Fort Florham apres le deluge
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- December
- 1
Jets coach Eric Mangini was unusually frank following the loss to Denver, and today admitted that he personally made mistakes coaching the game. So of course I had to ask him for specifics. So Mangini second-guessed himself.
“I think on the reverse play with Brad (Smith), I probably would have changed the ball handling and made it more of an under-handed pitch instead of an over-handed pitch,” Mangini said. “I think that would have softened it a little bit. I didn’t feel like the conditions made that exchange impossible. I thought that it was very reasonable, but I think that could have helped that.”
And more.
“On the fourth and one play, I liked the concept-—going with big people, the hard sell play action,” Mangini said. “We really felt like the safety would suck-up and (we would have) a chance for a big play to Chris (Baker). When the safety didn’t come up, I would have had a better outlet answer when that happened. We had an outlet. I just don’t think it was as good as it could have possibly been so that Brett (Favre) had a better opportunity to get the first down. That part of the play didn’t work. Those were two things.
In other mea culpas, Nick Mangold admitted that the Jets lost a chance to go up two games in the AFC East.
“Yes, we let that one get away,” Mangold said. “We didn’t finish our drives. We didn’t get in the end zone when we were in the red-zone and there were things that we have been good at that we weren’t good at.”
As the Jets gained a little momentum in the third quarter and tried to hurry up the offense, several Broncos went down on the field. Some reporters asked about the validity of all the injuries. “I happened to catch the eye on a couple of their faces and I think for the most part they were hurt,” Alan Faneca said.
Vernon Gholston may have played more against the Titans and the Broncos, but Mangini wasn’t happy with the No. 1 draft pick after the loss on Sunday. “I think he needs to continue to improve,” Mangini said tersely.
And finally, Laveranues Coles had a succinct response to the question about what this means for the season.
“I will tell you what, it’s a wakeup call,” Coles said. “Anytime you get into a situation like this and you lose a ball game you are all hurt. You get on the road and you finally get something going and I think from top to bottom again the coaches are going to take a look at themselves and what they are doing. The players need to take a look at what they have been doing and the approach they have been taking to the ball game.
“Here we are back at this point again, it’s not like our season is over because of one game, but I think it gets us to realize that we can be smacked on the butt ourselves. At this point we need to wake up, get back to the drawing board, figure out what we did wrong and try to correct this week coming up.”
This entry was posted
on Monday, December 1st, 2008 at 11:43 pm by Jane McManus.
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Jane McManus 
Those are mea culpas? The ball should have been pitched under-handed? How about not running trick plays – AT ALL – in weather like that?
And, “That part of the play didn’t work”? Right, you mean the part where someone needs to be open if you’re gonna convert on fourth and one with a play action pass? How about RUNNING THE BALL on a crucial third and one / fourth and one sequence, and gaining that crucial yard like a CHAMPIONSHIP-CALIBRE team would?
Sorry, was I shouting?
Well???
Cotchery, also normally sure-handed seemed to have dropped two sure 1st downs the 2nd time that the Jets lost the ball on downs, on 3rd and 4th down, no less (to be fair, neither was a great pass by Favre)
I also don’t disagree with the reverse call. Yes it resulted in a fumble, but man, did Cotchery have a lot of space if he caught the ball. The Jets obviously recognized the Broncos over-pursuit and wanted to exploit it. Sure the field was wet and the ball was slippery, but if the Jets have to change the planning because they don’t think their WR can hold on to a pitch, even in the rain, that’s coaching scared.
This game is on the coaches and the players. But, when the players don’t execute, doesn’t really matter what the coaches call. They can’t make them play the game.
Good stuff, I love that Mangini is interested in returning his coach of the week award.. or at least not nominating himself for that honor this week.
I just wonder which team will be playing the 49’rs..
The team that handled the Pats & Titans, or the team that
got squashed by the Bronco’s and Raiders.
I just consulted my magic 8-ball…The answer is..
“too soon to tell”
Biebs, sorry, I just can’t agree. Weather conditions do dictate overall offensive strategy as well as specific play calls.
So you run the ball more, throw short passes and screens, and don’t do gimmick plays. Throwing twice on third and one and fourth and one was ridiculous. A real football team makes a hole, hands the ball to a runnning back, and gets that crucial first down.
PG – right on.
Even more surprising is the fact that they strayed away from the quick, 3 step-drop passing game that was so successful against the Titans.. and they stopped going to Jones early also.
I agree the Cotchery botched call might be deflating, but when it was 27-17, the game is still not really out of reach.
But I totally agree, that on 3 and 2, teams that win, can move the pile 2 yards. There does seem to be a lack of creativity in blocking for Jones. It felt like he was running straight ahead all day, into a wall. and getting 1-3 yards. His yards/carry average is high due to that 59 yard run, but aside from that, he didn’t get much.
Is this a run first team? or a throw first team??
It’s probably throw first, or a 50-50 split. But that’s ok – you’ve got one of the greatest – maybe the greatest – quarterbacks in NFL history. So sure, throw it around a lot. But his arm and creativity are enhanced by a full order of magnitude if you keep your opponents honest by running the football. I was so encouraged by the balance they struck in the previous couple of games.