Kentucky Jet Posted July 16, 2008 Share Posted July 16, 2008 July 16, 2008 Defense 101 with Mangini I think I'll be seeing diagrams like the one on the left in my sleep for the next few days after the experience the Jets' beat writers, including myself, had Tuesday. Eric Mangini invited us in for what the Jets called 'Learning Defense with Eric Mangini,' an informal but very serious three-hour course in defensive terminology and applications. Of course, in such a short time it wasn't possible to get too deep into the defensive playbook, but we were able to get a look at numerous defensive answers to specific offensive formations. And oh yeah, the playbook. I've always heard pro football players talk about the thickness and complexity of their playbooks, and I certainly believed them. But not until you have one sitting on your lap do you realize just how complex it actually is. There were 48 pages merely on offensive terminology in this thick oversized binder. (I had LB Jason Trusnik's playbook for those three hours, by the way.) There was also a handout for the three hours dealing with the one defense we were supposed to learn. It was a 3-4 front with zero coverage, i.e. a five-man rush with five players in man coverage plus a safety handling deep center field, or MOF on the page (middle of field). Mangini seems like quite a teacher, and he certainly knows his subject. But it is amazing to think of players trying to keep this classroom stuff straight in their heads, and then execute it correctly on the field. I'm sure that was one of Mangini's motives for this presentation (which was his idea), to show us how difficult this is, and it certainly worked. I'm sure he also wanted to teach us something about the game which he clearly loves, and he did that, too. Just like he does with the players, Mangini put one of us on the spot every once in awhile. At one point, I was given a diagram of the offensive personnel in the game (a classic I-formation with a fullback, tailback, two wideouts and a tight end) and asked to come up with the proper coverage responsibilities and defensive formation. It took me a long, long time to match all the proper Xs with the proper Os, and I did receive some help from the gallery (thank you to PR director Bruce Speight!) but I finally accounted for every eligible offensive receiver. Of course, had it taken me that long as a player, The Turk would've relieved me of my playbook long before I had finished. By the way, that offensive formation would be a 21 in the Jets' defensive terminology. Two for the number of backs, one for the number of tight ends. Then you just subtract from five to get the number of wide receivers. 11 would be one back, one TE and three WRs. The film cutups were the most interesting part of the presentation. Give Mangini credit--he showed several plays from the last couple of years (and from spring practice) on which the Jets' defense shined, but he also showed some where they got beat. He showed us a play against Dallas last season in which CB Darrelle Revis totally neutralized Terrell Owens, the primary target, leading to a sack by LB Eric Barton, who made a terrific adjustment to get the sack. Mangini praised the intelligence of both Barton and fellow inside 'backer David Harris, and I really got a sense of how impressive his rookie season really was, as he was the one responsible for making the calls and checks once Jonathan Vilma was lost for the season with a knee injury. He also showed us how a poor tackling angle led to a long TD catch by Buffalo's Roscoe Parrish in 2006, when the Jets didn't quite get to J.P. Losman on a blitz and he was able to hit Parrish, the 'hot' receiver, on a slant. He also showed some positive plays by the Jets' offense against the Jets' defense in spring practice, such as LG Alan Faneca and LT D'Brickashaw Ferguson communicating well to foil a 'game' by the pass-rushers, and QB Chad Pennington quickly recognizing and hitting an uncovered receiver on a hitch pattern, as well as film of him doing it against Buffalo in the past. The bottom line is that it was very enlightening, and definitely gave us scribes some insight into what players go through in the film and meeting rooms. I'd like very much to do it again, although I'd prefer not to get called on next time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kentucky Jet Posted July 16, 2008 Author Share Posted July 16, 2008 http://www.newyorkjets.com/news/articles/show/2264-mangini-brings-reporters-in-for-a-chalk-talk Although Eric Mangini won Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kentucky Jet Posted July 16, 2008 Author Share Posted July 16, 2008 Writers' camp Eric Mangini strolled down the wall aisle of the auditorium in the Jets complex at Hofstra late this morning, stepped onto the small wooden stage and took his place behind a podium. He gazed at his Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kentucky Jet Posted July 16, 2008 Author Share Posted July 16, 2008 July 15, 2008 Beat writers get crash course on Mangini's playbook Jets coach Eric Mangini stood behind his lectern, peering out at his audience today in the second-floor auditorium at Weeb Ewbank Hall. He was heavy into a discussion on the Xs and Os of defense, trying to make a specific point by showing a clip from last year’s Jets-Giants game. There’s Eli Manning, taking over at his own 5. What, Mangini wanted to know, should the defense expect in this situation in terms of pre-snap strategy? He looked into the audience. And looked. And looked, deciding which person to put on the spot. He picked… Me! That’s right, yours truly. Mangini cut short his vacation by a day and invited the beat writers into his world - the team-meeting room, where he gave us scribes a three-hour tutorial on his defensive philosophy, Jets terminology and a taste of what it’s like to sit through one of his meetings. This is what I learned: Always pay attention because you never know when he’s going to call on you. That, from what the players say, is Mangini’s modus operandi in the “real” meetings. Our session started with a couple of handouts, including the playbook. Yes, the real playbook. Each writer received a playbook, roughly the size of a phone book, and we were allowed to keep it for the duration of Mangini’s presentation. I thought to myself, “Man, what Bill Belichick wouldn’t give to get his hands on this sucker.” I ended up with Ropati Pitoitua’s playbook (he’s a free-agent defensive end from Washington State), and I must say, some of the material inside the book was harder to figure out than the pronunciation of Ropati’s name. The book is filled with about a dozen sections, divided by colored tabs. Some of the sections: Offensive terminology (48 pages), defensive terminology, blocking schemes, ball disruption, special teams and fronts/run responsibilities. We spent most of our time in offensive terminology, as Mangini explained personnel groupings, formations, motions, shifts, blocking schemes, protections schemes and so on. For instance: “21” personnel is two backs, one tight end, two receivers. The split end is “X,” the tight end is “Y,” the flanker is “Z,” the fullback is “F” and the halfback is “H.” That stuff is pretty basic, but it got a little tricky when he asked us to identify the player and the specific type of motion. Mangini showed a tape of Jeremy Shockey going in motion across the formation. “Rich,” he called out, “tell me the name of that motion.” After a moment or two, I replied, “YAC.” The “Y” stands for tight end and the “AC” means across the formation in the Jets’ motion terminology. Ding, ding, ding. I was right - for a change. Most of the defensive discussion centered around a basic front and coverage - a 3-4 front with zero coverage. It’s a five-man rush, plus five players in straight man-to-man coverage and a safety patrolling the deep middle. From there, Mangini showed us different blitzes and various adjustments, based on the offensive personnel and formation. There was an entire page in the playbook devoted to adjustments (I think I counted about 40) just on that one type of defense. Clearly, Mangini feels very comfortable in this setting. He’s thorough and detailed and well-spoken. If he didn’t get into football, he could’ve taken his Wesleyan education and pursued a career as a college professor. I’m not sure what the future holds for Mangini as a head coach, but he can never be accused of not knowing his stuff. I’m sure you’re wondering if I was able to glean any information about the team and its personnel and his thoughts about the upcoming season. Well, he spoke glowingly of CB Darrelle Revis, showing a clip where he neutralized Cowboys WR Terrell Owens on a particular route. He praised LB David Harris for his smarts, being able to make the defensive checks as a rookie. He showed a clip where LT D’Brickashaw Ferguson and new LG Alan Faneca worked in lockstep on a particular pass play in practice, foiling a “game” by two pass rushers. He gushed about LB Eric Barton’s smarts, showing a clip from the Dallas game where Barton sacked Tony Romo on an instinctive blitz in which Barton made a great read. What about the quarterback competition? Mangini didn’t give away much there, although I couldn’t help but notice that Kellen Clemens missed a wide-open receiver in a minicamp practice. Explaining a defensive breakdown on a “bunch” formation, Mangini noted how the defense left a receiver all alone in the middle of the field, about 12 yards from the QB. Clemens apparently didn’t see him and threw somewhere else for an incompletion. He also showed a bunch of clips where Chad Pennington alertly spotted an uncovered receiver at the line of scrimmage, called a quick-snap and fired quickly to him. That’s called “Smoke,” in case you’re wondering. I don’t think Mangini was making a statement about his quarterbacks, but I found it interesting. Anyway, as for that Eli Manning-related question at the top of this post, I answered this way: I said the defense should expect Manning to send a player in motion, with the hope of forcing the defense to reveal whether it’s in man-to-man or zone. A pretty heady response, I thought. But that wasn’t what Mangini was looking for. “A hard count,” he said politely, not trying to embarrass me. Ah, yes, the hard count. Makes perfect sense. Try to get the defense to jump offsides, picking up an easy five yards on a penalty. When you’re at your own 5, that’s a big play and it comes with little risk. Fortunately, we didn’t have to run penalty laps for bad answers. I doubt the players will have it that easy come July 24. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kentucky Jet Posted July 16, 2008 Author Share Posted July 16, 2008 Mid-July Jets News and Notes By Joe Caporoso | July 15th, 2008 E-mail | Print | Share Just a few comments on the roster, ongoing contract situations, and some of the position battles: - I am not on the Danny Woodhead bandwagon. He has a nice story, and will likely receive unnecessarily high amounts of coverage by the local media, yet the Jets have a crowded backfield and don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoFlaJets Posted July 16, 2008 Share Posted July 16, 2008 I didn't see Will Montgomery as being a bad LG last year and think he'll be an adequate b/u this year...and I actually WATCHED the OL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sperm Edwards Posted July 16, 2008 Share Posted July 16, 2008 Entertaining, and takes the arrogance of many in the media down a peg or two. And to their credit, they all seemed to take it with good humor. This was a great pure-PR move by Mangini & the Jets. One of very few they make. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flgreen Posted July 16, 2008 Share Posted July 16, 2008 I agree with Sperm, this was a great PR move. The Scribes seemed to have had a good time and none of them had any wise cracks about it. When I look at this team I really like the starting 22. I don't see a reason I the world why they can't compete this year. Just some observations. I hope that the fact that the good offensive plays Mangini showed, that all seemingly had Chad as QB, and the negative plays had Clemens as QB, was purely coincidental, and not the way the Mini camps have been going. Clemens needs to win this competition for the future of the franchise. I'm not a Chad hater, and am glad he is on the team this year, but Clemens needs to, not be given, but win the starting job. The OL concerns me. Not the starters, they, on paper at least, seem to be fine. Here's what concerns me. Clarke, I believe, may have been the worst Jets starting guard I have ever seen. We basically have the same back ups we had last year. None of these guys could take his job last year? That scares me. i also thought it was interesting that they are going to limit the work outs to two hours. I wonder if Coles came to camp with a gun? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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