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Mangini finally comes clean on Favre


samoth

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http://espn.go.com/blog/new-yorkjets/post/..._medium=twitter

 

Former New York Jets coach Eric Mangini is featured in a revealing piece by Seth Wickersham in the current issue of ESPN The Magazine. In the story, Mangini admits he initially wanted no part of Brett Favre in New York. The current Cleveland Browns coach isn't quoted directly, but considering he gave Wickersham five days of behind-the-scenes access, it's a safe bet that he got it from the Man-genius' mouth.

 

When Mangini was fired in January, 2009, after Favre's arm injury (we didn't know about it at the time) led to a late-season collapse, I reported that Mangini wasn't on board with the Favre trade. Publicly, none of the principles confirmed that. Mangini always has talked around it, using his Mangini-speak, but the following passage makes it pretty clear where he stood on Favre.

 

Here's a couple of graphs from Wickersham's story, describing how GM Mike Tannenbaum and owner Woody Johnson pushed for the trade:

 

"In August, 2008, the Packers were trying to trade Favre. Mangini didn't want him. He considered Favre a hired gun, and he wanted to develop Kellen Clemens and Brett Ratliff. (My two cents: No mention of Chad Pennington, who still was on the roster.) But Tannenbaum and Jets owner Woody Johnson expressed interest in Favre, while also vowing that Mangini's job was safe, no matter what. And with Favre on the verge of accepting a trade to Tampa, the coach's competitiveness took over.

 

"'I wanted to win,' he says. So he scheduled a five-minute phone call with Favre for the next morning, then went home and read Hello, He Lied, a book that talks about successfully pitching movies to studio execs in only a few minutes. Mangini developed his selling points: The Jets were better than the Bucs, and New Jersey's hunting and fishing scene was better than Tampa's. Favre, seduced, ended up chatting for an hour ..."

 

Wickerstam goes on to recount the Jets' collapse, adding, "The one thing Mangini couldn't do was bench a future Hall of Famer for whom he had mortgaged the season. The night he was fired, the coach sat on his couch, thinking, You sold yourself out."

 

What does this have to do with anything? Let's play what-if: If the Jets didn't make the trade, maybe Mangini doesn't get fired. (Expectations would've been lower.) If he doesn't get fired, the Jets might have missed out on Mark Sanchez in the 2009. Why? The only reason they were able to trade up for Sanchez was because of the sweetheart deal offered by Mangini, then with the Browns, who was willing to take Jets trash (Ratliff, Kenyon Coleman, Abe Elam) in a trade.

 

For what it's worth, my peeps in Cleveland say Mangini has lightened up a bit, especially in dealing with the media. New football czar Mike Holmgren apparently has had that effect on him; that, and self-preservation.

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People grow as well.

 

 

I think all coaches make mistakes. Brown, Shula, Halas...name any you want.

 

Once a person is let go from a job....it doesn't matter the job, I think everyone does a fairly balanced self evaluation and can find several things they flat out did wrong, or at least could have done differently.

 

 

You then add in a person at the top of their profession and the evaluation probably becomes even more balanced.

 

I myself am glad it worked out for Eric as it did in NY. The facts are the Jets are pretty solid and at least some, if not a great deal can be attributed to Mangini.

 

 

I think Eric is going to excel in Cleveland.

 

 

I don't believe he is as power hungry as some claimed and has no problem working with a set-up as we now have. He and Heckert seem to have similar views on players and player talent, and he and Holmgren seems to have mutual respect. It's a good working environment that I fully anticipate will bear fruit.

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People grow as well.

 

 

I think all coaches make mistakes. Brown, Shula, Halas...name any you want.

 

Once a person is let go from a job....it doesn't matter the job, I think everyone does a fairly balanced self evaluation and can find several things they flat out did wrong, or at least could have done differently.

 

 

You then add in a person at the top of their profession and the evaluation probably becomes even more balanced.

 

I myself am glad it worked out for Eric as it did in NY. The facts are the Jets are pretty solid and at least some, if not a great deal can be attributed to Mangini.

 

 

I think Eric is going to excel in Cleveland.

 

 

I don't believe he is as power hungry as some claimed and has no problem working with a set-up as we now have. He and Heckert seem to have similar views on players and player talent, and he and Holmgren seems to have mutual respect. It's a good working environment that I fully anticipate will bear fruit.

 

 

Very well stated Peen . I too believe Eric has grown since coming here . I hope he and Big Show can make it work . Now is about the time we will find out .

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Nice read thanks much man..

 

I think mangini has lightened up a lot in some ways and intensified in a good way in others..i love the concept of not bringing in hired guns and developing your own QBs but i gotta say not when they are losers like clemens or ratliff!

 

I dont think mangini is/was real good on evaluating QBs obviously or even good at offensive philosophy and thats where holmy and heckert come in..having mike and gil around has obviously helped mangini and daboll grow immensely in their craft and i think heckert will give mangini what he wants but also safeguard against bringing in any clemens or ratliffs for development, im really liking the formations and the playcalling im seeing so far, and at this point im hopeful we wont be returning to last years daboll ball or the over conservative play to lose crap...

 

If mangini should have learned only one thing from master cheatachick it should have been when you got an opponent down by 21 points give the looks like your going to turtle up but add 21 more points instead...

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I don't know when he let up, but I agree.

 

I want my coach to have the reputation of running up scores. Just score and don't worry about the other teams feelings.

 

OK...maybe run to the middle the final 3 plays and take a knee on the final play rather than tossing one to the endzone...unless that toss will somehow take a player over some yearly or career threshold.

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People grow as well.

 

 

I think all coaches make mistakes. Brown, Shula, Halas...name any you want.

 

Once a person is let go from a job....it doesn't matter the job, I think everyone does a fairly balanced self evaluation and can find several things they flat out did wrong, or at least could have done differently.

 

 

You then add in a person at the top of their profession and the evaluation probably becomes even more balanced.

 

I myself am glad it worked out for Eric as it did in NY. The facts are the Jets are pretty solid and at least some, if not a great deal can be attributed to Mangini.

 

 

I think Eric is going to excel in Cleveland.

 

 

I don't believe he is as power hungry as some claimed and has no problem working with a set-up as we now have. He and Heckert seem to have similar views on players and player talent, and he and Holmgren seems to have mutual respect. It's a good working environment that I fully anticipate will bear fruit.

 

Very well said. The truth (when listening or reading media) I think will always lie somewhere in the middle. If Mangini really did have a vote of confidence to convince him to get on board with Favre then Woody Johnson is a grade-A jerk. It's no secret that Woody was in love with Favre as he was in love with Sanchez a year later.

 

You can look at the Browns today and say perhaps they still have a ways to go but at least now the roster looks like it actually contains some guys that can play for other teams as well. I think that Eric had something to do with that and his deals (good or bad) helped give Heckert and Holmgren the foundation (picks, $) to shake and bake this year.

 

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Mangini is learning to become a better coach each day. Sure, each coach has principles and a value system that they stand by and on which they don't waver. In Eric's case that's discipline, toughness, intelligence, and accountability amongst his players.

 

But he's also trying to perfect his craft to become successful in what he does. And anyone, and I mean anyone, who is genuinely attempting to do that MUST recognize his own faults and work to correct them.

 

And Coach Mangini has done that and appears to be doing that now with examples such as player relations, media relations, and past mistakes with the Jets.

 

He is a very, very good coach. And an excellent human being. As fans we should feel fortunate to have him.

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