No player can lose a starting job on the NY Jets

[Sperm Edwards]

From Cotchery: "I feel good with Chad behind the center; a lot of guys feel the same way," he said. "If we make that change, I really don't know how the guys will react."

Anyone notice the clearly absent

[#27TheDominator]

More likely than not, this game with Cincy will be a shootout. Particularly with the Jets

[shawn306]

Here is the way i'm looking at it.

If Magnini pulls the plug now then the Jets are looking at 10 more games of nothing. What is there to play for ? Now we can sit there and say "Well duh their jobs maybe" but I think it would be hard for anyone on that team with any pride to accept that their season is over after just 6 games. It goes against everything Mangini has done so far.

The Jets are a bad football team right now. Bad football teams find ways to lose. Will it stay that way the rest of the season. We don't know. I'm finding it hard to believe that Pennington (who has been awful the last couple of weeks) is going to keep playing this way. I also find it hard to believe that this defense (which does have some nice talent) is going to keep blowing tackles, and getting little if any pressure on the QB all season.

Mangini's way has been "Keep working". If this thing does totally go in the tank say by the Jets bye week then I would think he would have no choice but to make some changes. (Bye Bye Chad, Dyson, Coleman).

Until then though he has to keep these guys focused on winning a football game.

My way of looking at it. (The Jets are done back up the truck and start over)

Mangini's way (What do we have to do to beat the Bengals.)

Mangini's way is in all honesty the only way to look at it if you are HC. If the players looked at it our way then half to 3/4 of them will have their bags packed ready to start to the off season.

Mangini has to give them something to shoot for right now. Right now that is to win ONE football game.

[Sperm Edwards]

Here is the way i'm looking at it.

If Magnini pulls the plug now then the Jets are looking at 10 more games of nothing. What is there to play for ? Now we can sit there and say "Well duh their jobs maybe" but I think it would be hard for anyone on that team with any pride to accept that their season is over after just 6 games. It goes against everything Mangini has done so far.

The Jets are a bad football team right now. Bad football teams find ways to lose. Will it stay that way the rest of the season. We don't know. I'm finding it hard to believe that Pennington (who has been awful the last couple of weeks) is going to keep playing this way. I also find it hard to believe that this defense (which does have some nice talent) is going to keep blowing tackles, and getting little if any pressure on the QB all season.

Mangini's way has been "Keep working". If this thing does totally go in the tank say by the Jets bye week then I would think he would have no choice but to make some changes. (Bye Bye Chad, Dyson, Coleman).

Until then though he has to keep these guys focused on winning a football game.

My way of looking at it. (The Jets are done back up the truck and start over)

Mangini's way (What do we have to do to beat the Bengals.)

Mangini's way is in all honesty the only way to look at it if you are HC. If the players looked at it our way then half to 3/4 of them will have their bags packed ready to start to the off season.

Mangini has to give them something to shoot for right now. Right now that is to win ONE football game.

I understand what you're saying. But the flip-side to the way Mangini's playing it, and what I object to, is that no one's job is on the line as long as other players are also under-performing. That is a terrible message.

[JetCane]

Changing the sparkplugs, as Mangini put it yesterday, doesn

[afosomf]

Here is the way i'm looking at it.

If Magnini pulls the plug now then the Jets are looking at 10 more games of nothing. What is there to play for ? Now we can sit there and say "Well duh their jobs maybe" but I think it would be hard for anyone on that team with any pride to accept that their season is over after just 6 games. It goes against everything Mangini has done so far.

The Jets are a bad football team right now. Bad football teams find ways to lose. Will it stay that way the rest of the season. We don't know. I'm finding it hard to believe that Pennington (who has been awful the last couple of weeks) is going to keep playing this way. I also find it hard to believe that this defense (which does have some nice talent) is going to keep blowing tackles, and getting little if any pressure on the QB all season.

Mangini's way has been "Keep working". If this thing does totally go in the tank say by the Jets bye week then I would think he would have no choice but to make some changes. (Bye Bye Chad, Dyson, Coleman).

Until then though he has to keep these guys focused on winning a football game.

My way of looking at it. (The Jets are done back up the truck and start over)

Mangini's way (What do we have to do to beat the Bengals.)

Mangini's way is in all honesty the only way to look at it if you are HC. If the players looked at it our way then half to 3/4 of them will have their bags packed ready to start to the off season.

Mangini has to give them something to shoot for right now. Right now that is to win ONE football game.

Here is the correct way to look at it

there are 3 QB studs on 2008 draft board ,we took KC with a 2nd rd pick

the CS needs to evaluate KC right now to see if he has IT. If not the jets may have to take a QB with their high 5 pick. I want Run DMC, he is a stud RB, a franchise RB a gamebreaker ala Adrian Peterson. Drafting this guy and improving OL via FA will take much stress off our terrible D

i Believe KC can get it done, he will take his lumps..they all do even PM.

[The Troll]

There is no way in hell that Pennington actually gives the Jets a better chance to win than Clemens, unless Kellen is historically bad. Clemens couldn't have "led" the team to three field goals last week?

Clemens showed that he has what it takes against Baltimore. Remember, we almost won that game, too. The difference is a dropped pass is the reason Clemens lost, not a bonehead interception of his own doing. I wonder what Chad would have looked like against the Ravens, the only good defense besides New England that the Jets have faced. I'm thinking he would have looked a lot more like Gus Frerotte did Sunday and a little less like Clemens looked in week two.

[shawn306]

I understand what you're saying. But the flip-side to the way Mangini's playing it, and what I object to, is that no one's job is on the line as long as other players are also under-performing. That is a terrible message.

I agree totally with what you are saying.

Obviously Mangini has more faith in his team than just about everyone here does.

Is is a question though of under-performing or just trying to hard ? We have all seen it when a team is struggling. All of a sudden everyone is trying to do hit the 6 run homer, make the monster hit, or throws balls into places where he would normally wouldn't.

We have seen it with the Jets. We have seen it with the Yankees. We have seen it with the Mets. You just don't know when you are going to snap out of it.

We don't know. The only people who really know the "temperture" of the team are the guys in the lockeroom.

[Sperm Edwards]

I agree totally with what you are saying.

Obviously Mangini has more faith in his team than just about everyone here does.

Is is a question though of under-performing or just trying to hard ? We have all seen it when a team is struggling. All of a sudden everyone is trying to do hit the 6 run homer, make the monster hit, or throws balls into places where he would normally wouldn't.

We have seen it with the Jets. We have seen it with the Yankees. We have seen it with the Mets. You just don't know when you are going to snap out of it.

We don't know. The only people who really know the "temperture" of the team are the guys in the lockeroom.

Many people here have unrealistic expectations. That goes for the fans of every team that isn't a SB champ, as you're alluding to (correctly).

But I see it as Mangini's the one who is trying to hit the home run here.

Instead of making a change here or a change there, to potentially improve the team in those areas, he's trying to improve the entire team at every position all at the same time.

Come this off-season, if it fails, what we'll know is that the "team" is lacking in general. What we won't know is which are the most crucial players that need to be changed to get us to our ultimate goal.

Use this as an example. Most people feel that both DRob and Vilma are ill-suited in their current roles in the 3-4. But which one is the bigger "villain" if you will? Well if you try a different NT and Vilma is suddenly a player in the 3-4 you know that was the problem. If you swap Vilma out & leave DRob in then you know that was the problem. Mangini is trying for the home run; he's trying to fix both at the same time. If he comes up short, he still won't know which change gets us over the fence...or at least to the warning track.

[LionelRichie]

There is no way in hell that Pennington actually gives the Jets a better chance to win than Clemens, unless Kellen is historically bad. Clemens couldn't have "led" the team to three field goals last week?

Clemens showed that he has what it takes against Baltimore. Remember, we almost won that game, too. The difference is a dropped pass is the reason Clemens lost, not a bonehead interception of his own doing. I wonder what Chad would have looked like against the Ravens, the only good defense besides New England that the Jets have faced. I'm thinking he would have looked a lot more like Gus Frerotte did Sunday and a little less like Clemens looked in week two.

i honestly believe that mangini doesn't want to make the QB change because he thinks that it will appear like the media and fans pushed him into it.

[Sperm Edwards]

i honestly believe that mangini doesn't want to make the QB change because he thinks that it will appear like the media and fans pushed him into it.

I don't know if that's the total reason, but I believe it is a major factor. It may not be totally ego, but rather his concern that it will look, to his players, like he's caving in to media pressure.

Truth is, that is the one thing he should have NO concerns about. Everyone knows that whether right or wrong, he's his own man in terms of personnel decisions.

[SickJetFan]

From Cotchery: "I feel good with Chad behind the center; a lot of guys feel the same way," he said. "If we make that change, I really don't know how the guys will react."

Anyone notice the clearly absent

[CoachTsurfing]

I believe the biggest problem with our team is the arogance of Mangini. Clearly he feels that his way is the best way and no one can challenge his authority. I think Chad will start for at least 2 or 3 more games. I hope we win. I don't think we will, but we always have a chance. If we do lose those games, then Clemens would come in at that point. At least I hope he would come in. If we do get a top 5 pick there are plenty of players there that seem to be game changers. Woodson and the QB from BC. I don't know much about the BC kid. But, woodson seems for real. The running back from Arkansas looks nice. A few O linemen could really help us. I definately see 2 to 3 D linemen. The most intriging seems to be Howie Long's kid. We need some much help at so many different spots I say take the best player available. Unless we find out that clemens is a bust. Then take a QB.

[JetCane]

i honestly believe that mangini doesn't want to make the QB change because he thinks that it will appear like the media and fans pushed him into it.

That's because he has fallen behind the curve in that regard.

I completely overestimated him coming into this season. i thought he and Tannenbaum would stay ahead of the curve in pushing the right buttons for the team's sake.

I thought he'd be decisive with making the move if it became apparent that Pennington was not better than he was last season.

i'm going to try to find the post i made about that from two months ago.

I figured he was smart enough to not let a controversy occur, and that he'd make the rebuilding move as soon as CP's performance dropped.

He has already let it drag on, and his coaching rep has definitely taken a hit by playing the whole season too conservatively..

[JetCane]

Here's that post from August, when i thought Mangini would do a better job at handling this. Looking back on it, I guess the kendall situation was closer to his true ways than pushing the right personnel buttons.

---------------------------

The QB Gap Narrows

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

It's not a full blown quarterback controversy. Yet.

The progress of Kellen Clemens in Jets training camp has been widely reported this summer. After spending the entire off-season in the New York are (minus a few days at his ranch over Christmas) Clemens' dedication and hard work may be starting to pay off. He has looked like a reliable backup quarterback after getting off to a shaky start in camp.

Clemens threw for three TDs in the first pre-season game, and looked serviceable in the second, when he threw a touchdown pass to wide receiver Justin McCairens, who did most of the work after the catch. Clemens' interception came on a tipped ball, but his so-so performance against the Vikings flew under the radar, as the loudest groans were directed at the rusty play of Chad Pennington, who committed bad judgment in his two interceptions that put the Jets in a hole early in the game.

As the team entered the fourth week on training camp on the Hofstra campus in Hempstead, Pennington remained the number one QB, although he has yet to display any semblance of a deep passing game during the scrimmages. Relying on a precise short passing game and his guile, Pennington has managed to stave off challengers for the last few camps, including last summer, when an open competition at every position was declared by then rookie coach Eric Mangini.

But on Monday, some more of Pennington's armour appeared to have been pierced, as during the 7 on 7 drills, he took over the first team offense on the 30 yard line against the first team defense, and came up empty. Unable to find any open receivers, he held on to the ball for an eternity, and didn't know where to go with it. After a repeat of that play happened again, offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer yelled for Clemens to come in for Pennington, and the backup looked much better than the starter, and took the offense in for the score.

They soon reverted back to their respective starter and backup positions, but the damage had been done. The gap between them had narrowed and the distance between the bench and the field may have shortened.

It is unlikely that Mangini would allow the situation to devolve into a full-blown quarterback controversy. He is much too decisive, and focused, and driven to win to do that. When he decides the time has come to make the necessary change, it will happen, and he wont need a long, drawn-out media controversy to precede the inevitable.

As the team prepares for its annual preseason contest against their co-tenants, the Giants, the game may take on a subplot or two. Typically, the third preseason game comes closest to a regular season game, and many will be focused on the respective performances of Pennington and Clemens against their cross-town rivals.

We'll keep an eye on how things continue to develop. If the Jets' staff determines that Pennington's skills and onfield savvy have eroded to the point of diminishing returns, and Clemens' development has advanced enough, it says here that they won't have too many second thoughts about pulling the trigger. Whether that occurs in week three, week six, week ten or sooner, will depend on numbers 10 and 11 in the green and white jerseys, and Mangini won't need any beat reporters or message boards to advise him.

http://www.jetnation.com/?cat=42

[LionelRichie]

Here's that post from August, when i thought Mangini would do a better job at handling this. Looking back on it, I guess the kendall situation was closer to his true ways than pushing the right personnel buttons.

JC - this write-up pretty much summed up the entire season to-date. one of the most alarming aspects of the jets collapse is the fact that there really are no scapegoats to throw under the bus. no hackett, quincy carter, vinny, bollywood, cottrell, or dick curl. this is mangini's team from top to bottom. the playcalling, the 3-4, and especially the QB are all on mangini. he brought in "his" players, he is running his system and the result is a total abomination.

beyond that, the jets are melting down late in winnable games. this opposite everything mangini preaches - preparing, making adjustments, and finishing games. i have never seen a jet team crumble the way this team does. 2 weeks in a row the jets couldn't make a stop under 2 min in the 4th quarter when they KNEW the other team was going to run 3 times. that is just a total lack of effort.