Even though he said this at his presser, the media is using everything they can to oust Mangini. I heard what he said. "we did some prep work on the Dolphins last week, so I thought we can use that opportunity to give the players a day off to be with thier families". Most likely they had some scouts cut up some film etc. they do that all the time in Football. it does not mean that the coaches and players are drilleing for a game out of sequence. He DID NOT SAY, I wasn't worried about about Seattle so I dedicated my time and the teams time on Miami.
I could have sworn I heard him say "When do we play Seattle and how come I wasn't made aware of this? I thought Miami was our only game in December....throw me a frikken bone here people"
No, what people seem to be missing is that this is common practice to have preliminary preparations for the next week's opponent, because it's usually done after the current week's gameplan is installed and practiced. It's normally done on a Friday from what I've read over the years.
One more thing to complain about? Are you telling me you're not pissed if this is true, that THIS team at THIS time in THIS week of preparation didn't fucking spend every waking minute preparing for the game at hand? And add to that, you've got a travel day, so you lose some time prepping for the Seahawks, which is all the more reason why you want to KEEP THE FREAKIN' FOCUS on the next game. Mangini talks the talk with all this "one game at a time" bullshit, but then didn't walk the walk on this one (if this is so... I'm still not believing this totally yet).
I took this to mean that the coaching staff had done all their game planning the week before. I didn't take it to mean that the players were running the Miami scout defense during their preparation time for Seattle. One of those would bother me; the other, not so much. I could be wrong, though. Tough to react to a story when it comes second hand through a messageboard. That's not to say that I question how it was originally posted.
Yes, it's one more thing for people to bitch about because teams DO THIS ALL THE TIME. Once the gameplan is installed and practiced the whole week, the coaches normally begin preliminary film work on the next week's opponent the Friday or Saturday before. Again, it happens all the time, but people just need another reason to cry.
Well of course he didn't say that. That would be completely outlandish to say that. Anyone saying something like that should be fired on the spot, so no one is saying that he said that. This West Coast game was the equivalent of a playoff game. There should have been NOTHING done other than that preparation, I don't give a rat's ass who you're playing the following week. You had a short week as it was because of the flight, and with all the stupid hoopla about time zones, trying to change flights but the fucking airlaines aren't working with us on that, so you have to go talk to the airlines if you're looking for answers, etc., etc., ba-blah, ba-blah. In the meantime, on Friday, the day before the flight, you switch your focus to the Dolphins because the freakin' Seahawks are going to be a cake walk. "They've got no O-line and that QB, what's his name? Seneca Somebody-Or-Other? He's goin' down... so let's focus on Chad Pennington now. Absolutely ridiculous. How amatuerish.
I can think of millions of reasons that Mangini and the Jets should be working on Christmas day if that's what they need to do to better their chances of beating the Dolphins. I worked Christmas eve and Christmas day for years in rotation with two other managers so that somebody would be on hand if something happened that needed to be attended too. We did this because we were the ones making the best money, with the most responsibility if something went wrong. I can see rescheduling practice so the players can spend Christmas morning with their families. I can see ending practice early on Christmas eve so players and staff can get home to have dinner with their families. Taking the holiday completely off? When you must win on Sunday to have a chance at making the playoffs? Because you spent time last week that obviously would have been better off spent on prepping for the Seahawks on the Dolphins instead? Wow. Telling people you were going to do, and had done all of the above? WOW.
I thought I has seen it all with Pete Carroll's "Let's play pickup basketball instead of doing tackling drills" Training Camp and Camp "Pads are hot in the Long Island sun, so let's go shells-n-shorts every day in August" Herm, but now Mangini has decided to put on a Santa suit instead of drilling it into the heads of all the guys who have shown no fire or focus on the field for the last month that all of their jobs are on the line? Wow.
I don't care who TF does this ALL THE TIME, I'm saying THIS team had no business doing it at THIS time and with what we had on the line WITH THIS GAME. This was an absolute MUST WIN, so I don't care who does this all the time. Am I making myself clear on this? I'm not saying you are wrong, but I am saying we had no business focusing on flight changes, even much less the game following this one. What a freakin' disaster.
BTW, my apologies to you and anyone else I seem to have abused in this thread. Please excuse me, but I am still VERY pissed about this game, about the coaching, about the execution, about the way the last four weeks have gone. And now this article... just venting fellas. My bad. I can't remember a season being squandered as much as this one. Just unbelievable. And these kinds of seasons are VERY rare, as most of us know. To throw it away this way is just inexcusable.
The possibility exists that you're talking about more than practice. If he's publicly admitting to shifting focus to the Dolphins on Friday, it's possible he had his OC and DC working on Dolphins stuff too, maybe as early as Thursday night or earlier. "We need to get a jump on the Dolphins game, Shotty and Bob, so let's start working on that Thursday night, okay? The Seahawks are, well, come on... 3-11? And they've got that reserve O-line, so, you know what I'm sayin." The ultimate trap game. This one belongs in Webster's. You look up the definition of "Trap Game" and it says, "See details of the Jets vs the Seahawks, December 21, 2008."
OK Brett, you throw the ball the guys with birds on their heads. Lavern, we will soak your gloves in grease pre-game, for the little extra slip.
Mangini: "Good idea on that grease, IATA. That'll simulate game conditions real well. And Coles, while we're at it, practice getting a little less separation, will ya? You too Cotchery. No sense giving Favre too much room to work with." "Defense, what up with that pass rush? Tone it down. We're trying to create the impression we can't do squat so the Dolphins have trouble game-planning against us. Practice making that Seahawks O-line look like they're all headed for Hawaii this year." "Me? I'm actually working on my game plan for the Giants on Friday. Got to get ready for the Super Bowl that everybody's got us figured to be playing in February. You can never get in enough early preparation time you know."
Wow, you a real bitter huh? LOL Honestly, I have been quite numb about things. Maybe because it is yet another Christmas ruined. My wife keep asking me Sunday. Why Aren't you yelling, mad etc.? I told her I have seen this show many times before.
When I heard them talking about this on the Fan, I was like wow... Only because I always hear from Mangini especially after the Pats and Bills game that all the games are the same and they treat all the games the same. I'm shocked Mangini said that and that is one of many reasons he should be gone. Mangini is a great guy but he needs more seasoning.
They normally have Tuesdays off but instead opted to have Thursday off instead. They're putting in the same # of days of practice as they normally do. But people just want to focus on them having Thursday off. Whatever. Not only am I losing faith in the coaching staff, but in this fan base as well, especially those on this site. Fucking ridiculous.
