If I can keep the phone off my ear, I'm going to make a point to listen to Belichick's radio show. We'll see if someone has the stones to ask him about this.
Cub Reporter Sundayjack, reporting from Bill Belichuckles' 5:30 Monday afternoon radio show. Stay tuned as the World's Greatest Coach tells us his thoughts on everything, no detail too small. EDIT: Pansy radio eedyots. They asked nothing. He answered nothing. While I was listening to that drek, I did see this little piece of art on a Patriots message board.
Though Jets coach Herm Edwards said on Friday that he has not yet made a decision regarding the team's next defensive coordinator, we stand by our report that the Jets have offered the job to Ravens defensive backs coach Donnie Henderson, and that he will accept the position. (In our Friday afternoon story, we inadvertently said that Henderson already has accepted the gig. As of Friday afternoon, he merely intended to accept. Either way, the offer has been made, despite Edwards' words to the contrary.) Edwards' comments are sure to fuel speculation that he is waiting for Patriots defensive backs coach Eric Mangini, who will be available for interview when his contract expires following the Super Bowl. It could be, however, that Edwards is dragging his feet merely to mess with the Pats as they prepare for the Super Bowl. We're not sure whether the potential pilfering of a key assistant coach by a division rival makes any difference to a team that is preparing for the Super Bowl, but we wouldn't be surprised to learn that Edwards thinks that the potential loss of Mangini to the Jets is working on head coach Bill Belichick as plans for next Sunday's showdown against the Panthers. There's bad blood between Belichick and the Jets, as evidenced by Belichick's recent remarks regarding team president Steve Gutman, who essentially questioned Belichick's sanity after he passed on the opportunity to succeed Bill Parcells as the team's head coach in January 2000. "I'm going to make one comment and we can close the book on it," Belichick told the New York Post. "I can't think of anybody in professional sports -- and certainly in my 30 years of professional football -- who has said more and won less than Steve Gutman." Coming from a guy who rarely says anything bad about anyone, Belichick's words are likely still ringing in the ears of Gutman and anyone who reports to him. So it seems plausible, at a minimum, to conclude that Edwards and the Jets would love to distract Belichick and the Patriots as they pursue their second Lombardi in 24 months, regardless of whether their efforts mean anything at all in Foxboro. Another possibility is that Edwards wants to be able to say that the job was never offered to Henderson, if for some reason Henderson doesn't accept the job. This phenomenon, which heretofore will be known as the "Sean Payton Effect," probably is more common than anyone previously has noticed. No team benefits from publicly acknowledging to its base of fans and sponsors that it can't attract quality candidates to key positions with the team. Setting aside that whole "thou shalt not bear false witness" thing, it's simply bad business for a team to wallow in its failure to close the deal with a head coach, a G.M., or a key assistant. And as Edwards continue to work his way down the list of replacements for Ted Cottrell, Herm can't afford to take "no" for an answer again. With as many as six candidates for the job landing elsewhere, folks are starting to wonder why Edwards can't fill the job. A league source tells us that many of the guys who have interviewed have been turned off by Edwards' "phony hype and preacher-like attitude." So it seems that Edwards is working even harder at spin control than he is at filling the job. For example, per Saturday's Newark Star-Ledger: "Sometimes we fall in love with a guy's reputation, and that doesn't mean that a guy who has never done it before isn't going to be a good coach," Edwards said. "I'm not falling in love with people's reputation. We can all do that and all of a sudden you overlook some guys who have never been put in that position to be a good coordinator to gain his own reputation." Translation: Everyone I really wanted for the job has turned me down, so now I need to make it look like the guy I hire is the guy I really wanted all along. And this slice of human nature helps us understand why, in the end, Edwards decided not to wait for Mangini. After all, Mangini likely has gotten more than an earful from Belichick about the Jets organization, and as we see it there's at least a 50-50 chance that Mangini would tell the Jets to take a flier on someone else.
No offense, but this doesn't make any sense at all. The Patriots and Branch's contract squabble had nothing to do with the Jets and was brewing all summer. Did the Jets refuse to negotiate with Branch at training camp? Did the Jets refuse to offer market value for Branch's services? Did the Jets tell Branch that he had one week to negotiate a contract and a fair trade? Umm, the Patriots are responsible for all of this, not the Jets. All the Jets did was call Branch's agent after they heard he was available. I am sure 30 other teams did the same. The Jets and the Seahawks were the only two teams to agree to Branch's contract terms and offer compensation... ...something the Patriots had told Branch he had one week to accomplish. The fact of the matter is that without the Jets stepping in, the best offer on the table for Branch was a 2nd rd pick from Seattle...arguably a low 2nd rd pick. The Jets offered what could be potentially a high 2nd rd pick. In the end, the Seahawks offered a 1st rd pick. Incidently, the Patriots could have held onto Branch for 10 weeks, played him the last six and franchised him. But they choose not to. Just like they choose not to give him an extension or negotiate with him. What the Jets did was dirty??? Hah, that is pretty funny...considering that Belichicken told Branch to go get the best offer he could and is now bitching about it??? WTF??? Belichicken has no moral high ground to stand on after taking $1 million in good faith money and resigning after two days as the HC of the NYJ to coach the Patriots. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black... As for his sportsmanship...that is as non-existent as his "moral high ground", his marriage and every other person he has turned on in the past (see Parcells, Woody Johnson, Leon Hess, Bob Kraft - the first time, etc). Past behavior is the best indicator of future actions. Anyone who actually expected something better from Belichicken is a fool...it simply isn't in his nature. Ohh, and by the way, the Jets won't cost the Patriots a Super Bowl...it will be that rookie kicker choking at a key moment later in the season. And you can put that predication in stone!!!
Bill Bellicheck is a football man. Does the mad dog expect him to hug and kiss mangini? Get over it. Young would have to be insane to even say he wouldn't hire Bellicheck. If Mangini becaomes 1/10 the coach Bellicheck is...the Jets will be in good shape.
When the media/posters/talking heads discuss the Branch debacle, they tend to say that Belichick and Pioli value the system over the individual, blah blah blah. And that the players are upset that the team wouldn't pay up for one of its players. What I think gets lost is the other shoe that will drop as a result of this action. If I am Tom Brady, and I agreed to take something at or slightly under market value to keep my team intact (perhaps stupidly on his part), then I'm pretty pissed that they wouldn't reinvest the proceeds to make a fair offer for Branch, or McGinnest or Vinatieri. What it will come down to in the future is the old axiom "fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me." You think Koppen, or Wilfork or a guy like Maroney eventually will fall into the same trap? I doubt it. Not only do the fat get happy and greedy, but they won't see the point of sacrificing for the team after awhile. And no matter how much better the Pats are than the Jets currently, this is not the same team it was a couple of years ago. There is a dropoff in talent.
The media blew this way over proportion. Alothough, what else is new? Now I will say...The media(WFAN for that matter) did not overblow when Billy Wagner STOLE Mariano's "Enter Sandman":beer:
even though not a baseball fan, that was kinda ballsy to steal his entrance music...but what is this wrestling?
Okay, I realize now that people posting in this thread didn't necessarily post in the other thread about the handshake. (Why can't anyone just psot to the same thread when discussing the same basic subject?) Anyway, I explained my stance on BB and the handshake. BB specifically told Mangini "anywhere but the Jets." How do we know there wasn't something behind the scenes that Belli couldn't stomach when he skipped town? Besides, like I posted in that thread, Mangini, his protege, went to his biggest rival. In all seriousness, the Jets have the money, and will have more when the new stadium is built, to be a true competitor to the Pats. Miami is lucky to draw 25 fans to a home game. Buffalo is an inept franchise. Maybe Belli actually fears Mangini? (It could be.) There was obviously bad blood here in the first place. We all know that. Belli has also never tried to hide the fact that he is an anti-social prick. At the same time, he doesn't give a damn. Add that to the recent events involving Branch, and you have a damn good reason (at least in BB's mind) to be cold. As far as the Branch situation, the Jets did do something wrong. They told Branch and his agent what they were planning to offer the Pats. That gave them the opportunity to tell any other suitors what was potentially on the table. Like it or not, it was tampering, and there are rules that were broken. The only saving the Jets at this point is that it's a he said, she said deal. There's no physical evidence to prove the Pats point, so the Jets will keep their draft picks. I'm pretty sure if the situation involved Coles and the Pats, people would be calling for blood. (Hell, we called for blood about the Herm situation, and most of us were happy he was gone.) As far as the Pats bringing the Branch situation on themselves, why? Because they expected that a player who was under contract would actually play for his salary? Sorry, I don't feel too bad for guys who agree to a contract, then before it expires expect that they deserve a better salary before the time's up.
