Tuesday's Jets news

[SoFlaJets]

Jets notebook

Tuesday, December 5, 2006

Post-Dwight plans

The foot injury in Friday's practice that landed Tim Dwight on injured reserve will be felt the rest of the season. On offense, Justin McCareins and rookie Brad Smith will get increased workloads.

"Brad's playing between 15 and 20 snaps at receiver, Justin maybe a little more than that," coach Eric Mangini said Monday. "Tim's snaps will probably go to those two guys. It's a nice opportunity for them."

Dwight's punt-return replacement isn't etched in stone. McCareins practiced there Friday, but Leon Washington got the first post-T.D. return at Green Bay for no yards. And Hank Poteat, as a shallow safety, took the short second punt 18 yards, only to get a zero return because of an illegal block.

It still counts as the 77th punt return of Poteat's seven-season NFL career -- and his first in four years.

Opponents' pain

Former Jets QB Brooks Bollinger still could start for Minnesota vs. his old team in two weeks.

Bollinger replaced the benched Brad Johnson at Chicago on Sunday, only to leave after his third sack with a sprain in his non-throwing shoulder. But coach Brad Childress did not rule him out Monday as the Vikings' starter at Detroit.

Buffalo, coming in Sunday, is of more immediate interest to the Jets. LB Angelo Crowell, who led the Bills with 10 tackles in the Game 3 loss to the Jets, broke his leg vs. San Diego and his season is over. And CB-KR Terrence McGee (ankle) reportedly will be listed as questionable.

Briefs

The Green Bay game (19 degrees, 2-degree wind chill) was the Jets' coldest since 1995 at New England, when the Patriots prevailed, 31-28, with a minus-2 wind chill. ... Mangini's weekly awards: offense, Cedric Houston; defense, Jonathan Vilma; special teams, Cody Spencer; practice, OT Ed Blanton.

-- Randy Lange

[SoFlaJets]

Jets remaining poker-faced about their playoff chances

Tuesday, December 5, 2006

By RANDY LANGE

STAFF WRITER

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. -- Many thought the Jets wouldn't need to go up to the attic, untangle the NFL's playoff tiebreaking criteria from the Christmas tree lights, and dust them off until next year at the earliest.

Yet with the final quarter of the regular season upon us, Gang Green is in the thick of it, tied with four other teams at 7-5 for the AFC's two wild-card berths. And the scenarios suggest many things still can happen, good and bad, in Eric Mangini's first stretch run as Jets coach.

Which is why you should be prepared to hear variations of this postseason theme for the next four weeks.

"When you're playing football in December, it's always an issue," Mangini said Monday following the Jets' 38-10 pummeling of the Packers. "You're aware of it, but it doesn't mean anything if you don't win the games you have to play, and that's what I've seen over and over again. The second you lose sight of what's important, that's when suddenly the playoffs are no longer an issue."

You might think Mangini, who gave his players a "Victory Monday" day off for their successful weekend business trip to Green Bay, would put some teeth in that thoughtful approach for the players when they return to work Wednesday.

But that's not what they expect. No fines or even stern rebukes for discussing playoff possibilities have been threatened. One player said the boss hasn't said much one way or the other about "the P word."

"We're not scared to talk about it," said the player. "But there's a month to play. There are no guarantees. We just know we'd better take it one game at a time."

Linebacker Jonathan Vilma went further on the Web site he planned and recently launched. In his twice-weekly log, he wrote:

"Playoffs aren't a dirty word around the Jets' facility. I'm sure [Mangini would] prefer us not to talk about it, but it's human nature. When you start doing well, you start thinking about the good things that come from that. Right now, the playoffs are the best we can ask for, and hopefully after that, a Super Bowl."

One great reason for the Jets to tune out the hype is because they easily could convince themselves, one year after going 4-12 in Herm Edwards' injury-ravaged final season, they're a lock for the AFC playoff grid.

There is the matter of their final four opponents: Buffalo, Minnesota, Miami, Oakland. Four losing teams with a combined winning percentage of .354, the second-softest final four games in the NFL.

Yet the Jets already have lost at Cleveland (4-8) in Game 8. Are they far enough removed from that debacle to say that something similar can't happen again? Hmmm ...

And ESPN.com uses the hoary and misleading, "If the season ended today" approach in implying the Jets have a leg up on the second wild card behind Cincinnati as the first wild card.

But that implies the Jets hold their destiny in their own hands if they run the table. They don't.

Say they win all four games to go 11-5. But so do Denver and Jacksonville, also to finish 11-5, with Cincinnati and Kansas City falling back.

Since the three don't all play each other, the first tiebreaker becomes conference record. The Broncos get the first wild card at 9-3, better than the Jets' and Jaguars' 8-4. Then, the tie between the Jets and Jaguars is broken by ... yes, the Jags' 41-0 Game 5 pasting of the Jets.

So Mangini appreciates the fans' excitement, but they should excuse him and his team if they don't join the festivities yet.

"It really won't matter what happens outside this building if we're not continually focused on the task at hand," he said.

E-mail: lange@northjersey.com

* * *

AFC division leaders

East

New England (9-3)

South

Indianapolis (10-2)

North

Baltimore (9-3)

West

San Diego (10-2)

Wild-card leaders

Denver (7-5)

Cincinnati (7-5)

JETS (7-5)

Jacksonville (7-5)

Kansas City (7-5)

Sunday vs. Buffalo (5-7)

Focus on RB Willis McGahee, who usually plays well against them.

Dec. 17 at Minnesota (5-7)

Brooks Bollinger may be Vikings' starting quarterback by then.

Dec. 25 at Miami (5-7)

Nice run for a while, but the Dolphins won't be in the playoff hunt.

Dec. 31 vs. Oakland (2-10)

Beat Oakland to make playoffs ... does that sound familiar, Jets fans?

[SoFlaJets]

Askew spurred by group chat

By ANDREW GROSS

THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original publication: December 5, 2006)

HEMPSTEAD - Jets coach Eric Mangini did not instruct fullback B.J. Askew to run around Lambeau Field without a shirt in 19-degree temperatures prior to Sunday's 38-10 win at Green Bay.

But a group discussion Saturday night with Jerome Henderson, the Jets' director of player development, may have planted the notion.

Henderson spent two of his eight NFL seasons with the Buffalo Bills, who probably play as many games in the bone-chilling cold as the Packers do.

"There's always an element in Buffalo in evaluating the opponent and are they responding in pregame to the weather,'' Mangini said. "If you look over at the opponent's bench and they're standing by the heaters and shivering with their hands in their pockets, (Henderson) said the (Bills) used to really build off that.

"B.J. just put his touch on it," Mangini said.

Players of the week: Cedric Houston was named the Jets' offensive player of the week after rushing for a career-high 105 yards and scoring two touchdowns on 22 carries against the Packers.

Cody Spencer was the special-teams player of the week, and 6-foot-9, 330-pound offensive lineman Ed Blanton was the practice player of the week.

Mangini also named linebacker Jonathan Vilma (five tackles) the defensive player of the week. Linebacker Victor Hobson led the team with 13 tackles, but Mangini likely was reinforcing his message of last week, when he offered unsolicited praise of Vilma's defensive leadership and his ability to sacrifice statistics to play within the system.

Bills weakened: The injury bug continued to plague the Jets' opponent this week. Bills coach Dick Jauron announced that linebacker Angelo Crowell will likely miss the rest of the season after breaking his left leg in Sunday's 24-21 loss to the Chargers. If the Bills place him on injured reserve, as expected, Crowell will become the sixth Bill and fourth defensive player to be placed on season-ending IR. Crowell was the Bills' second-leading tackler with 95.

[SoFlaJets]

Jets' Mangini sitting pretty

By ANDREW GROSS

THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original publication: December 5, 2006)

HEMPSTEAD - The perception of Eric Mangini has changed dramatically in the 10 months since the Jets made him the youngest coach in the NFL.

At first, the focus was on his inexperience, somewhat natural since he spent just one season as a coordinator. Now he's the real disciplinarian in town, stoic on the sidelines yet lauded in league circles for his innovative game-planning.

Winning tends to change opinions, and the 35-year-old Mangini, improbably, has the Jets (7-5) in the middle of the AFC wild-card hunt after Sunday's 38-10 win at Green Bay. But the more things change outside the Jets' locker room, the more he insists things stay the same within the team's confines.

"I appreciate the excitement and I think that's great,'' Mangini said yesterday. "It really won't matter what happens outside of this building if we're not continually focused on the task at hand.''

But plenty of coaches preach that. The secret to Mangini's success is how he's demanded the Jets listen.

"We all shared the same vision, a team built on character and characteristics,'' Mangini said of his interview process with owner Woody Johnson and general manager Mike Tannenbaum. "Drawing all the best things that we could from the various experiences we've had and then putting together a plan for the New York Jets, committing to the philosophy of always trying to make progress as a team.''

Core values, Mangini calls them. Character traits are considered as much as talent when assessing a player so as not to get into a situation like the Bengals, who have had seven players arrested since last December.

Wide receiver Laveranues Coles likened the Jets' regulations to a person in jail trying to make the best of the situation.

"I don't know a lot about jail,'' Mangini said. "But I think this is pretty nice comparatively. I just do what I believe is right, commit to that, and every decision that we make here is for the good of the team. I told them from the first day I got here that that was the vision.''

So in many ways, Mangini is a one man, good-cop, bad-cop routine.

From his first offseason workouts, Mangini has laid a foundation of what he expects and how hard he expects his players to work. In true Bill Parcells-Bill Belichick fashion, Mangini portrayed the media as an evil that could tear apart team unity. A strict list of what could not be discussed was made clear, with fines as punishment for non-compliance.

Training-camp practices were long, and bad-cop Mangini would run drills until the players got it exactly right, no matter how long the players had been under the hot sun. Punishment laps were handed out frequently for the simplest miscues.

And Mangini holds the ultimate leverage in the threat of reduced playing time, something he's wielded frequently. Established starters such as safety Erik Coleman and cornerback David Barrett found themselves coming off the bench. Wide receiver Justin McCareins, one of the fittest members of the team, failed the conditioning test and quickly lost his starting spot. On Sunday, veteran running back Kevan Barlow was inactive without being injured for the first time in his career.

That Cedric Houston set a career high with 105 yards against the Packers apparently guarantees him nothing other than the right to prove all over again in practice that he deserves to play.

Tough methods are plentiful in the NFL. What wins the players over is winning, and when the Jets started 2-2 with close losses to the Patriots and Colts, the players' respect for Mangini's methods grew.

"It's all the stuff that they're doing on a consistent basis outside of what I think is fairly challenging practices that's helping us to make progress that week,'' Mangini said.

But good-cop Mangini also rewards his players. Yesterday marked the third time he has given them a "Victory Monday," which supposedly frees the players from some team meetings. Mostly, they get to go home early without speaking to the media, though that technically runs afoul of league guidelines that mandate four locker-room sessions for the media each week, not including game days.

Mangini also tries to hold his players' attention by keeping it interesting. Instead of endless game films to study, he'll show thrilling boxing matches or shows on great athletes such as Jerry Rice and Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan to make different motivational points.

He played along when Coles nicknamed him "The Penguin."

It all adds up to players toeing the company line.

The true mark of a disciplined football team is a scarcity of penalties. Over the last six games, the Jets have been penalized just 17 times for 118 yards, just four times for 25 yards in wins the last two games.

As a result, the Jets are the best football team in New York right now. Not that Mangini wants to hear that.

"We're trying to be the No. 1 football team here in Hempstead,'' Mangini said. "There's still a quarter of the season left and a lot of football, so that's what we're focused on.''

Reach Andrew Gross at agross@lohud.com and read his Jets blog at www.lohud.com/blogs.

[SoFlaJets]

No rush to name No.1 RB

Cedric Houston distinguished himself from the Jets' other running backs with a career-high 105 yards in Sunday's 38-10 win over the Packers, but he's still just one of the guys. Eric Mangini said yesterday he's not going to name a No. 1 back.

"All three guys will have a chance and, whoever practices the best, will play," Mangini said, also referring to Leon Washington and Kevan Barlow, who was inactive for the first time.

Speaking of runners, the Jets will face their nemesis this week, the Bills' Willis McGahee. He's had four 100-yard performances in five career games against the Jets.

EASY SLATE: The Jets' four remaining opponents are a combined 17-31, by far the easiest schedule among the four other teams in contention for the two wild-card spots. ... With WR Tim Dwight set to have season-ending surgery to repair a torn tendon in his foot, the extra reps at receivers will be shared by Justin McCareins and rookie Brad Smith, Mangini said. Smith (two catches) and McCareins (one) saw significant action against the Packers. Mangini hinted that McCareins could've done a better job of trying to break up an underthrown deep pass that was intercepted in the third quarter. ... Houston (offense), LB Jonathan Vilma (defense) and Cody Spencer (special teams) were recognized by Mangini as the Jets' players of the week. Spencer had four tackles. ... The Jets have allowed only 45 points in the last four games.

Rich Cimini

[SoFlaJets]

Simply Man-tastic!

Eric keeps Gang focus on winning

BY RICH CIMINI

DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

Bryan Thomas lets Brett Favre know he's finally getting handle on playing in NFL.

One by one, they entered the postgame interview room Sunday at Lambeau Field, players who began the season with marginal NFL resumes: Bryan Thomas. Cedric Houston, Jerricho Cotchery, all of whom had played key roles in the Jets' ridiculously easy win over the Packers.

As they took turns answering questions, a TV in front of the room showed the image of Brett Favre, one of the greatest players in history. Favre was conducting his own postgame news conference down the hall and, although the sound was turned down, his facial expression and body language spoke loudly. He was a beaten quarterback, lamenting a lost year.

The Packers, coming off a 4-12 season, started fresh with a rookie coach - just like the Jets - but now they're headed into the abyss at 4-8. At 7-5, the Jets could be headed to the playoffs. The difference between the two seemingly similar teams? Start with coaching.

Eric Mangini has molded the Jets (7-5) into a smart, disciplined team that knows its limitations and attacks opponents' weaknesses. Since their humbling 41-0 loss to the Jaguars in Week 5, the Jets have won five of seven games to seize control of their postseason fate.

Right now, they'd be the second wild card in the AFC, holding an edge over three other 7-5 teams - the Jaguars, Chiefs and Broncos - on various tiebreakers. If the Jets can close the deal, it would be their most unexpected playoff appearance since 1991, when they slipped in with an 8-8 record under Bruce Coslet. "We're excited about the progress we're making, but there's still a quarter of the season left," Mangini said yesterday. "I appreciate the fans' excitement, and I think that's great, but if we lose track of the next game and get caught up in other things, that's when you let a game slip away."

Mangini demands the same tunnel vision from his players. Witness this incongruous scene after Sunday's 38-10 win: Chad Pennington, self-assured team leader, multimillionaire, telling a Green Bay TV reporter, "We're not allowed to talk about the playoffs."

Mangini's one-day-at-a-time mantra, ripped directly from the Bill Belichick coaching handbook, probably explains why the Jets don't often lose their concentration and make dumb, game-changing mistakes.

They've committed only four penalties in the last two games. In the last four games, they've allowed only five sacks, haven't lost a fumble and haven't surrendered any first-half touchdowns. Though they're reluctant to articulate their true feelings, lest they upset the boss, the players sense that something special is building. The prevailing sentiment in the locker room is, "We're peaking at the right time."

As defensive end Shaun Ellis said, "If we keep going the way we're going, we'll have a pretty good shot (at the playoffs)."

Of the seven rookie coaches, only one has a better record than Mangini, the Saints' Sean Payton (8-4). Ask Mangini to give the secret to his success, and his response is: Hard work by the players.

To underscore his theme, he shows clips of famous athletes talking about the importance of hard work. The Jets have seen interviews with Tiger Woods, Jerry Rice and Michael Jordan, among others.

"The recurring theme from all those guys is, it's not about ability, it's how you develop that ability," Mangini said.

The Jets also have benefited from a marshmallow schedule, having beaten only one team with a winning record, the Patriots. Then again, bottom feeders like the Packers have played similarly soft schedules, yet haven't fared as well as the Jets.

One look at Favre's face on the TV screen told you that. In contrast, the Jets' emotions rarely change, win or lose. It starts with Mangini. Asked if he feels like the toast of the town, he said matter-of-factly:

"No, I feel like it's any other week. It's pretty consistent here."

In more ways than one.

[SoFlaJets]

No Blues for guys in Green

Cool and smart. Hot-headed and dumb.

It isn't often anymore we get to watch the Jets and Giants play back-to-back games on a Sunday afternoon. The prime-time kickoffs, the bye weeks, the Monday and Thursday night games, they all serve to keep the two local teams whirling in their own own orbits and time slots.

But on Sunday, we had an opportunity to compare these two different worlds, speeding in opposite directions. And what we saw first was Eric Mangini and Chad Pennington methodically, intelligently picking apart the Packers' lousy defense, 38-10.

There was discipline and execution on both sides of the ball for the Jets, who were called for exactly three penalties costing them 20 yards and no first downs. The Jets stopped shooting themselves in the foot a long time ago, and Mangini gets much credit for ending the slapstick. On Sunday again, the coach stood along the sidelines like a reasoned person, a calming presence. He spoke quietly into his little microphone. Cool and smart.

Then we saw the Giants take the field against Dallas and commit some of the most self-destructive penalties imaginable, seven of them on offense in front of their home crowd. Adrenaline practically dripped from those Giants' helmets, where brains are supposed to reside.

Eli Manning was fine this time. He quarterbacked a strong, controlled game. All around him, though, his teammates melted down into one emotional heap. Jeremy Shockey played the fool whenever possible and Plaxico Burress went rushing across the field to slam into some defenseless soul.

And then in the final two minutes, with the outcome still unclear, Tom Coughlin was stomping around the sidelines like a maniac again and this time it cost him the game. By January, he may have stomped himself out of the playoffs and out of a job.

What do we make of a coach hurrying along the sidelines, waving his arms? Burress thought for sure that Coughlin wanted a timeout.

"I saw him running down, I thought he was signaling for a timeout," Burress said yesterday in front of his locker. "I guess I saw something else. He makes all kinds of hand gestures."

So Burress called time, the clock stopped with 1:42 left, and Dallas was handed its chance to march back down the other way for the winning field goal and the 23-20 victory.

Once again, we were forced to address the cartoon version of Coughlin, the control freak who can't control himself.

If this were baseball, and Coughlin were Lou Piniella, such antics would quickly be forgiven and forgotten. Tantrums from baseball managers take place when the ball is not in play, and serve as a counterweight to the geometric decorum of the sport. They are, above all else, amusing.

But football is very different, dictated by a play clock. There are many decisions required to navigate 11 players around the field, and those judgments must be reached very quickly. This is no time for nonsense, or for a sense of chaos.

In this instance, Coughlin was not having a tantrum. He was merely rushing along the sidelines to catch up with the advancing line of scrimmage. But he has hard-wired his players so that they are acutely aware of his every move, which is not necessarily a good thing.

They watch him when he doesn't want them to watch. They don't listen when he tells them to stop the penalties.

"Where in the world did that come from?" Coughlin said yesterday, about the nine penalties. "You want to know the honest truth? They're stupid."

Hot-headed and dumb. That's what we kept seeing from the Giants on Sunday, especially after the surprising Jets took care of business with such aplomb.

We know that Mangini and Coughlin are completely different personalities, which is fine. Nobody is asking Coughlin to be a "stuffed shirt," his own characterization of someone he says he will never become. Coughlin can't change his very nature. He is somebody who would break down films from a game of playground tag in order to apportion blame. That's fine, if he only stopped the nonsense along the sidelines.

Raw emotion is often as confusing as it is contagious. On Sunday, Mangini roamed the sidelines with a look of purposeful detachment that rivaled his one-time mentor, Bill Belichick. The Jets meticulously dissected the Packers in a frigid, hostile environment.

Meanwhile, Coughlin raged and gesticulated. His wide receiver grew confused.

The Giants are hot-headed and dumb, and have only four more games to get cooler and smarter.

[SoFlaJets]

MANGINI DIDN'T LEAVE RB IN COLD

By MARK CANNIZZARO

December 5, 2006 -- Eric Mangini insisted he had nothing to do with fullback B.J. Askew going topless during pre-game warm-ups at frigid Lambeau Field on Sunday.

"No, I did not advise him to take his shirt off," Mangini joked yesterday. "But we had talked a lot about the elements. With Jerome Henderson [director of player development] having played in Buffalo, there's always an element in Buffalo in evaluating the opponent and how are they responding in pre-game to the weather and feeding off that, where if you look over at the opponents' bench and they're standing by the heaters and shivering with their hands in their pockets.

"He said that they used to really build off that. We talked about that the night before, and B.J. just put his touch on it. He had to be cold."

Askew, who because of a recently lost bet with teammate Anthony Schlegel on the Ohio State-Michigan game, has been sporting an "M.C. Hammer" haircut. Across his shoulders, he has a large tattoo that reads, "Fearless."

"With the 'M.C. Hammer' haircut and 'fearless' written across my back and no shirt on, those people [Packers fans] thought I was crazy," Askew quipped.

*

The Jets have been penalized only twice for 25 yards in their past two games. Their discipline has become a distinct advantage.

"That's a big focal point for us; we have the officials at practice every day, and they call it pretty tight at practice," Mangini said. "We had the same program in place we had during the preseason where if you get a flag, you get a little extra reminder.

*

Mangini yesterday insisted he's going to continue with the running back rotation, indicating Kevan Barlow, who was on the inactive list Sunday, is not in exile just because Cedric Houston and Leon Washington had good performances in Green Bay.

"I'm pretty content with the competition and the work that they do and the ability to play each guy to their strengths, play him within the package," Mangini said. "Leon has had some 100-yard games, (Barlow) had the 75-yard game against New England. All three of those guys have been productive. To me, practice is very important, and it's going to continue to affect the game and who plays."

*

Mike Nugent, who made his only FG attempt Sunday, is now 13-of-16 for the season and has made 12 of his last 13 since missing two in the opening game at Tennessee. . . . Mangini named his "players of the week" - Houston on offense, LB Jonathan Vilma on defense and Cody Spencer on special teams.

[SoFlaJets]

GRADE-A VICTORY

December 5, 2006 -- QUARTERBACKS A Chad Pennington (24-35, 263 yards, two TD, two INTs, 115.8 rating) picked apart the Packers in the first half, when he was un stoppable. The final numbers don't tell the story of how dominant he was in putting this game away be fore halftime.

RUNNING BACKS A Cedric Houston (22-105 yards, two TDs) had a career-best day. Speedy Leon Wash ington (7-40, TD) complemented him well. Strong blocking from Sean Ryan and B.J. Askew.

RECEIVERS A Jerricho Cotchery (9-99, TD) continues to star, Laveranues Coles (3-28), Brad Smith (2-17 receiving, 1-32 rushing) and Justin McCareins pitched in nicely.

TIGHT ENDS A Chris Baker (4-50, TD) made some impact catches. Ryan caught one pass for 5 yards; both he and Baker blocked well in the run ning game.

OFFENSIVE LINE A The Packers entered the game having sacked the QB 34 times in 11 games, fourth-best in the NFL. Pennington was barely touched, particularly in the first half, and wasn't sacked once. Run blocking was strong, too.

DEFENSIVE LINE A DE Shaun Ellis had an active, productive game with six tackles and a shared sack. NT Dewayne Robertson had two tackles and a fumble recovery. The line helped slow the Green Bay rushing attack for most of the day.

LINEBACKERS A Victor Hobson had a career-high 13 tack les, a batted pass and a QB hurry. Bryan Thomas had 11/2 sacks, a forced fumble and five tackles. Eric Barton had six tackles and Jonathan Vilma had five tackles and a pass de fended.

SECONDARY A CB Andre Dyson had an INT that led to a Jets TD. CB Hank Poteat had seven tackles and a pass defended. S Kerry Rhodes had an INT, three passes defended and a tackle. S Erik Coleman had eight tackles and a pass defended.

SPECIAL TEAMS A Cody Spencer had four tackles in kick cov erage. Justin Miller averaged 30 yards on two KO returns. Kick coverage was solid, al lowing an average of 17.7 yards on seven returns.

KICKING GAME A K Mike Nugent had one FG, a 24-yarder on the Jets' first possession. P Ben Graham punted once for 51 yards (a 42-yard net) in the fourth quarter.

COACHING A Eric Mangini had the players fired up and prepared for the Packers, the Lambeau mystique and the sub-freezing tempera tures. Credit offensive coordinator Brian Schotten heimer for a perfect plan against the vulnerable Green Bay defense. Everything worked.

[SoFlaJets]

JETS WON'T EAT THEIR PS

BUT POSTSEASON PROSPECTS LOOK GOOD

By MARK CANNIZZARO

Click to enlargeDecember 5, 2006 -- The Jets players are - through a silent code of conduct - forbidden to utter the "P" word, so we're going to do it for them.

The Jets - based not only on their 38-10 shellacking of the Packers Sunday in Green Bay but on their body of work the last seven weeks - are going to the playoffs.

In the infamous words of former Saints and Colts head coach Jim Mora, "Playoffs?"

That's right, playoffs.

With four regular-season games remaining, the Jets are 7-5 and sit in a five-way tie with the Broncos, Jaguars, Chiefs and Bengals for the two wild-card playoff berths.

The Jets, who have won two straight, three of their last four and five of their last seven since a 41-0 loss two months ago in Jacksonville, play the 5-7 Bills Sunday. That's followed by road games in Minnesota against the Vikings, who are also 5-7, and then in Miami against the Dolphins, who are 5-7 as well.

The regular-season finale is a home game against the pathetic Raiders, who are 2-10 and well en route to quitting, if they haven't already.

The cumulative record of the Jets' final four regular-season opponents is 17-31, by far the worst opponent record among their wild-card competition.

Two wins in their next three games will virtually clinch the Jets a playoff berth, because that Oakland game on Dec. 31 might as well be a bye week. Art Shell might have a hard time getting 45 players to board the team plane to fly cross country for that game.

Three wins in the last four gets the Jets into the playoffs barring anything unforeseen. And three of four seems likely for this Jets team that Eric Mangini clearly has on the ascent; it does not look like a team poised to stub its toe against a lesser opponent. In fact, the Jets look better with every game they play.

"We've been putting more and more complete games together, and that's what's important," Mangini said yesterday. "I thought New England (a 17-14 win) was a good example of that. As we collectively perform well in each area, I think that anything is reachable with that type of consistent effort."

Echoed Chad Pennington, who has put two fabulous games together since his job was placed in question by many after a poor performance against the Bears three games ago: "We seem to be putting full games together now.

"That's important later on in the season. In order to be successful you have to complement each other in all facets of the game."

The Jets indeed are playing well on offense, defense and special teams. Offensively, they've scored 64 points in their past two games. Defensively, they've allowed 45 points in their past four. Special teams have continued to be a force.

All that has the Jets excited. They know what the calendar says and they know where they are in the standings.

"It's something that's out there, and when you're playing football in December, it's always an issue," Mangini said of the playoff anticipation and excitement. "When you're in that mix, it's difficult. You're aware of it, but it doesn't mean anything if you don't win the games that you have to play.

"We're excited about the progress we're making, and there's still a quarter of the season left; that's the way we're approaching it. I appreciate the excitement. I appreciate the fans' excitement. But if we lose track of the next game and get caught up in the other things that are happening, then that's when you let a game slip away."

mark.cannizzaro@nypost.com

[SoFlaJets]

JetsNOTEBOOK

Committee of running backs may change weekly

BY TOM ROCK

Newsday Staff Writer

December 5, 2006

Despite the best efforts of Cedric Houston and Leon Washington to resolve the issue, coach Eric Mangini again said the running backs will be evaluated week to week.

"I'm pretty content with the competition and the work that they do and the ability to play each guy to their strengths, play him within the package," Mangini said yesterday of squeezing three backs into two active roster spots, a move that this week had Kevan Barlow on the sideline. "To me, practice is very important, and it's going to continue to affect the game and who plays."

In Sunday's rout of the Packers, Houston had the first 100-yard rushing game of his career, rolling for 105 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries. He also caught three passes for 24 yards. Washington had 40 yards on seven carries, including a 20-yard touchdown in which he broke through a pair of tackles 5 yards from the goal line. It all helped add up to 178 rushing yards, the second-highest total of the season as a follow-up to the season-low 27 yards a week earlier against the Texans.

Judging from Mangini's comments, there's no telling who'll be in the backfield when the Jets face the Bills on Sunday.

Topless at the Tundra

Mangini seemed surprised when fullback B.J. Askew paraded bare-chested around Lambeau Field as the wind chill hovered near zero before Sunday's game. But he also seemed pleased. Mangini said that Jerome Henderson, the Jets' director of player development, played for Buffalo, where the Bills watched closely for signs of weakness from opponents in regard to the weather.

"If you look over at the oppnents' bench and they're standing by the heaters and shivering with their hands in their pockets, he said that they used to really build off of that," Mangini said. "We talked about that the night before, and B.J. just put his touch on it."

Jet streams

Mangini razzed returner Justin Miller, noting it was the second time in two games he was taken down by a kicker or a quarterback ... LB Jonathan Vilma had a quiet five tackles and one deflected pass against the Packers, but Mangini named him the team's defensive player of the week ... The Bills lost LB Angelo Crowell for the rest of the season with a broken left leg.

[SoFlaJets]

JETS

Conditioned to believe

Mangini's emphasis on positive thinking helps fuel playoff bid

BY TOM ROCK

Newsday Staff Writer

December 5, 2006

The Jets had been in this type of game already, with an unbalanced score and an inevitable outcome. Some games are nail-biters; games such as the Jets' 38-10 win over the Packers are bail-nighters, when fans can bail out early and get on with their nights.

"It hasn't happened to me often," 11th-year guard Pete Kendall said of being on the smiley-face end of lopsided games. "We won a game 38-0 to start the '98 season [with Seattle]. I've been a part of some offenses that have rushed the ball for a couple hundred yards. But I can probably count on one hand the number of times."

Less than two months ago, the Jets were on the other side of a rout, a 41-0 whuppin' Oct. 8 in Jacksonville. It saddled the Jets with a 2-3 record, cast doubts on their prospects for a respectable season, and very nearly caused the players' faith in their rookie coach to slip away.

"It was a lot more fun," Eric Mangini said yesterday, pointing out the obvious differences between the blowouts beyond the 60-degree disparity in game-time temperatures.

The Jets are in a five-way tie for the two AFC wild cards and have the easiest remaining schedule of those contenders. Although future results could alter tiebreaking formats, if the season ended now, the Jets would be the No. 6 seed and preparing for the Ravens in the first round.

Still, Mangini is about as focused on the playoffs now as he was on that long flight home from Florida two months ago.

"It's something that's out there, and when you're playing football in December, it's always an issue," he said. "When you're in that mix, it's difficult. You're aware of it, but it doesn't mean anything if you don't win the games that you have to play. That's what I've seen over and over again is the second you lose sight of what's important, that's when suddenly the playoffs are no longer an issue."

So how'd they do it? How did the Jets bounce back from that humiliating loss, evolve into a serious pixel in the playoff picture and ascend to the top of the New York football food chain?

Mangini feeds the players a near constant stream of success stories, practically brain-washing them into realizing their potential. It's optimism through osmosis.

He has shown the team video of nearly a dozen prominent athletes such as Jerry Rice, Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods, who talk about how they reached the heights. "The recurring theme from those guys is it's not about ability, it's about how you develop that ability," Mangini said.

The Jets also have had decathlete Dan O'Brien, former NFL player Roman Phifer and boxing trainer Teddy Atlas address the team. Mangini even finds examples within the team, pointing out how defensive lineman Bobby Hamilton is in his 13th season or noting that assistant strength and conditioning coach Rick Lyle was an undrafted rookie free agent who wound up playing 10 years as an NFL linebacker.

"I present them with the information, I present them with the examples, I present them with the experiences I've had," Mangini said.

Somewhere down the line, this season and the opposite outcomes of the trips to Jacksonville and Green Bay could become one of those stories.

Sunday

Bills

at Jets

4:15 p.m.

TV: Ch. 2

Radio: WEPN

(1050), WABC

(770), WRCN

(103.9)

[SoFlaJets]

Mangini Has the Jets on Track, and It

[SoFlaJets]

Jets: Finding hard work rewarding

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

BY DAVE HUTCHINSON

Star-Ledger Staff

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. -- Rookie head coach Eric Mangini has guided the Jets to a surprising 7-5 record and into contention for a playoff berth.

But don't expect this crew to rest on its laurels. It's business as usual at the Jets' complex these days -- long hours and nose to the grindstone.

"We're excited about the progress," Mangini said yesterday. "But it's still a quarter of the season left and that's the way we're approaching it. I appreciate the fans' excitement. I think that's great.

"It (the playoffs) is something that's out there when you're playing football in December. You're aware of it but it doesn't mean anything if you don't win and I've seen it over and over again. The second you lose sight of what's important, that's when suddenly the playoffs are no longer an issue. The important thing is the next game. To me, it's about the Buffalo Bills."

The Jets, who dismantled the Packers, 38-10, on Sunday at Lambeau Field, play the Bills (5-7) on Sunday at the Meadowlands.

That the Jets are playing meaningful games in December is a major accomplishment and they only are getting better. It all begs the question: How has Mangini done it?

With old-fashioned hard work.

It sounds simple enough and, in some ways, it is. But Mangini has taken a unique approach to getting the most out of his players, many of whom are overachievers.

He has somehow made demanding practices, attention to the little things many coaches take for granted or let slide and unwavering discipline something the players embrace.

And what has helped Mangini succeed where other coaches have failed is that he has put it all on the big screen in a series of videos by sports greats who have taken their talent to the stratosphere through hard work.