Dec 29th 2008 11:30AM by Ryan Wilson (author feed)
Filed under: Jets, Packers, AFC East, NFL Fans, NFL Coaching

As promised, Jets owner Woody Johnson held a 10 AM EST press conference to discuss the state of the franchise. Given that he’d just canned Eric Mangini, and that Brett Favre’s future remains unclear, there was a lot to cover.

Johnson called Mangini a good coach; so good, in fact, that he saw fit to fire him after three seasons. Actually, he added the “he’s just not a good fit for this team” caveat, which is a nice way of saying: “Yeah, Eric, it was either you or Brett, and, well, we’re going with Favre.”

Of course, this assumes that Brett will return in 2009. Johnson could only muster an “I hope so” when asked about that possibility, but he did point out that having an entire year in the offense should benefit both Favre and the offense. I’m skeptical, particularly since Favre is 39 and, well, he plays like it.

Apparently, some Jets players feel similarly:Continue Reading

Dec 29th 2008 1:30PM by Sportz Assassin (author feed)
Filed under: Broncos, Buccaneers, Cowboys, Jaguars, Jets, Packers, Patriots, Redskins, NFL PlayoffsWe all know the 12 teams that will be in the NFL playoffs, all of whom (mostly) deserve to be there.

The bigger story may be who won’t be in the playoffs. There were several teams that came into the season with big dreams while others had a nice start to the season. Yet they still didn’t make it.

In the 2000s, only one team lost a Super Bowl and made the playoffs the next season. We love pointing that out, but never imagined that could happen to these Patriots. New England just came off an undefeated regular season and lost the Super Bowl in the game’s final moments. But all it took was an injury to Tom Brady to put the season in doubt. Matt Cassel did a great job filling in, but injuries to the stable of running backs and a defense that, at times, looked its age forced New England slip up just enough to miss the playoffs.

They will be only the second team with 11 victories to not make the playoffs. To many, it is justice to see the Pats not in the postseason despite having a better record than four teams that will be.Continue Reading

Dec 28th 2008 11:15PM by JJ Cooper (author feed)
Filed under: Broncos, Buccaneers, Cowboys, Jets, NFL PlayoffsWe can mock the Lions’ 0-16 season, wonder how good the Patriots would have been if Tom Brady didn’t blow out his knee, or speculate over which NFC team is most likely to give the Giants trouble in the playoffs.

But after watching a wild December of football, it’s hard to avoid the fact that 2008 is the year where an amazing number of teams simply gagged their way out of the playoffs. Usually there are one or two teams that peaked in October and failed to live up to their potential, this year, we had a futile four that all choked away what were once seemingly safe playoff berths.

Here’s a ranking of who sucked the worst in a season that saw plenty of teams throw away their chance at playoffs glory.

Continue Reading

Dec 28th 2008 11:45PM by Josh Alper (author feed)
Filed under: Jets, AFC EastNow that the Jets have gone down in flames and started their offseason, we can begin debating two questions in earnest. The first is whether Eric Mangini will be fired for steering the team from 8-3 to 9-7, while the second involves Brett Favre’s future. The answer to the second may be contingent on the first.

Jay Glazer of FOX reports today that the veteran quarterback who has made a marketing career out of being just one of the boys doesn’t actually like being treated like one of the boys. According to Glazer, the quarterback is chafing at the amount of meetings and quizzes Mangini has for his team. Perhaps most damaging, Favre’s play wasn’t treated with any deference, unlike his days with the Packers.
With the Jets, however, the sources say that Favre has been called to what they dub “the principal’s office” and grilled about making bad throws that turned into interceptions. Those same sources say this is not just done in private. Mangini will also grill Favre about his throws in front of the team, just like everybody else.
Given the amount of bad throws Favre made down the stretch, it must have been a rough December.

The Jets shouldn’t fall into the trap of trying to accomodate Favre. If Mangini goes, fine, but the brass must make the decision about the new coach based on all 53 players, not just one who may or may not be taking another NFL snap.

Dec 29th 2008 8:30AM by Ryan Wilson (author feed)
Filed under: Cowboys, Dolphins, Eagles, Jets, NFL Fans, NFL CoachingChad Pennington’s eight-year Jets career came to an inglorious end four-and-a-half months ago, when he was by Brett Favre. New York restocked the roster with big-name players last offseason, and Favre was supposed to be the guy to get them back to the playoffs following the four-win effort in 2007.

Instead, after an 8-3 start, the Jets stumbled into Week 17 at 9-6, needing to win the season finale against the Dolphins and hoping that either the Bills beat the Patriots or the Ravens lost to the Jaguars. As it turned out, New England outlasted Buffalo, Baltimore blew the doors off Jacksonville, and New York went through the motions against Miami.

Favre, who has been inconsistent all season, threw three interceptions yesterday, all typically Favre-ian. Although the Jets were only down three points heading into the fourth, it just seemed like Favre was too old, too slow, and too reckless to keep New York in the game. And that’s exactly what happened when he threw an inexplicable pick midway through the fourth quarter that basically signaled the end the 2008 season. And if we’re lucky, Favre’s career.Continue Reading

Dec 29th 2008 10:10AM by Ryan Wilson (author feed)
Filed under: Jets, AFC East, NFL Fans, NFL Coaching, NFL RumorsAbout an hour ago I wondered if it mattered that Brett Favre wasn’t a big fan of Eric Mangini’s coaching style. (And by “coaching style,” I obviously mean “midweek quizzes and public dressing downs.”) Partly because Favre could be planning another offseason of “no, really, I’m retiring this time!” drama, but also in light of the fact that Mangini could be fired as the Jets head coach.

Well, I fully expect to be bombarded with the former, but according to ESPN’s Chris Mortensen, we’ll be hearing about the latter in a few minutes: “Eric Mangini is out with the New York Jets, according to Andrew Marshan of ESPN 1050 Radio in New York — that’s the Jets home radio station — and we had heard Sunday night that it was likely that Mangini would be out, didn’t get it confirmed, but the report is now in that [he’s] out … [and there’s] the press conference scheduled for 10AM this morning with Jets owner Woody Johnson and we’ll get official word then.” So while nothing’s yet official, it looks like we’ll be adding Mangenius’ name to the “dudes from the Bill Belichick coaching tree who went on to crash and burn in head coaching jobs” scrap pile. On the upside, there are enough people to form a support group, so there’s that. (”Hi, my name is Romeo Crennel and Bill Belichick ruined my life…”)

: It’s official — Mangini is out in New York.Continue Reading

Dec 27th 2008 7:10PM by Josh Alper (author feed)
Filed under: Dolphins, Jets, AFC EastNormally a team that improves by five wins from one season to the next would be celebrated by their entire fan base. Their coach would get an extension, their players would become folk heroes and there would be nary a complaint about what’s transpired. The Jets, then, are not a normal team.

Unless you’ve been living in a cave, you already know that the Jets have declined from 8-3 to the brink of missing the playoffs. In the process, Eric Mangini’s seat has gotten hot and Brett Favre has earned the kind of rancor that he was unaccustomed to in Green Bay. A loss to Miami on Sunday guarantees they’ll miss the playoffs, while a win gives them only an outside chance of making the postseason tournament.

Yet, they aren’t the only team in this matchup that could see a rapid turnaround go up in smoke. The Dolphins are nine wins better than they were in 2007, but a loss to the Jets will mean they don’t make the playoffs despite winning 10 games. They didn’t spend hundreds of millions in the offseason, though, and had no expectations of making it this far, so Tony Sparano’s got nothing to worry about.

A win, however, means the AFC East title and sweet revenge for Chad Pennington. Jettisoned to make room for Favre, a storybook season couldn’t hope for a better ending than Pennington celebrating the improbable in his old stomping grounds. Continue Reading

Dec 26th 2008 10:00AM by Will Brinson (author feed)
Filed under: Jets, Packers, NFL Fans, NFL Injuries, NFL Media Watch, NFL Real TalkThere needs be no explanation of what a horrible person Brett Favre is simply for putting us through the torturous media coverage of last year when he couldn’t make up his mind about retiring. Defend him all you want — that was a total and utter nightmare to live through as a sports fan.

But if you thought it would be any easier this year, you were wrong. wrong.
“There’s some throws I personally think I can make, but at times I haven’t,” Favre said. “I attribute some of that to age. I think . . . the physical that every player goes through after the last game will shed some light on some things.”

“This very well could be my last game,” Favre said. “I’m aware of that. I’d like to make it a memorable one.”
And this “could very well be” my last day at my job, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop everyone that walks by my desk to let them know that. Unfortunately, Favre is an attention junkie, so we all knew this was coming. He’s already fashionably destroyed the entire Green Bay fanbase — Aaron Rodgers 5-11 season isn’t helping matters — and now it’s New York’s turn.

Unfortunately, they don’t have the history with the gunslinger that the cheeseheads do, and there’s a decent chance they just run him out of town when he tries to do the retirement shuffle. We can only hope anyway.

Dec 24th 2008 11:15AM by Will Brinson (author feed)
Filed under: Jets, Seahawks, NFL Coaching, NFL Real Talk, NFL RumorsClearly the pressure of January is a bit much for Eric Mangini. First of all, his job is on the line. Secondly, he just lost to the freaking Seahawks in the snow (your team is from New York, dude). And finally, Shaun Ellis lobbed a giant chunk of snow into the crowd, causing quite the stir amongst the NFL’s lawdogs.

Fortunately, Mangenius is smart enough to divert all the attention to Seattle security and his irrational fear of snowballs and their ability to blind humans.
“There were a lot of people that were hit with snowballs,” Mangini said. “All you need is someone to get hit in the eye. It’s just not a safe situation. It was disappointing to see that, but that stuff, we couldn’t control that. How we can control it is how we respond.”

“I thought there could have been more done to prevent what was happening in terms of the safety issues from the snowballs coming down,” Mangini said. “But that being said, it doesn’t justify us getting involved in any context.”
Now, aside the fact that everyone and their brother has taken a snowball to the domepiece at least once or twice in their lives (and yet … can still see out of both eyes), how about we just focus on the Jets for a minute. Clearly this is a team that lacks discipline (Ellis) and that hasn’t been “coached up” properly, considering the nature of the AFC East and the firm command they had on the division just a month or so ago.

There are issues with fans throwing snowballs onto the field, but as Mike Holmgren pointed out, it’s a “novelty” in Seattle — if the Jets had taken care of business and won the game, we wouldn’t even be talking about this.

Dec 23rd 2008 1:15PM by Will Brinson (author feed)
Filed under: Jets, Seahawks, NFL Police Blotter, NFL Fans, NFL Media WatchIt is implicitly understood that professional athletes are not to have any sort of violent interaction with fans during games. Shaun Ellis clearly violated that rule — I’m pretty sure it’s an official one — when he launched a monster chunk of snow into a group of Seahawks fans (VIDEO) after they pelted him with snowballs on Sunday.

And now Ellis, predictably, is paying the price, according to Adam Schefter on the NFL Network (via PFT).
The decision of Jets defensive end Shaun Ellis to hoist a large snowball/snow clump into the stands at Qwest Field on Sunday has resulted in the NFL throwing right back at him a $10,000 fine.

[…]Schefter reports that players are told before the start of each season that any contact with fans is prohibited, where such contact presents crowd-control issues and/or the risk of injury.
It’s not surprising at all — you just can’t attack fans and expect not to a) get caught on camera and b) get fined. Honestly, I’m kind of surprised that it’s “only” 10 grand, considering the way that Roger Goodell likes to lay down the law against violators of his policies.

Laugh if you want, but seriously, what Ellis did was potentially damaging to a fan’s health, and you better believe that if someone had gotten hurt and the league got sued, $10,000 would be considered “getting off light.”Continue Reading