Mangini, as the media as made well known, is a great fan of boxing. During the season he had a wide array of folks from the boxing world come in including Smoking Joe Frazier. Known as one of the best heavy weights of all time its ironic how in this season, when it came to the Pats the Jets were more Frazier like than Ali. In our 3 bouts they were closely contented and pretty much came down to the end. But the Jets were on the losing in for two of them. Hopefully unlike Frazier this won’t be all that Mangini’s Jets are known for at the end of his run.

So do we get off the mat and come back to fight another day? Match or improve upon the off season we had last year. Year two is critical for these guys. I mentioned in vol. 1 that being able to stick around long enough to see this through would be important towards building the jets to title contender status, well next year we can see if the Jets were products of the schedule, products of great coaching, or a bit of both. It makes no sense to speculate now as to our moves for the off season, as we don’t even know where we’re drafting and who’s going to be a free agent. That being said, what are the trouble spots for the jets? As opposed to giving my opinion on what positions/players we need – I’ll leave that to the message boards, I’ll focus on just problem areas that will be solved some what by players and also just be internal growth and experience

Lets start with the O –
A running game. Three simple words, when Mr. C Martin was there it wasn’t a question of who’s playing on the OL. 2 reasons the run game helped the pass teams couldn’t pin their ears back and blitz, and the play action was very effective. My suggestion is two fold, work on getting our young guys some technique on the OL and possibly a road grader, and also a work horse back. Leon Washington is good but not against all teams, and in our division 2 of the 3 teams are very big on the DL.
This one thing will make our passing attack more effective, and our ability to put up more points will increase greatly.

On D
Run stopping ability. A member of our 2ndary should not be leading us in tackles. The DL and LB’s must put an end to this. The obvious answer is a run stuffing DL.
A shut down DB. Aside from Rhodes we aren’t putting any fear into teams with any one from the 2ndary. There has to be at least one other play maker, a shut down CB or a S that will help cover the deficiencies of not only the CB’s but also our next item
PASS RUSH. I put this in caps because this living by the blitz is what’s killing us. If the blitz doesn’t work we are open to so much. If we can create a rush using the 3 or 4 DL’s and 1 LB (in the case that there is 3 DL’s) we will be fine.

Coaching
Honestly the only change I’d make here, and hopefully Mangini is aware of this. If you start to build winners, like we hope he will here, then your team will be a victim of its success. B. Shot as I like to refer to him may be a target with another year or two of successfully running the O. In the Parcells / Belly way I hope we are already grooming his replacement notice how unlike Herm ( I couldn’t resist) those teams never had Coordinator issues, and more importantly they always were able to promote from within.

News around the NFL, and my life
Jason Taylor didn’t waste time, already creating another reason for me not to like him. On the CBS pre-game, he went on to say how he hopes for a pats win due to his friend there. (I see him now in his T. Brady belly shirt)…I guess that campaigning for the D player of the year award worked since he beat out Shawn Lights Out (needle in) Merriman. I don’t put much stock in these awards since I think the coaches should really vote these things out, but I’m sure this was about money, there had to have been an incentive or clause tied to this award for Taylor so I’m sure he’s happy with his check…

I won the annual bet I have with one of my friends…Jets record better than the steelers…now I’m back to even…with next year schedule the odds are even crazier, Jets Record v. Steelers Record, and a head to head match up 200 dollars on the line!

Good Luck to Norm Chow on hopefully getting that Job in Az. He’s one of the few people who I think can turn it around out there.

Well I won’t be writing on a weekly basis since there’ll be a lot less to talk about regarding the Jets at least until the start of Free Agency. You guys should hear from me though throughout the playoffs and after the biggest bowl game of them all…

Thanks!