Interestingly, Mangini's training-camp regimen appears less demanding than that of Edwards, who ran relatively easy camps. Mangini's schedule includes only seven days of double sessions (the first is tomorrow), five fewer than Edwards' total from last summer.Does that make Mangini a softy? Not necessarily. Cutting back in camp is a league-wide trend, with coaches trying to minimize the wear and tear on their players.What matters, of course, is what a team does in the sessions. It's possible that Mangini will conduct more practices in full pads than Edwards, also granting fewer rest days for individual players. "It's going to be different, stylistically," said Tannenbaum, the assistant GM during Edwards' five-year run. "To say there's going to be more hitting, it's hard to say. It will be demanding, but camps in the past have been demanding. You'll see a carry-over from minicamp - great tempo, with a lot of situational coaching." And when mistakes are made, the players will hear about it. Originally published on July 27, 2006
Mangini keeps focus By ANDREW GROSS agross@lohud.com THE JOURNAL NEWS (Original publication: July 31, 2006) HEMPSTEAD ? There was only the slightest hint of an edge to Eric Mangini's voice. Yet it provided, perhaps, the clearest window into the thoughts of the Jets' first-year coach, who weighs every word he utters to make sure no unnecessary information is released and has already programmed his players to be just as tight-lipped. Before taking questions following yesterday's morning practice, Mangini compared it favorably to Saturday's lone session, two hours and 45 minutes under intense 95-degree heat."Yesterday I didn't think was very good," Mangini said. "I think heat is a good thing. I hope we get a lot of heat, because as I've told the players, we have got to learn to play in all different elements. We have to be able to play and we have to be able to focus. Yesterday the heat took away from our focus and it can't. It can't." OK, OK, so this is no grand pronouncement. But as the Jets completed the second of seven scheduled two-a-day practices at Hofstra, it appears Mangini is far from satisfied with the team's early progress. Or how the Jets are adjusting to the standards he wants to see. "These things are very important to me,'' Mangini said. "They're very important to me because they are important to the success of the team. It's important that everyone understands these things very clearly. They are not going away. The quicker they understand it, the quicker we will make progress and the quicker we will be where we want to be." Coach-to-English translation: Don't expect too many miracles coming off a 4-12 season. "It's his first year. He has to get his point across and let everybody know where he is coming from," said third-year wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery, cited by Mangini as the most outstanding player in the team's offseason program. "It is starting to pick up a little bit, and obviously, he wants everyone into the mode that he wants." It's a message Mangini has been repeating since he was hired Jan. 17. "When coach first introduced himself to the team, he made it clear where he wanted us to be," second-year defensive tackle Sione Pouha said. "I got the message."As a result, the 6-foot-3 Pouha revamped his diet ? more celery, no Big Macs ? and slimmed down to 303 pounds from last year's reporting weight of 330. He was helped off the field in the evening session after hurting his right knee, but was quickly able to resume jogging.Overall, Pouha said he feels less sluggish in drills, and Mangini said Pouha's work at reshaping his body was "outstanding."And that's a good thing because, five practices in, Camp Mangini has been a physical one, with a daily one-on-one tackling drill and plenty of 11-on-11 contact. The Jets will continue to alternate double sessions with a single afternoon practice through Friday as they start to point toward their preseason opener at Tampa Bay Aug. 11. "It's also been a taxing camp, with practices routinely running 2 1/2 hours and players running penalty laps for any number of mistakes. "If you're doing something that is going to hurt the team, then go somewhere else," Mangini said. "Go around the field and think about it and keep going. It's going to keep happening."But the camp has also been disjointed. That's unavoidable with four quarterbacks rotating first-team snaps, something Mangini said he doesn't foresee ending in the near future, as well as numerous switches in personnel combinations. Still, Mangini is hoping to see some consistency. "The question now is can they build on this morning's practice and start stringing good practices together?" Mangini said. "That is what we need to do, start stringing good practices together." Camping out: Jets Eye-opener: Undersized WR Tim Dwight, in his first season with the Jets, has survived eight previous NFL seasons often by working harder than anybody else, and coach Eric Mangini brought him from New England partly for the example he'll provide to his younger teammates. For instance, the 5-foot-8, 180-pound Dwight upended 6-4, 299-pound veteran lineman Kimo von Oelhoffen yesterday morning with a perfectly timed low block to spring RB Leon Washington on a toss around the left end. "They wanted me to help these guys learn the offense," said Dwight, who worked with new offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer for four years in San Diego. "I felt like they were treating me as a coach." But in yet another example of how all players must abide by the same rules under Mangini, as opposed to predecessor Herman Edwards, Dwight was forced to jog a lap after his motion penalty negated a 64-yard touchdown from rookie Kellen Clemens to Jerricho Cotchery. He made up for it in the evening session, making a nice catch in the right corner of the end zone on a Patrick Ramsey pass. Rookie watch: WR Brad Smith, a fourth-round pick out of Missouri, showed some of the elusiveness the team liked as he stutter-stepped around LB Alonzo Jackson in the one-on-one tackling drill. Training room: Rookie TE Jason Pociask (shoulder) and S Erik Coleman (undisclosed) remain sidelined. DT Sione Pouha left the evening session after hurting his right knee. Competition: Yesterday morning was Clemens' turn to take first-string snaps in the four-man quarterback battle. As to be expected from a second-round pick, he's nowhere near ready to run an NFL offense. Dante Ridgeway showed nice hands in catching a long Clemens pass along the right sideline, and Clemens showed good timing in springing Laveranues Coles with a quick throw over the middle. But he did not make a good read 30 yards downfield as S Kerry Rhodes stepped in front of Cotchery for his third pickoff in as many days. And Schottenheimer has not been shy about loudly voicing his displeasure with Clemens, or the rest of the offense for that matter. "He's a very intense coach," Clemens said. "You have to respond to it the best that you can. He operates very quickly."
Mangini works his players into shape By ANDREA ADELSON, AP Sports Writer August 3, 2006 HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. (AP) -- Jets quarterback Brooks Bollinger tried to get his teammates lined up during a drill in practice Thursday morning, but started running out of time.With music blaring to simulate crowd noise, Bollinger signaled for a timeout to try and regroup. New coach Eric Mangini had none of it, shouting there was no need to waste a precious timeout. He sent Bollinger and every other player on offense around the field to run a lap, the usual penalty for making a mistake. Welcome to Camp Mangini, where the weather is hot, and the livin' is not so easy. A week into his first training camp as a head coach, Mangini has made practice almost unbearable for the players. With temperatures soaring and the head index over 100, he has not relented on the length of practice -- Thursday morning was the shortest so far, clocking in at 2 hours, 11 minutes. He did make one concession, though, canceling Friday's workout.During practice, Mangini expects perfection. If a player makes a mistake or gets flagged, they must run a lap. If the team messes up during a play, it must be run over and over again until the players get it right. What happened with Bollinger is par for the course during the hard-nosed camp. "It was one of those situations where you had the heat, you had the noise, we were in more of an attack mode and whatever the reason was, those are the things we are going to have to deal with," Mangini said. "The answer can't always be a timeout. There has to be another answer." Mangini has made it a point to work on many game situations during training camp. Early, it was work in the red zone. Then work on third downs and the 2-minute drill. On Thursday evening, the players were divided up into two teams and scrimmaged against each other -- with music blaring from loudspeakers.From rap to rock, the Black Eyed Peas to Bon Jovi blasting, Mangini wants his players to focus and work on communication when it is difficult to think, hear and concentrate. Chad Pennington directed beautiful scoring drives Tuesday and Wednesday nights with the music blaring, seeming to thrive in the stressful conditions. His team lost Thursday in overtime. It also helps get the players motivated. "It gets us ready for game-time situations," linebacker Jonathan Vilma said. "Especially at home, if we're winning, in a 2-minute situation the crowd's going to be cheering. We need a little bit of that as well as the offense."As players have gotten used to what Mangini wants, the practices have been cleaner. In the first practice last Friday, Pennington threw two interceptions on his first three passes. Now, he has emerged as the top candidate to win the starting job, and looks confident in the new offense. Everyone looks more comfortable all around. "I've expected it to be tough and it's been tough," Vilma said. "I expected him to be very stern with us and he's been that way with us. We're adjusting and we're doing a good job. You can see practices are going smoother, we're getting a lot more done in practice and it's very competitive."The atmosphere could not be more different from former coach Herm Edwards. The new Chiefs coach was more laid-back, maxing out practices at 2 hours. The Jets' complex came to be known as "Club Ed." Players who are rehabbing were allowed to stand with their teammates and watch practice. Now, most players who are injured must work out and rehab on the field during practice, in the heat and humidity. There are exercise bikes set up in one corner of the field for them to do work, and trainers also put them through various exercises. Veterans Curtis Martin and Trey Teague are allowed to rehab indoors.Cornerback Ray Mickens, going into his 11th season and 10th with the Jets, said there have been no complaints yet about the intense workouts. Everyone seems to be buying into Camp Mangini."I don't think any veterans are grumbling," Mickens said. "This is part of the process. If you don't want to work hard, then how can you expect to have a good season? We're looking forward to it, we know it's going to be hard work but we're up for the challenge." Updated on Thursday, Aug 3, 2006 8:31 pm EDT > http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_y...YF?slug=ap-jets-campmangini&prov=ap&type=lgns
Mangini Is Scouring the Jets? Mistakes for Clues Sign In to E-Mail This Print Reprints Save By KAREN CROUSE Published: August 14, 2006 HEMPSTEAD, N.Y., Aug. 13 ? In Coach Eric Mangini?s mind, the unexamined game isn?t worth playing. That is why, on the morning after the Jets? 16-3 loss at Tampa Bay, Mangini?s exhaustive analysis left no decision, however minor, unscrutinized.He spent part of Saturday reviewing the team flight to Florida, and the bus rides to the hotel, the stadium and the airport. He critiqued the choice of team accommodations.?We went element by element to see what can be improved there,? Mangini said Sunday before leading his players through a 2-hour-28-minute practice. ?We tried to do an overall self-scout to see what we can do better.? The false start by center Nick Mangold on the seventh play from scrimmage was not the only rookie mistake that jumped out at the 35-year-old Mangini, the youngest head coach in the N.F.L. After critiquing everything from the running game to team transportation, Mangini was highly critical of one rookie above all others: Himself. Mangini stresses to his players the importance of communication, but it was his own botched exchange of information that created a tempest in the tabloids concerning the state of quarterback Chad Pennington?s twice-repaired throwing shoulder. Pennington, who was starting his first game in 11 months, had the football knocked out of his hand when his arm was cocked to throw on what proved to be the final play of his last scheduled drive. It was a play eerily similar to the one last September against the Jacksonville Jaguars that resulted in Pennington?s second torn rotator cuff in less than a year.He popped up looking no worse for the worrisome hit, and he was all smiles in the locker room afterward as he headed for the showers. But then Pennington disappeared, and in the 45 minutes it took for him to re-emerge for his postgame news conference, speculation about the state of his shoulder filled the sound-bite vacuum.Mangini pinned the delay on himself, explaining that he invited Pennington into his office to go over his performance while it was still fresh in each man?s mind.?We were spending a lot of time talking there,? Mangini said, adding: ?I wanted to see what his thoughts were and give him my thoughts and talk through that stuff. It was important that we do it at that point.? It did not occur to him, Mangini said, that others might want to hear Pennington?s thoughts, a failure for which he apologized.?This was my first go-around too,? Mangini said. He added, ?I am learning.?Pennington ran the first-team offense during practice and looked relaxed and robust. Afterward, when asked if he might restrict his throwing activities as the week went on, he shook his head no and practically shouted, ?It?s full-go, baby!?Pennington came across almost as giddy Sunday, as if by withstanding the hit by Buccaneers safety Kalvin Pearson, he had hurdled the last major obstacle to his return.With every passing day, Pennington?s comeback from his second surgery, which was perceived by many as a long shot, is looking more and more like a sure thing. Perhaps that is why Pennington, 30, punctuated a few of his comments with laughter when he met with reporters. Pennington, whose status as a starter had gone unchallenged the three previous seasons, is being made by Mangini to prove himself worthy of retaining his old job. Instead of resenting Mangini, Pennington has responded as if he relishes the challenge.It probably helps that Pennington, a coach?s son, shares Mangini?s preoccupation with perfection and his passion for football. Last season, Herman Edwards, the coach whom Mangini succeeded, saidd that Pennington has a single-mindedness about football borne of not having any outside interests.?He?s very detailed,? Pennington said of Mangini. ?He?ll bring stuff up from five days ago that you?d forgotten about. Sometimes it?s good to remember those things as a player, and sometimes it?s not.?He just does a great job of teaching off of mistakes,? he said. ?I believe it?s one of his strong points. I?ve learned a lot off of the mistakes I?ve made during camp, and being able to address those things and not repeat those things.? In Mangini?s mind, mistakes are the building blocks of success. He does not look at a mistake as a failing until it is repeated. To drive home that point, Mangini canceled the morning practice Sunday, the last scheduled day of double practices, and met with the players instead.Mangini is exacting, but he reserves the right to be flexible. He was not afraid to call the audible on Sunday?s schedule after deciding it was more prudent to correct the players? mistakes in the classroom before heaping more information on them at practice. ?We had that time in the morning to clean up some of those things and learn from them before we go out and execute them,? Mangini said.In Mangini?s mind, if you are not self-scouting, you are not serious about getting better. EXTRA POINTS The Jets waived receiver Jovan Witherspoon, who spent last year on the Jets? practice squad, and claimed fullback Jamar Martin off waivers from the New Orleans Saints. > http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/14/s....html?_r=2&ref=sports&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
