Mangini has his Jets believing they have fighting chance Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 11/17/06 BY ANDREW GROSS / STAFF WRITER HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. ? As Eric Mangini walked off the Gillette Stadium field this past Sunday with his arm around nose tackle Dewayne Robertson he was asked why the Jets had been able to snap a seven-game losing streak to the Patriots. "We were tired of having our lunch money taken," Mangini said. The response is a result of the first-year coach's new relationship with famed boxing trainer and HBO analyst Ted Atlas, who addressed the team prior to its bye week and has been invited to do so again Saturday in preparation for Sunday's game against the Bears.And that all stems from Mangini's love of boxing. Several times this season he has showed his team classic bouts as a motivational tool. On Thursday, Mangini, Jets owner Woody Johnson and general manager Mike Tannenbaum were all on the guest list for the Dr. Atlas Foundation Dinner in Staten Island, N.Y., an annual event to raise money for the charity Atlas began to honor his father, Dr. Theodore Atlas. When Atlas first spoke to the Jets, he relayed the true-life story of a teenager he knew when he was working in Catskill training Mike Tyson. Mane Moore was always having his lunch money taken by a kid named Goo. Atlas finally convinced the youth to stand up to the bully. And when Moore did, not only did Goo stop bullying him, he invited him to a game of basketball. "The imagination of what you're going to deal with is much greater than the act will ever be," Atlas said Thursday. Mangini showed the Jets Cassius Clay's first victory over then-champion Sonny Liston in 1964 the day before the Jets beat New England for the first time since 2002. Before the Jets won their season opener in Tennessee, Mangini showed his players Buster Douglas upsetting Mike Tyson and he's also shown them Michael Moorer beating Evander Holyfield.Atlas, who will also be on the field to meet Mangini prior to Sunday's game, said he'll bring another fight to show the Jets on Saturday."I got a phone call a few weeks back from Mike Tannenbaum if he could possibly talk to me about talking to the team," Atlas said. "Mangini likes boxing and he said he'd watched my show and was familiar with my philosophy. He was wondering if Eric could call me and I said, "Yeah.' "I went out there to Hofstra and (Mangini) told me they had New England coming up and they'd lost seven games in a row," Atlas said. "I talked to him about things I would hope would elicit some response. I said when Tyson was fighting, his greatest strength was other people's weaknesses. I told the players, before Buster Douglas, you realized (Tyson's opponents) were defeated not because they couldn't fight, but because they didn't. I said, why don't you just go out against New England and play them?" Boxing has long been important to Mangini. "Growing up, I was exposed to boxing through my dad with Friday night fights," Mangini said. "He controlled the TV so that is what we watched. I probably should have had more dates, but that's what we watched. I think you can learn a lot from other sports and other athletes that you can apply to football."His players are receptive to the idea. Rookie wide receiver Brad Smith, tight end Chris Baker and left guard Pete Kendall all said they liked the sport and understood how it correlates to football.None have ever boxed, though. Punter Ben Graham, who came to the Jets after a career in the Australian Football League, has boxed. It was part of his preseason training with the Geelong Football Club. "It's just thinking outside the square," Graham said. "We actually use boxing in Australia as a form of training. To get guys to work on their reflexes, footwork. We'd go to the guys' gyms and sometimes they'd come to us. It was kind of a weekly thing. It helps guys' aggressiveness, too."Atlas does not profess to know much about football. But he said he was able to figure some things out about the Jets just by meeting them.For instance, he was told tackling was a problem. So, talking to the players, he went through the possible reasons. Experience? No, he crossed that off the list. Teaching? Crossed that off, too. Incentive? Atlas said he knew the players did not have guaranteed contracts so that couldn't be the case. "I'm going to take a guess, your heads are too low," Atlas said and the players agreed. "We talked about the most powerful thing in the room, which in nature is the instinct to survive. A running back that runs a 40 anywhere between 4.2 and 4.6, and bench presses 400 pounds and he's got legs on him bigger than the oak legs on my table at home and stronger. You ever think your old buddy nature is saying, "Hey, let's get out of here?' "When we got done, Chad Pennington came up to me and said he was always told to recognize that the truth is very strong and powerful, and that was the truth," Atlas said. "Curtis Martin came up and said, "I'm going to buy your book.' " Mangini's already a convert. Reach Andrew Gross at agrosslohud.com. > http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061117/SPORTS/611170453/1002
Bears should be very very afraid. If they dont bring it early they will be in for a big surprise. They Jets know their good. There not here trying to prove themselves anymore their playing for a mission!!!!
What a great article. Something stuck out to me though. Someone needs to give Graham a number in the 50s and send him out to play some LB'er
we don't need to beat the bears to make the playoffs! We have the easiest schedule of all teams in the NFL remaining. We should be able to finish 10-6 and slip right in as the wild card. Who knows, if Brady is really hurt, maybe even win the division!
Yeah, so we get to the playoffs beating all the easy teams, and beating ONE good team in their house. Then what? Loose badly to a good team in the playoffs? We can't just slip in the playoffs like that. We need to have established wins against "elite" teams so that we have confidence in our gameplan and the knowledge of how to beat a good team in their place.
bullsh-t it doesn't matter how you get there, just get there! Stranger things have happened. Look at the baseball playoffs Cardinals got into the playoff by a slim hair then won it all. Gotta be in it, to win it!
When all is said and done: We need to go out and play hard against the Bears this Sunday, and if we do, we have a good shot to win it. Hell, the Dolphins killed the Bears and they, for lack of a gentler word, SUCK! If we do to Rex Grossman what we did to Tom Brady, which is to show him different packages of blitzes, 8 guys in the box then a zone coverage scheme, bringing in unmatched blitzers (like Thomas on the Brady sack, no one on the O-line had him as an assignment and he came through untouched) then we can get him. This is going to be a low-scoring game. The Bears have a great D. The Jets have a pretty good defense too. It is essential for the Jets to minimize their mistakes, penalties, and above all turnovers. The Bears are great at creating turnovers with pressure. Chad has to know when to throw it away and when to take the sack and not throw it up there. If we can get on top early and take the momentum out of the Bears, we have a great shot to win this game. Period. The J-E-T-S are hungry.
agreed, if we jump on them early, and minimize the penalties we have a shot. But it does seem as though grossman's decision making has been superb lately, but maybe with a lot of blitzing they can get him to make some bad decisions, and capitalize on those.
A win this Sunday gives us something wqe've been missing here for 2 years. Credibility :breakdance: The media will run with this story especially if we can put up a number on the 8-2 Bears!!!:up:
Baseball is a COMPLETELY different story. And yes, strange things do happen, and you're saying that the Jets making the playoffs this year would be strange. If we beat the Bears, they will have proven they can win 2 b2b games, against 2 of the best in the league, and more importantly, PLAYOFF CALIBUR teams. Sure, getting to the playoffs in the "strangest" of manners by beating all non-playoff teams would be great, but come one.
I say doesn't matter how you do it, just do it! If they are good enough to beat the bears then they will bring their "A" game and prove it on the field. My bottom line is, even if we lose to the bears, don't stop thinking playoffs!!!!!!!
hermie was clueless, I don't think any of the players ever bought into his nonsense. And why do we need to put up #'s on the 8-2 bears. A "W" is a "W". Even a 10-9 game with the jets on top will work.
