I come to you this morning from the floor of the Seattle airport. It is currently 4 a.m. It’s been one of those travel weekends, leaving me to wonder if that Jets game was real or did I just imagine it. As you saw, Seattle got drilled with snow and let’s just say it caught the city a bit off guard. The whole city had that Mangini blank stare as they tried to figure out what to do with all this white stuff.
Onto the Jets and whatever that was at Qwest Field. This has to be the worst Jets loss in recent memory. I’m sure you guys will come up with others, but at this point I can think of some heartbreakers but not a game where the team played so poorly with so much on the line.
Eric Mangini has been exposed. The guy is not a good head coach – plain and simple. He doesn’t inspire greatness. It’s not about yelling and screaming or kicking over tables. Tony Dungy is about as good as it gets and he never even curses. But Dungy’s players would run through walls for him. Same with Belichick. Mangini? Not so much. The players seem to respect him for his football knowledge but they play uninspired week after week and there never seems to be any disgust in the locker room after losses like yesterday.
The image that will stick with me from yesterday’s game is the players sitting outside the locker room eating plates of soul food. No one looked that upset. Their season just went down the toilet and they were more than happy to eat some cornbread and get on the plane.
In the postgame presser I asked Mangini what his emotions were. He said he was disappointed, but sounded more like a Little League parent whose kid came in second than an NFL coach whose job should be on the line.
I don’t pretend to know what Woody Johnson is thinking, but I do know if the Jets lose this week the calls for Bill Cowher are going to be loud.
As for the quarterback. I took some heat from people this week when I wrote about Favre and how I believe the trade is a failure if they don’t make the playoffs. I believe that even more now.
Forget the argument that this team was 4-12 and they could finish 10-6 and that’s an achievement. This team was remade in the offseason. Expectations coming into training camp were for a winning season. When Favre arrived, those became playoff hopes. When Tom Brady got hurt, those became division title hopes. When they beat the Pats and Titans on the road, those became Super Bowl hopes.
Now, if they miss the playoffs as it looks like they will there is nothing but profound disappointment.