Well, if you identify keeping him as the unchallenged starter for four years as a separate move, perhaps I would agree with you. But trading up followed by four years of increasingly bad play is as much as anything why the Jets are in the doldrums now.
Still like that trade despite how Sanchez's Jet career ended. We have up virtually nothing for a potential franchise QB.
Edit: Initially mentioned passing on a player in the draft, then went back and read the first post in the thread. One of the problems with this is that there've only been a handful of times in the post-Namath era where the Jets were serious contenders. Other than passing on a great QB in the draft, how many situations are there where you can say we did something that prevented us from getting to or winning a Super Bowl? I think having Wayne Hunter in 2010 cost the Jets a trip to the Super Bowl, so that would be my choice.
letting arguably the best player we've ever had walk and having to see him win a super bowl with our most hated rival. easy for me
I can't speak for others, but I thought that was a good move. I didn't like Vilma. Most of his tackles were 5-7 yards downfield. He made few big plays. I thought he was highly overrated by Jets fans and still do.
He was very good in regards to coverage and not letting big plays generate down the field. He would have been a great help for us in 2011, when we kept Bart Scott and David Harris on the field for 3 downs, we were so slow. Both nearly aren't as good in coverage as Vilma. Vilma wouldn't let you get past that 2nd level much.
Jordan signed with the Raiders as a free agent, the Jolley trade was for draft picks but yeah that was a terrible trade
I would not say Mangini built the roster. I will give Mangini credit for drafting Ghoulston as no one else wanted him and the scouting department was strongly opposed. I will give Mangini credit for drafting the boar hunter. But Harris and Revis they were not Mangini those picks came from Bradway especially Revis as Bradway insisted upon the trade and was Revis' biggest supporter. Mangini inherited a very good roster that had just gone through one of the worst injury plagued seasons a team has ever been through in 2005. in 2008 Mangini had 12 pro bowl and pro bow alternates on the roster. He had arguably the best team in the league but his team floundered mainly because he treated people terribly. He was an embarrassment to the organization and the poster boy along with Todd Haley and McDaniels as to why hiring immature 35 year old coaches will not work out. He believed that he could force players to respect him by fear and control rather than earning their respect. That simply does not work in the NFL anymore. The Jets paid for it int heir performance rarely putting in much effort or enthusiasm. His antics in Cleveland were even worse where among other things it was revealed that he refused to let his assistant coaches talk with Colt McCoy all year and made sure he always got the playbook a day later than the other QBs. For a good read about some of Manginis antics look here. Mangini might be a smart guy but its quite obvious that he was far from being an a good person or adult.
I don't remember people being pissed. I thought a lot of people stepped back and said they must really see something in him to take him over star. It was one of those picks where jets fans actually surprised me by their ability to reason rather than flip out.
Then blame the coaching, not Tebow. I will never understand the hatred for him. He's a model citizen, barely played for us, and cost a 4th rounder. Any loss of chemistry is not on his shoulders.
It's just very easy for you to discredit Mangini for the one bad draft pick while he was here, but at the same time giving credit elsewhere for the good draft picks to someone else. If you don't think Mangini had a hand in shaping our best roster of the past 15 years then you're being ignorant based on a personal vendetta against him because of what he did in Cleveland, based on one testimonial from a player who didn't like him. You can't look around the NFL and tell me there aren't other coaching styles that work. Belichick and Coughlin built their championship persona on toughness and control or fear as you put it. There's a mix of player coaches and dictators throughout the NFL. Jeff Fisher, John Fox, Jack Del Rio and Harbaugh before he left for Michigan abide by similar coaching mentalities. Then there's the middleground in Tomlin, Arians, Ron Rivera and John Harbaugh who are able to blend player relationships while maintaining a firm coach. If Favre sucks up his pride in 08 and either sits out a couple weeks or stops firing the ball down field into coverage with 50% arm strength I think we win another game in those last 5 to make it into the playoffs and we might have a very different Jets history. Manginis biggest problem was his stubbornness in sitting in 4 deep prevent defense with a lead not his coaching style. If he was as much of a dictator as you indicate he sure as hell wouldn't have let Favre finish the season and there would've been a media blowup Between the two.
who said anything about hating the guy??!! I simply stated that he was a bad fit for this franchise. And his coming aboard did cause issues, let's not pretend it didn't.
