By Tom Rock
The issue of Eric Mangini’s age was once again raised today, and the coach had a good chuckle over it. He even listed a few of his favorite one-liners that writers have doled out in the direction of him and Mike Tannenbaum. Someone had asked where the Jets were going to put the sandbox at their complex. Another writer said they were the only coach and GM who had balloons at their birthday parties. A third questioned whether they would find time to do their homework while running the Jets. “That’s good stuff,” Mangini said.
Asked why the age issue has largely disappeared, Mangini speculated that he looks older now. The real answer is probably that the team is a respectable 4-3 with a chance to move to 5-3 at the bye, and they have yet to make any “rookie mistakes” in terms of coaching. Don’t think for a second that the next time Mangini whiffs on a decision, he won’t be referred to as the 35-year-old first-time head coach. Of course, if he has his druthers, the next time he whiffs on a decision he’ll be called the 42-year-old seven-year veteran head coach with two Super Bowl rings. The actual timeline for a slip-up is probably somewhere in between.
Mangini was sort of forthcoming about CB David Barrett today, saying that the rehab on the hip injury (believed to be a groin) is making progress, but there have been weeks past where progress was made early in the week only to have the injury flare up again later and keep Barrett off the field on Sunday. It sounds as if Barrett is getting close, though.
How about Glauber giving a shout-out about a shout-out! Crazy! On that thread, Alan Hahn’s got a new Knicks blog here but it’s got a really dull name. “On the Knicks Beat.” Yawn. They should call it “The ‘Bocker Blog.” Go ahead and use it, guys!
I’m starting to think that this Curtis Martin saga won’t be over in the next week or so. The Jets have until Nov. 7 to allow him to practice with the team, and I think they’ll probably do that since it comes at no cost to them. It might be a case of “OK, Curtis, show us what you got.” It’s a low-risk/high-reward situation for both Martin and the Jets to let him at least practice for the three weeks they have before making a roster move with him. Assuming the Jets wait until the last minute to clear Curtis for practice, he would then have until Nov. 29 or Nov. 30 to be added to the roster. That appears to be the final Final FINAL deadline for Curtis’ return to football action.
Comments (2)
For what it's worth, I seem to remember a few writers already playing the "first-time head coach" card in the Colt game when Mangini chose to go for the TD instead of kick the field goal, and it failed.
lol