Woody Endorses Mangini
Probably due to pressure to diffuse any questions, Woody Johnson has gone on the record with the Daily News.
“Not at all. Not at all. Eric is the same Eric that I hired a couple of years ago. I have a lot of confidence in the program he’s trying to develop and who he is as a person. Both he and Mike (Tannenbaum) have my full support.”
“I think he’s got a natural football mentality. He’s got great intelligence, a great work ethic, a sense of humor. He’s learning as he goes. He doesn’t have that ego that prevents him from learning. … He’s the kind of individual that can build a team.”
“Obviously, I’m disappointed, just like the fans are, with the results in terms of the scores. But I think we’ve made some good progress. We’ve been in every game. From that standpoint, there’s a reason for optimism.”
“Right now, I have a lot of confidence in the players and the coaching staff. Hopefully, we can make some good things happen.”
Like I’ve said before, if this is what it takes to build a long-term viable team year-to-year, so be it, but fans can only be patient for so long.
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It’s good to see Woody standing by his team. Becoming a winning coach and building a winning program take time. Look at Belichick — 36-44 in Cleveland, 5-11 in 2000 in his first year in New England. How many folks thought Belichick was no good after 2000? And yet he’s now considered one of the greatest coaching minds of all time.
Mangini will be fine — he has smarts enough to learn from his mistakes, and to have patience with the program — the two qualities all great coaches need to have. Consistently great teams are not built from one or two drafts alone. I’m personally looking forward to the rest of this season to see how several players develop (Clemens, Harris, Leon, D’Brick, etc.) and to what the team does in the off-season — my hope would be to trade older underperforming vets or those not deemed to be building blocks for draft picks, stock up by trading down when prudent, and maybe, if the right player is there, add through FA, though this could wait until 09 as the team should be built for a 2009+ run, not an 08 quick hit.
before going to New England
I agree the housecleaning needs to continue, and that Mangini needs to be given at least 3-4 full seasons before any major judgments are made.
But there are some red flags this season – and I’m not talking about 1-8. Not paying Kendall supposedly on “principle,” but then increasing the pay of another o-lineman in the middle of his contract. Spending $$$ on TJ, but practically refusing to use him in the second half of games we’re actually leading. The timing of pulling the plug on Pennington in the Bills game…. There’s other decisions, too, and they are all questionable – particularly when grouped together.
Factor in the SI article that basically says the Jets game day experience SUCKS at the Meadowlands, and if I was Jets ownership, I would be looking at figuring out ways to not only build a consistent winner, but how NOT to piss off the fan base.
My biggest concern is that we are contuing to blow games in 2nd half. I could really care less what SI thinks about anything.
The Jets are 1-5 in games where they were either tied or ahead at halftime. That’s the most disturbing stat for Mangini this season. It shows a lack of halftime adjustments and/or lack of anticipating or responding to halftime adjustments by the opposing team.
I also have a somewhat contrarian view on what the team has to concentrate on in the coming weeks and off-season. The Jets don’t score enough. Only twice in the past 10 years have the Jets been in the top half of NFL teams in points scored, but 8 of the past 10 years the Jets have been in the top half in points allowed.
The Jets offense should score more. The OL is average (at best), but the Jets are strong at the skill positions. I think the offense has underachieved, while the defense has too many holes to expect it to be a top defense. But, on offense, the list is relatively short: a fast slot WR, a better LG and RT (but just 1 makes the line much better), and (my pet peeve) a pass-catching TE (but, I’m interested to see how Baker fares with Clemens…a mobile QB’s best friend is the TE). In theory, a fast WR and better LG is all the offense needs (and they are relatively easy to acquire). The list on defense is MUCH longer (2-gap NT, ILB, 2 OLBs, CB, FS), harder to get (2-gap NTs and good OLBs usually go in the 1st round, as do CBs and FS), and no one addition makes the Jets defense that much better.
The Jets are in every game, a top 10 offense makes this team a playoff team and gives them credibility to acquire the talent needed to craft a top 10 defense.
Sack, I agree the offense needs to score more. I have a feeling that we may see more scoring in the second half as Clemens get familiar with the receivers. However, my main concern has been Schottenheimer’s “short-to-intermediate pass happy” offense. Why not throw the deep ball more or settle into the run with ONE running back? I know you don’t want to do those things for the sake of doing them, but at least it shows the opposition that the threat exists. What about ball control with a committment to the run in the 2nd half? My faith in Shcottenheimer has severely decreased as compared to my faith in Mangini.
It may have been wishful thinking on my part, but the most amazing thing I saw in the Skin’s game was that lil Shott’s calls looked like they worked. Cotch was open on the passes he dropped and fumbled (both times for key first downs). Leon was behind the defense on the pass he dropped. Both Cotch and MaCariens were open on the OT completion set up by all the end arounds. Maybe some folks would have liked to use TJ more but having open receivers down the field past the first down marker and having the ball in their hands is better in my book and I started to see how one was supposed to set up the other.
We saw none of the check downs, especially on 3rd and longs, none of the jumped pick 6s, and even fewer sacks. The field was stretched.
It may be that all along what I blamed on Shott should have been blamed on the cause. If so, be prepared for points and a better offense.
But it won’t make any difference if the D is a sieve. Those who think our offense is the problem have been watching a different team than have I.
The numbers at Football Outsiders don’t lie. This defense can find a way to lose any game if they don’t clamp down.
harlan
The offense is designed to give you what the defense is allowing. If the defense is in cover 3 you take the under routes or what is referred to as Cover 3 beaters..We need to improve in alot of areas. Arm chair offense guess work is silly..I think Shotty is pretty prepared for what opponents are doing..In the NFL players have to make plays and the Jet players are not doing that on a consistant basis..Vs Redskins 7 dropped passes..Thats Schotty’s fault??
Like JP said it takes years to build a winner. Bill Belichick knows that. Look at Romeo Crennel it took him around 3 full seasons before breaking the barrier. Now he has a great O-line, good QB and receivers and tough but adequate defense. The difference here is that our lines were aging and getting old. And if anyone knows how hard it is to fix an o-line then look at the Cardianls and Texans for further knowledge. It takes time! Maybe because were in NYC we are spoiled because we expect a certain expectation from our team every year, whether it be ProBowler players or playoffs. The Jets are in a stage of mediocrity, and it may take 1-3yrs to get out of it, but we will be a better team because of it. i am glad that our owner is standing behind his coach. For the 1st time in years I think we may have a stable coaching staff!
Fun Fact- we have had 7 coaches in the past 14yrs!
Who’s endorsing Woody?
Harlan, I was watching the team that could’ve put the Giants away in the 4th quarter, but had their QB throw an awful redzone pick. I was watching the team that was only down 3 points in the 4th quarter to Buffalo, but their QB threw a short out that was picked off at their own 25 yard line and then Buffalo scored a TD to go up 10 points and, later that same QB was picked off again…game over. This team had a 3rd and 1 against the Eagles in the 4th quarter and let their QB with a bad ankle try to sneak to get a 1st down, then on 4th down threw a pass that everyone in the stadium knew was coming. This team scored only a woeful 3 points against Buffalo on its home field.
The only losses that can be pinned squarely 100% on the defense were the Bengals and Ravens losses. The rest get pinned on an offense that has only scored three TDs in a game twice this season (and the Jets are 1-1 in those games).
I wrote in the off-season that the Jets had to address their awful redzone TD percentage; it’s worse this season. We’ve yet to see TJ score a TD. Rebuilding a team is difficult and we still have to see if Clemens is the real deal. But, if he is, the team should be built around him first, with patchwork done to the defense.
The problem is Woody Johnson. Mangini and Tannenbaum are safe. The Jets are the only team in the NFL under a single owner to go through three GM’s (Parcells, Bradway, Tannebaum) and five HC’s (Bellichik, Parcells, Groh, Edwards and Mangini)… and Woody has not fired a single one!
Jay Cross is still President of the NYJ’s… why?
The team stinks and it comes down to Woody Johnson.