--Bill Cowher is not interested in the Jets' coaching vacancy, a team spokesman said Tuesday night. "After reaching out to coach Cowher's representatives, we were informed tonight that he is not a candidate for this position," Jets spokesman Bruce Speight said. The Jets never formally interviewed Cowher, nor did they ever get as far as discussing any terms or conditions. A source close to Cowher had said Monday that he is not interested in coaching in 2009.
Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo is scheduled to interview Saturday for the job. The Jets also intend to interview a pair of their current offensive assistants, coordinator Brian Schottenheimer and Bill Callahan, who served as assistant head coach in 2008 under the deposed Eric Mangini and also coached the offensive line. Callahan is credited with quickly molding the group, which included veteran free agents Alan Faneca and Damien Woody, into a cohesive unit. That line paved the way for Thomas Jones to lead the AFC in rushing yards. Callahan has been a head coach with the Raiders and in college at Nebraska.
Another veteran coach hit the open market Tuesday when Denver fired Mike Shanahan after 14 seasons as the Broncos' head coach. Much like the Jets, Denver collapsed down the stretch, losing its final three games to blow a three-game lead in the AFC West and miss the playoffs.
--One of the many people hanging on Brett Favre's decision of whether to retire is Kellen Clemens, who was competing for the starting job in August until the Jets acquired Favre.
"We'll see how things shake out next year," Clemens said. "People have been guessing on Brett Favre's future for the last four or five years and have been wrong most of the time. We'll see."
Still, Clemens admitted he didn't think he would compete with Favre for the starting job if the living legend decides to return.
"He's Brett Favre," said Clemens, who also said, "absolutely, I feel ready to become a starter. That's going to be my approach going into the offseason and going into the OTAs (organized team activities) and all of that. I feel ready to become the player that I was drafted here to be."
--One of the players who took the firing of Eric Mangini very hard was second-year CB Darrelle Revis.
"It's tough. It's a business," Revis said. "Eric and I are very good friends. ... You just have to be there for a guy like that. I'm sure he's going to be somewhere else next year coaching and doing his thing."
He was asked what Mangini's message was during his final meeting with the players.
Revis noted, "He just said to stick together. He said we're a good group of guys and we care about each other. He said that the head coach is going to come in next year and to embrace him and have a relationship with him. ... He was a little bit emotional. I think a lot of guys in there were emotional, including me as well. You don't want to see things happen like that."
QUOTE TO NOTE: "There's nobody in the locker room happy that he's not the coach anymore." -- TE Chris Baker, on player reaction after the firing of coach Eric Mangini.
