Mangini

Good read... Thanks Champ!

 

That was a pretty nice article. I love these two paragraphs..

Mangini rarely emotes much of anything on the sideline, or in front of the media. But players say it's a different story behind the scenes. There, Mangini is a relentless nitpicker, a detail freak, a total system wonk who preaches that the system is the thing. He's a head coach who wants to be able to adjust and morph on the fly and have a team around him that's smart enough to keep up.

He ratchets up individual accountability by making each player draw up personal scouting reports of the player opposite him each week and give an oral report in their position meetings. He's changed the starting lineup at times based on how players practice during the week rather than how they just played the previous Sunday.

I've been saying some of these things about the defense when everyone was complaining about the 3-4. It isn't so much a specific front, he wants smart players who can play many positions so they can throw different looks at teams on the fly to counter different offenses. You see some of the same things in the offensive game plans, changing blocking schemes and lineups each week. And you can't beat the accountability factor. I mean it was clear with McCareins, Colemen, Miller and others, if you don't produce or make bone headed mistakes you will not play. So far so good...

 

Great read. I can't tell you how long I've waited for the Jets (or the Knicks or the Rangers or the Mets) to come up with a good young coach who could be the guy for 15 years. Now the Jets have Mangini and the Mets have Randolph and it's down to just the other 2...

 

Thanks Champ. Terrific article.

I am so totally in awe of Mangini it's beyond words. I'm thrilled to have this guy as our HC. He can quite possibly become the best HC the Jets have ever had. I know, that takes wins first, but you can just smell 'em coming with this guy. In other words, he's building a trust here in NY that can only be described as doing the right things to put the team in a position to win. If we don't have winning seasons in the future, it won't be because we haven't selected the right personnel, developed them, capitalized on them and played them to be in a position to win.

Anyone wondering why Bill Belichick has assumed the obviously immature, adolescent, rude posture he has against Eric Mangini need look no further than Belichick himself. Belichick knew what he had in this guy. He was grooming him for better things (possibly even his own heir-apparency upon retirement) and, like a spoiled child who didn't get his own way after "warning " Mangini not to take the Jets' offer, he's now pouting like a 4-year old who didn't get his ice cream cone.

My biggest fear about the future of this team is that, for some reason, we'll not be able to keep this guy. I'm already at the point where, if I try to imagine the Jets without Mangini now, I shudder.... that's how good I think he is. I can't imagine what might cause Mangini to part ways in the future, but if I were Woody, I'd give this guy whatever he wants to keep him here. I've got a feeling we're going places with this guy and going to become very used to his winning ways. To lose him in the future would be a major set-back for this team, I think, and something from which it would be difficult to recover.

 

I just had a good feeling when they hired Mangini..Hard working,smart,and obviously great leadership ability..Just feeling we have a legit shot to win the game every week is a great feeling..Right guy..Right Time..Go Jets

 

Not much to add about Mangini but does anyone else think that Coughlin is getting a raw deal with the Giants? I mean, that roster is possibly the biggest bunch of thugs and whiners ever assembled. As always, it's much easier to blame the coach then to realize that your team needs a complete overhaul. If Coughlin does get the boot whoever gets that Giants job is going to be walking into a trap.

 

If your team drops a game after leading by 21 with 10 minutes to go, you have to put some blame on the coach.

Also, surprisingly, Jerome Bettis brought up a good point on the half-time show of the Sunday night game. He pointed out that Coughlin threw Eli under the bus to the media after the game while just a few days prior he admonished Tiki for not keeping issues "in-house".

With the Giants, I think most people see Eli, Tiki and a good defensive front seven and think they should be winning. In actuality, you have one good WR, a good TE, okay O-line and a horrible secondary.

 

How is it the coaches fault? There were 3 or 4 seperate times in that 4th quarter that if not for lackidasical play by a player on the field the game would've been over. I guess if you wanted to you could pin some of that on Coughlin for not "having his guys prepared" but look what he has to work with.

 

Did anyone notice that in that picture at the bottom, it looks like Ben Graham is about 9 feet tall? Or that maybe Nuge is some sort of midget.

 

Mangina Was A Great Hire & The Future Will Be Bright! Guaranteeeed!!!!!!!!!!

 

I've been thinking for awhile about Mangini... about how lucky we are to have him. Compare him to Coach Coughlin, for example, who, when hired by the Giants, was going to be their second-coming.

1) Taking Responsibility: Coughlin preaches "the buck stops here" but almost herniates a disc dropping to his knees to chew out what's-his-name for releasing Vince Young too early. Publicly chewing out players isn't shouldering the blame, but rather impugning and castigating others in ultimate blame-game, not to mention how ridiculous it looks. Mangini does take responsibility and looks at himself first, then privately goes after the player, the way it's supposed to be.

2) Control: Coughlin is supposed to be the ultimate control-freak. This is what the Giants wanted after the back-slapping, buddy-buddy former regime. So he comes in like I'm-In-Charge General Alexander Haig, fining people for being later than 5 minutes early (What?). He's got a talented but weird wide receiver who quits on routes right in front of him, then half-assed apologizes. He's got a talented but emotionally unstable TE nut case whose ego is more important than the team, so he waves his arms and rants when he doesn't get the ball and then tells the press "we were outcoached." He's got a very talented RB who's in search of a second career as a major news announcer, but who, for now, has no compunction against publicly telling the coach he's not running the ball enough. When given the ball a week later, he fails to run it well. This is not a team exhibiting control. Any sort of control, be it by the head coach or by individual self-control from within. In other words, "control" can be defined as getting your way, and Coughlin gets none. Mangini, by comparison, is very much in control and the players know who the boss is, believe in the direction and don't waste valuable time and energy opposing it. When players are asked certain questions, Mangini doesn't even have to be there in order for the player to respond, "I'm not sure I can talk about that." That's control.

3) Discipline: Take penalties, for example. The Giants' loss last Sunday was a prime example.... hitting Young out of bounds cost them dearly. There were other penalties throughout the game and in previous games. Despite Coughlin's insistance on eliminating penalties, they're actually increased. A team with no discipline. The Jets had one penalty last Sunday by comparison and have been playing relatively good penalty-free football.

4) Player Development and Management: The Giants have a very talented team. Statistically, as individuals, these guys should be kicking ass. But you've got Eli Manning, for example, who is not really developing into the wonder-boy he's supposed to be. Plaxico Burress is a developmental disaster... great one play and dogging it the next. They've imported all kinds of talent only to consistently look like a team who hasn't developed the raw talent or managed it properly. Mangini, on the other hand, has a much better handle on identifying, developing and utilizing the raw talent he inherited and has had a direct hand in acquiring. He quickly singles out which players will contribute the most and plays them, with little regard for which draft pick the guy was or how loudly he screams about getting the ball.

5) Leadership: Right now, Coughlin is a mere shadow of the purpose for which he was hired. He clearly lost the team early on after loudmouth "Parcells-Is-A-Homo" Shockey interupted and interview with an adjacent player to go into his public tirade about "being outcoached." Others followed suit, including Tiki-Wiki Barber, who envisions himself the future second coming of Dan Rather on the nightly news. The entire locker room has no leadership... none that anyone pays attention to. None from Coughlin, who has obviously lost it by going into his rants on the sideline. None from their star quarterback, who routinely resembles a forlorn 5th-grader being picked on in the schoolyard. His leadership is non-existant and it's the coaches job to help him develop that. Mangini, on the other hand, exudes leadership. He not only exhibits it himself but unselfishly promotes and delegates it to his players, so they can assume leadership responsibilities. Leadership is about passing the torch to those on the field who will use it whre it counts... in the heat of battle. This guy is the poster child for what leadership is supposed to be.

No... no comparison between the two. Sorry for the rant... just something I've been thinking about when I think of how fortunate we are to have Mangini on board.

 

If you're gonna be a "my way or the highway" kinda guy you really need to do a better job of selling the "my way" side of the equation.

Parcells gets away with it because he has a strong personality and it's easy to love him or leave him.

Belichik gets away with it because he's so smart and his gameplans are so strong that most players would rather have him on their side than against them.

Coughlin doesn't really fit under either category and he wears thin pretty quickly. Now throw in the Giant's selection of problem children (Shockey and Burress primarily but also Manning) and you have a recipe for an acidic brew.

 

I just don't think Coughlin ever really had a chance to succeed with the Giants. The roster was filled with whiny entitled feeling veterans when he got there and he wasn't given the authority to "clean house" given that he was hired under a "win now" type of mandate. There was tons of whining right off the bat that abated some last year when things were going well. Now that they've taken a bit of a tumble the whining is back full force.

As I said earlier I think if they do give him the boot it's going to be even worse for the guy that takes over unless they realize that a bit of rebuilding is probably in order.

 

Yeah the Giants are one year away from 4-12 if they don't start proactively replacing some of the aging vets and "entitled" children.

Eli Manning really is not a particularly good NFL QB at this point and he'll become a bad one in a hurry when Barber is gone and the team's talent level declines.

 

I think its gonna be hard for Eli to throw the ball anyone after Shockey rips his head off on the sidelines.....