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Inside Eric Mangini’s Jets tenure: Favre arm-twist, 2-faced owner, Spygate regret


Ken Schroy

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Inside Eric Mangini’s Jets tenure: Favre arm-twist, 2-faced owner, Spygate regret 

By Brian Costello

Eric Mangini was back on the football field last week near his home in Cleveland. The former Jets coach was putting a group of defensive backs through drills … but these DBs were just 7 and 8 years old. It was his son Zack’s flag football team, which Mangini is helping coach. “They don’t quite move as fluidly as [Darrelle] Revis did,” Mangini said jokingly. It has been 10 years since Mangini took New York by storm. A baby-faced 35-year-old who excited the city in that first season as Jets coach by defecting from New England and turning the Jets into a playoff team, it is easy to forget how big of a star Mangini was. He was nicknamed “Mangenius” and had a cameo on “The Sopranos.” Then it all collapsed two years later, and he was fired when Brett Favre’s arm gave out and the 2008 season blew up. Mangini, now 45 and doing some work for Fox when he is not coaching flag football, took time this week to candidly reflect on his Jets tenure — from that early success to his feelings on Spygate and the Favre trade that was the beginning of the end for him.

Get it in writing

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Mangini and Brett Favre in 2008Photo

When the idea of acquiring Favre from Green Bay was first presented to Mangini in August 2008, he was against it. He felt it was against everything he and general manager Mike Tannenbaum were building. “We weren’t going to be a team that was going to be built on one guy,” Mangini said. “We were a team. I preached that and I preached that. When we had the opportunity to bring Brett in, it didn’t fit with the vision, the idea of bringing someone in who was really bigger than the team.” But Mangini said owner Woody Johnson talked about the energy Favre would bring to the organization, the excitement he would generate. “We were selling seats, opening a new stadium,” Mangini said. “All that was part of the discussion. I thought OK for one year we can do this, but we had a very crystal clear understanding that it was an experiment … and then it wasn’t.”

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Mangini and Woody Johnson in 2006, at Mangini’s introductory news conference

Before Mangini got on board, Johnson told him he would not be fired. “I was told no matter what happens if we bring in Brett Favre, you’re absolutely safe,” Mangini said. “I probably should have gotten that in writing.” That season started out great with Favre. The Jets opened 8-3 and looked like a Super Bowl contender. Then Favre suffered a torn biceps, the Jets lost four of five and Mangini was called just before midnight after the team’s final game — a loss to the Dolphins and Chad Pennington, the quarterback the Jets cut when they got Favre — and the coach was told he was fired. “I would have thought from where we were and the things we’d done and all the things we talked about, it would have at least merited a conversation,” Mangini said. There was no conversation. He was out. The Favre trade is not Mangini’s only lament about 2008. He also wished the team went in a different direction on draft day. They selected Ohio State’s Vernon Gholston with the No. 6 pick. Gholston was supposed to be a star pass rusher. He finished his career without a sack.

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Vernon Gholston in 2008

“I felt good about Gholston,” Mangini said. “The thing we didn’t do a good enough job on was how great the love of football is. That’s one of those intangibles that’s hard to measure definitively. I can promise you it wasn’t for lack of research. It wasn’t impulsive. We did a ton of work. But we were wrong. We were wrong.” The Saints had tried desperately to trade up from No. 10 to No. 6 with the Jets. They discussed it and the Jets thought they could get Jerod Mayo at 10, but liked Gholston better. The Patriots, Mangini’s former team, traded with the Saints and took Mayo at 10. He was the Rookie of the Year and went to two Pro Bowls.

Spy games

Bill Belichick read at Eric and Julie Mangini’s wedding. Mangini’s son Luke’s middle name is William, named after Belichick. Mangini followed Belichick from Cleveland, where he was a ball boy, to the Jets to the Patriots. The two have not had a real conversation in 10 years. Leaving the Patriots for the Jets head-coaching job against Belichick’s wishes damaged the relationship. Spygate ended it. “Spygate is a big regret,” Mangini said. “It wasn’t supposed to go down the way it went down.”

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Tedy Bruschi, Mangini and Bill Belichick with the Patriots in 2005

Mangini warned Jets security that the Patriots could be videotaping the Jets’ signals during their game at Giants Stadium on Sept. 9, 2007. He knew this from his time in New England. Mangini wanted the Patriots stopped, but he never thought it would get reported to the league. But Tannenbaum reported it to the NFL, and Spygate was born. The NFL fined Belichick $500,000 and the Patriots $250,000. They also were stripped of their first-round pick in the 2008 draft. “There was no great value in what they were doing,” Mangini said. “It wasn’t worth it. It wasn’t worth it to me personally. It wasn’t worth it to the relationship.” The relationship died. Belichick’s legacy was tainted. Mangini was seen as a traitor. “I cared about him,” Mangini said. “I didn’t want to hurt him. I didn’t want to hurt the Patriots. They were a huge part of my life, too, and the Kraft family. The Krafts were always great to me. It wasn’t like I was thinking I really want to get these guys. My thought was I don’t want to put my team at a competitive disadvantage, no matter how small.”

The good times

Mangini has plenty of good memories from those three years, too. He is proud of the players they drafted who became core players for the team — Revis, Nick Mangold, D’Brickashaw Ferguson, David Harris. He emphasized character, not just skill, in finding players.

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Mangini, Darrelle Revis and Kerry Rhodes in 2008

“When I left I felt like we had good players and really good people,” he said. “It was a locker room filled with good people. I think if we had continued on that path we had a chance.” They had two huge wins on the road over New England during his tenure. He remains the last Jets coach to win a regular-season game in Foxborough. There was the playoff run in 2006. He wishes he showed more of himself to the players and in front of the camera, instead of emulating Belichick. “There’s no manual to being a head coach,” Mangini said. “There’s no system that you follow. It’s kind of like parenting.” Mangini’s press conferences became legendary for their blandness, though he sees some of himself in current Jets coach Todd Bowles. “I watch some of the press conference now and I think I could go toe-to-toe,” he said. “I’m giving myself the edge.” Mangini spent two years as Browns coach after he was fired by the Jets, then two years at ESPN as an analyst, followed by three years with the 49ers, the last as defensive coordinator. He was fired after last season with two years remaining on his contract. He said he still would like to coach or maybe try his hand in the front office. Whatever he does, he can draw on those crazy three years in New York. “I have some of those pictures and things from different games,” Mangini said. “I look at them and it feels like a lifetime ago. … I feel really good about those three years.”

http://nypost.com/2016/09/27/inside-eric-manginis-jets-tenure-favre-arm-twist-2-faced-owner-spygate-regret/

 

I think this a good read. But unfortunately it's another sad chapter in a long list of failed Jet coaches.

 

 

 

 

 

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Not sure what to say other than if Favre stayed healthy we would have won the division and might have gone all the way, and without Favre, well, Eric Mangini was awful.

So his grudge about being double-crossed on Favre seems inappropriate.  The only QB he was successful with shouldn't be used as the reason for his failure.

SAR I

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4 minutes ago, SAR I said:

Not sure what to say other than if Favre stayed healthy we would have won the division and might have gone all the way, and without Favre, well, Eric Mangini was awful.

So his grudge about being double-crossed on Favre seems inappropriate.  The only QB he was successful with shouldn't be used as the reason for his failure.

SAR I

Fair analysis. I agree. I thought he seemed a little whiney in this article.

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Excellent article and shows we had an immature dumb owner.

He didn't know what he was doing and was smitten with the idea of the back page.  Woody also showed that he was manipulated by Tannenbaum and the Favre situation.

No, I don't think Mangini was a great HC but I said then that they should NOT have fired after the Farve year. I was smitten with Rex and forgot my principle.  But Mangini shouldn't have been fired when he was.

And if Woody went back on his word it is a disgrace IMO....

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13 minutes ago, Ken Shroy said:

Fair analysis. I agree. I thought he seemed a little whiney in this article.

Agreed, and if you look at the big picture, he's not a good guy.  Stabbed Belichick in the back by leaving for a rival, rats on the Patriots and humiliates the Kraft's for videotaping, is against bringing his best player onboard, is so clueless he never finds out his quarterback has a season-ending injury until after the season, doesn't realize he's been fired for his awful personality and not player performance, does worse in his second job than his first, etc.

SAR I

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4 minutes ago, SAR I said:

Agreed, and if you look at the big picture, he's not a good guy.  Stabbed Belichick in the back by leaving for a rival, rats on the Patriots and humiliates the Kraft's for videotaping, is against bringing his best player onboard, is so clueless he never finds out his quarterback has a season-ending injury until after the season, doesn't realize he's been fired for his awful personality and not player performance, does worse in his second job than his first, etc.

SAR I

Let's not lose sight of the little fact that Belichick stabbed his good friend Parcells in the back leaving for a rival.  Worse than Mangini in that he walked away from a HC job for a rival.  Mangini was stuck without an option in NE.  

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8 minutes ago, SAR I said:

Agreed, and if you look at the big picture, he's not a good guy.  Stabbed Belichick in the back by leaving for a rival, rats on the Patriots and humiliates the Kraft's for videotaping, is against bringing his best player onboard, is so clueless he never finds out his quarterback has a season-ending injury until after the season, doesn't realize he's been fired for his awful personality and not player performance, does worse in his second job than his first, etc.

SAR I

You left out "Best talent evaluation and maybe the best coach since Parcells."

He was certainly the best drafter in forever, no debating that. Got a raw deal on coaching. Should have gotten another year. Went to the Brown and then 49ers. Two places no one else wanted to be.

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9 hours ago, Sperm Edwards said:

He regrets outing BB & the Patriots as cheaters. Lovely. 

Agree that's ridiculous but I still am a Mangini believer that he can  one day be a good HC.  I'm the first to admit, though, that I'm usually wrong about most things football. 

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9 hours ago, Sperm Edwards said:

He regrets outing BB & the Patriots as cheaters. Lovely. 

Of course he does .  He could be under Belli's cloak of perceived genius and still be coaching in the NFL.  Just like Josh "Tebowz my man" McDaniels.  Sweet gig.  Look like your a competent coordinater, win championships and the whole time you do nothing more than ask, " what's next boss?"

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9 hours ago, Sperm Edwards said:

He regrets outing BB & the Patriots as cheaters. Lovely. 

Sounds like he's working on a way to get an invite back to Foxboro.  Explain his side of the story to BB through the media since he probably won't take his phone calls.

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3 minutes ago, no psls said:

It's all Woody's fault ; it always is ; he's NOT a football owner ; he's a business man ; he wouldn't know a football from a soccer ball ; we'll never get to the promised land with him as an owner ; OH THE PAIN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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How many of these guys are, though?  These are billionaires who buy pro teams to raise their profile.

Seahawks are owned by a microsoft/tech guy, Broncos are onwed by Bolan's wife because he died.

In addition, this is only Mangini's side of the story.

 

 

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Hang on a second....

Coz: How do you feel about Spygate Mangeinus?

EM: Makes me sad, can't sleep at night...cold sweats, wish I hadn't done it because the spying didn't help them.

Coz: So why did you report it if it didn't help them?

EM: Because when they did it, we were at a competitive disadvantage.

So it didn't help, but it put the Jets at a competitive disadvantage?

 

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4 hours ago, AFJF said:

Sounds like he's working on a way to get an invite back to Foxboro.  Explain his side of the story to BB through the media since he probably won't take his phone calls.

Oh, you think? 

Meanwhile what he's saying here makes no sense after the fact: 

He claims now that he knew then it was no big deal or provided no big advantage (the gift "admission" today to BB as you allude to). Then he claims he only alerted Jets' security but didn't want a league-wide thing made of it. Well if it didn't provide any advantage to BB then why bother telling security - and only security - in the first place? He could have just passing an advance-warning note to BB: do not do it vs the Jets or he will tell on him. 

He's full of it.

BB humiliated him publicly by making it known to all that he is now outside his filthy circle of trust, and this was Mangini's way of humiliating BB right back. Frankly he was right to do it back then. The balls on BB to cheat against someone using a method the opponent is fully aware of, right in public view. To not call him out on it would be dereliction of duty.  It has to kill him that Josh McDaniels (i.e. Eric Mangini II) was allowed to be BB's lapdog again after flopping in Denver & St. Louis, while Mangini remains on BB's sh*t list with his NFL coaching career in shambles. 

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54 minutes ago, no psls said:

It's all Woody's fault ; it always is ; he's NOT a football owner ; he's a business man ; he wouldn't know a football from a soccer ball ; we'll never get to the promised land with him as an owner ; OH THE PAIN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Woody is not even a business man he inherited his company.

 

Woody Johnson is the dumbest owner in the NFL BY FAR.  Worse than the Redskins owner, worse than Al Groh's kid, he is a DISGRACE.

 

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29 minutes ago, drsamuel84 said:

Costello throwing Mangini a bone and trying to get his name back out there who knows maybe Costello owed him one from his days in NY.  The guy obviously is looking for a way back in the NFL, this is a PR piece set up by Mangini's agent I'm sure.

Maybe Mangenious can get a job coaching JV high school

 

Guy was a totally inept coach.

 

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6 minutes ago, Sperm Edwards said:

Oh, you think? 

Meanwhile what he's saying here makes no sense after the fact: 

He claims now that he knew then it was no big deal or provided no big advantage (the gift "admission" today to BB as you allude to). Then he claims he only alerted Jets' security but didn't want a league-wide thing made of it. Well if it didn't provide any advantage to BB then why bother telling security - and only security - in the first place? He could have just passing an advance-warning note to BB not to do it vs the Jets or he has to tell someone. 

He's full of it.

BB humiliated him publicly by making it known to all that he is now outside his filthy circle of trust, and this was Mangini's way of humiliating BB right back. Frankly he was right to do it back then. The balls on BB to cheat against someone using a method the opponent is fully aware of, right in public view. To not call him out on it would be dereliction of duty.  It has to kill him that Josh McDaniels (i.e. Eric Mangini II) was allowed to be BB's lapdog again after flopping in Denver & St. Louis, while Mangini remains on BB's sh*t list with his NFL coaching career in shambles. 

I think the reason Belichick forgave McDaniels is he went outside the division and he didn't got to the jets.

 

I'm sure it helps that McDaniels is actually a good offensive coordinator.  Mangini was at best a mediocre DC before somehow getting the Jets gig

 

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There were some reports that Belichick had something to do with Chip Kelly firing Eric. Supposedly he called Chip Kelly and recommended he hire Mike Vrabel as 49ers DC (before Mangini was fired) and reportedly he was offered the job but instead decided to go to Houston. I hope Eric gets a job in the NFL, surprised he isn't in the Miami org since he is probably still friends with Tanny (who took the fall for firing him but everyone knows it was Woody) and also has a relationship with the owner. IMO he's not head coaching material but could be a good DC or front office guy,

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1 minute ago, Rangers9 said:

There were some reports that Belichick had something to do with Chip Kelly firing Eric. Supposedly he called Chip Kelly and recommend he hire Mike Vrabel as DC and reportedly he was offered the job but instead decided to go to Houston. I hope Eric gets a job in the NFL, surprised he isn't in the Miami org since he is probably still friends with Tanny (who took the fall for firing him but everyone knows it was Woody) and also has a relationship with the owner. IMO he's not head coaching material but could be a good DC or front office guy,

Pretty sure Tanny tried to get Mangini hired as an assistant but Adam Gase and the owner said no thanks

 

Mangini would be a problem child on any coaching staff

 

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8 minutes ago, drdetroit said:

I think the reason Belichick forgave McDaniels is he went outside the division and he didn't got to the jets.

 

I'm sure it helps that McDaniels is actually a good offensive coordinator.  Mangini was at best a mediocre DC before somehow getting the Jets gig

 

Of course that's the reason. Everyone knows it. He went to Denver with BB's blessing and Mangini went to the Jets despite BB's strong objection.

Meh, if McDaniels is such a good OC then why did he flop in his coordinating/playcalling in both of his non-Patriots stints, with players that had better success without him? I'm not impressed with him at this point. You don't know how many dumb play calls get overruled by BB or changed by Brady at the line. 

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1 hour ago, dbatesman said:

Nothing surprising here. The franchise is a dumpster fire and will be as long as Woody's around.

Whoa there, Nellie.  Think again.  In the 15 seasons Woody Johnson has owned the Jets:

We have had a .500 or better record 11 of 15 years
We have had a winning record 9 of 15 years
We have made the playoffs 6 of 15 tries
We have won 6 playoff games

All of this while having the greatest head coach and quarterback who ever lived in the same division.

Yeah, we don't get hats and rings for this but I could name 20 other NFL franchises that would kill for this resume, and statistically speaking if those teams weren't facing Belichick/Brady they'd have won a Championship or two.  Woody has done just fine here.

SAR I
 

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4 minutes ago, Sperm Edwards said:

Of course that's the reason. Everyone knows it. He went to Denver with BB's blessing and Mangini went to the Jets despite BB's strong objection.

Meh, if McDaniels is such a good OC then why did he flop in his coordinating/playcalling in both of his non-Patriots stints, with players that had better success without him? I'm not impressed with him at this point. You don't know how many dumb play calls get overruled by BB or changed by Brady at the line. 

Brady like Peyton probably calls most of the plays IMO..

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10 hours ago, SAR I said:

Not sure what to say other than if Favre stayed healthy we would have won the division and might have gone all the way, and without Favre, well, Eric Mangini was awful.

So his grudge about being double-crossed on Favre seems inappropriate.  The only QB he was successful with shouldn't be used as the reason for his failure.

SAR I

No we wouldn't have, he was mediocre/bad most of that season.  he never wanted to be here and played like it outside of a few games.  he just wanted to get to Minnesota and get 2008 over w/ as soon as possible.  once the weather turned he tanked it.  the only good thing was it led to Mangini being fired and bringing in rex and Mark so we got two really good years out of it.

 

if we on;y kept Chad we cruise to a div title that year and are SB contenders.

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22 minutes ago, drdetroit said:

Pretty sure Tanny tried to get Mangini hired as an assistant but Adam Gase and the owner said no thanks

 

Mangini would be a problem child on any coaching staff

 

I thought that Eric had a good relationship with the owner and was once and adviser to him. Not sure about the present status of his relationship with Tanny. Again Tanny is the one who officially fired him. 

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10 hours ago, Ken Shroy said:

When the idea of acquiring Favre from Green Bay was first presented to Mangini in August 2008, he was against it. He felt it was against everything he and general manager Mike Tannenbaum were building. “We weren’t going to be a team that was going to be built on one guy,” Mangini said. “We were a team. I preached that and I preached that. When we had the opportunity to bring Brett in, it didn’t fit with the vision, the idea of bringing someone in who was really bigger than the team.” But Mangini said owner Woody Johnson talked about the energy Favre would bring to the organization, the excitement he would generate. “We were selling seats, opening a new stadium,” Mangini said. “All that was part of the discussion. I thought OK for one year we can do this, but we had a very crystal clear understanding that it was an experiment … and then it wasn’t.”

Mangini, your "vision" for the team was faulty as was Tannenbaum's when you failed to back up the Favre decision and draft Joe Flacco. Instead you picked a guy whose own coaches said he lacked fire and "took plays off" in Vernon Gholston, a workout warrior and nothing else. You and Tanny should have BOTH been fired instead of just you as you completely failed to recognize that the Jets had nothing behind Favre at the QB position and when he left the cupboard was bare and the Jets then had to draft Mark Sanchez.

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1 minute ago, nyjunc said:

No we wouldn't have, he was mediocre/bad most of that season.  he never wanted to be here and played like it outside of a few games.  he just wanted to get to Minnesota and get 2008 over w/ as soon as possible.  once the weather turned he tanked it.  the only good thing was it led to Mangini being fired and bringing in rex and Mark so we got two really good years out of it.

 

if we on;y kept Chad we cruise to a div title that year and are SB contenders.

Lame armed Chad would have got killed in the playoffs in 2008 like he did that year and in 2006 as well..

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2 minutes ago, Savage69 said:

Lame armed Chad would have got killed in the playoffs in 2008 like he did that year and in 2006 as well..

his top target in 2008 was a rookie Ted Ginn against that great Baltimore D.  The AFC was weak that year, we could have made a run.

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Look, they took a chance to get a HOF Qb and it almost worked out. At the time most Jets fans were for it even though it was a rough way of dealing with a guy who was a good Jets player and Qb. Who knew he'd have a good year and lead the Fins to knocking us out of the playoffs. He was runner up for MVP that season,. As for being a noodle arm this idea that you have to have a rocket for an arm and that's the only Qb you want is not logical. I'll take brains over that any day and he was a good player for us. 

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