I will give Mangini the same time I gave Herm. I was sick of Herm after year 3 and I feel Mangini will be able to showcase his talents/weaknesses in that timeframe. I fear for poor Eric though because I see us doing better this year than most predict. I don't see us competing for a championship or even the playoffs, but while most have given in to 3-13, 4-12, I see us closer to .500. If he starts off with this sucess, he will look worse if we regress a bit the next year and that will piss fans off. Saban will have the same problem down south. They barely missed the playoffs(even though he said he didn't care). The team is thinking all we need is a QB and we are good. Well, that isn't all you need. Your defense is old, you have an up and down WR and an up and down TE. Your oline is consistent and you have a good RB. Too bad you were 20 million over the cap and had to cut good players. I'm on a bit of a rant, but Let's say Saban only goes 6-10 this year. The fans will go nuts! The team was supposed to improve!
Fantastic post. I think it's all about the way he coaches. If we learns from his mistakes, and comes prepared on game day (fans will know whether he is or not), I don't think fans will jump down his throat during his first three years (assuming we show a little improvement in each year barring an injury plagued season). After that, if we don't get over that hump and make at least a strong push at the playoffs, the majority will probably start calling for his head. I think for the most part, fans were very patient with Herm. I myself kept maing excuses for his mistakes time and again. I feel like I knew deep down that he just wasn't a good coach, but I wanted him to be SO badly that I just ignored it. Reality tapped me on the shoulder after the Steelers playoff loss, then slapped me straight across the face during the Baltimore game this past season (Bollinger's first start). I remember seeing Baltimore line up 8 in the box and screaming "Just let the goddamn kid throw the ball!!"
I agree with the sentiment of the majority of posters here. I don't have any crazy ideas about a good record or playoffs or anything like that next year. All I want to see is a consistent effort, steady improvement, smart decision making and gameplans that give us a chance to win. Because without those fundamentals in place, it doesn't matter how good our talent is. I honestly don't know how good of a coach Mangini will be. I don't know how good of an OC Schottenheimer will be. But I'd like to believe that EM won't be running Camp HappyDance this summer at Hofstra, that the players will be coached up and schemed right and that our losses will be for a lack of talent and not for a lack of basic X's & O's understanding.
I was already prepared for a shaky 2006 season even before the turnover. Considering the new staff and FO, my expectations for next year are pretty low. That's not to say I expect us to suck, I am optimistic. But I don't expect to compete for a playoff spot. At this point, I'm just looking for a team that shows up every week. And that does includes the first four weeks, which has been a rarity in the past.
That's a good point on Saban and the Dolphins...people would be pretty pissy in dolphin land if they regressed... If Mangini doesn't show by year three he will be the kind of coach we can win a championship with then he could be in trouble. I don't see us going 3-13, but anywhere from 5-11 to 8-8 is a possibility... I have faith in Mangini and I am not even thinking about when we will fire him.
Mangini gets a free pass next year. The next year he has to make some type of run and keep near .500. After that if he doesn't sniff the playoffs he is toast.
First off I don't expect we'll be anything close to 3-13 but using your example I think the fans would be patient w/ him and see progress going from 3 to 7 wins from year 1 to year 2. That would make year 3 playoffs or bust but he'd be fine for the 2 years.
I think this is reasonable. Our slow starts the last few years can only be blamed on one man, Herm. The only thing missing in the past few training camps was a pool, grill, and a couple cases of beer. Something tells me that Mangini's camp is going to be way tougher. It's time to separate the men from the boys.
What have you been watching the past 5 years? Even when we were injury ravaged and had no hope this year the team played hard every week and were in just about every game.
Do you blame Herm for the slow starts under Parcells too? last I checked BP was a future HOF coach and in 3 years he started 1-2 in '97, 0-2 in '98 and 1-6 in '99.
what if he goes 0-2, or worse, 0-4 against us? saban is 1-1 against his teacher! watch the student be better that the teacher this year. you can put money on that.
Please, NE didn't even play their starters in the 2nd half. That was a joke game and in my eyes he hasn't really beaten NE yet.
You can't possibly count '99 as a slow start...I know you know what it was like...just a bad example in my opinion.
That's how I feel. I honestly don't think Woody would fire Mangini unless he is completely horrific. I truely feel Mangini will be a successful coach in this league. I have nothing to base that on other than the fact that I like what I've seen so far (I especially love the fact that he's not a media darling). IMO, if and when Mangini and the Jets eventually DO part ways, it will be because he is leaving us for a better offer. I however DO have faith that Woody will open up his wallet and prevent that from happening.
At the beginning of 05' we hadn't really lost TOO many players... 03' Chad was still considered our franchise QB and when he went down it was devastating.
Mangini is definitely Woody's boy so he will give him every chance to succeed. Bill Cowher was 35 when he got his first head coaching job. I am not saying he is Bill, but it proves he can have success at a young age.
That is a good point, but you can't deny that Herm's camps were very soft and did not properly prepare our players. The KC season opener this past year was a complete joke. Our players looked like they had just come out of little league camp. Mangini will set this team straight. No more Mr. Nice Guy.
We were 1-1 when Chad and Fiedler went down and had an excellent chance even w/ the injuries to beat Jacksonville. The rough times came after those injuries then they began to snowball.
