Category: NFL (Page 850 of 1282)

Should the Jets fire Mangini if they miss the playoffs?

Bob Glauber of Newsday thinks they should:

If Mangini doesn’t get to the playoffs, the Jets need to show him the door. No excuses. No explanations. He was on board with the Favre decision, and he must pay the price if the collapse is completed next week.

Yesterday, his coaching was abysmal:

Fourth down and less than a yard from the Seattle 2 on the Jets’ first drive, and Mangini goes conservative and has Jay Feely kick a field goal.

Early in the fourth quarter, Feely makes a field goal with room to spare from 45 yards. However, the Jets are penalized five yards, which wipes out the points. Mangini elects to punt. What?!

With 2:21 left in the fourth quarter, the Jets face a fourth-and-2 at their 20 with all three timeouts and the two-minute warning, and Mangini goes for it. Favre’s pass over the middle to Laveranues Coles is dropped. The Seahawks kick a field goal (with 1:47 to play, meaning the Jets still had plenty of time if they’d elected to punt) to ice it.

It all adds up to three losses in four games, with the only win a gift from the Bills last week after Buffalo coach Dick Jauron inexplicably put the ball in J.P. Losman’s hands instead of Marshawn Lynch’s in a must-run situation.

The Jets’ playoff fate now rests in the hands of a 39-year-old quarterback who is at the end of the road — and a head coach who should be, too.

It’s amazing how Mangini has looked so bad at times since his first year in New York when he led the Jets to the playoffs. A lot of purists compared him to Bill Belichick when he became the Jets head coach, but the difference between Belicheat and Mangenious is having the ability to make adjustments throughout the game. Belichick is one of the best in-game coaches in the league and while Mangini can game plan, he can’t deliver when opponents start to make adjustments.

Things don’t look good for the Jets, although I think they beat Miami next week at the Meadowlands. The Dolphins have struggled there over the years and the Jets have been a better team at home than they’ve been on the road. But New England will win the AFC East. The Pats look like a juggernaut right now and I doubt they lose to the Bills next Sunday, although a game in Buffalo is always a little tougher in December than it is in September.

New Bang! cartoon: Drops in the Bucket

The Washington Redskins have had a go of things since jumping out to a 6-2 start. They thought they would be prepping for the playoffs right now but instead, they’re just clinging onto hope that they can finish the season on a high note. The guys at Bang! Cartoons document the Skins’ collapse in their latest cartoon, as well as having the lowdown on Ed Werder’s new book.

If you like Bang! Cartoons, check out their latest podcast.

The race for the AFC West is a filthy mess of a situation

Mike ShanahanThat sound you just heard was the Denver Broncos’ season flushing down the toilet.

Following their embarrassing 30-23 loss to the Buffalo Bills at home on Sunday, the Broncos are now one loss away from losing their grip on the AFC West and sending the San Diego Chargers to the playoffs.

All the Broncos had to do was beat a struggling Bills team at home and they would win the AFC West. All they had to do was beat a quarterback in Trent Edwards that hadn’t played in three weeks and score more points on a team that was ready to get the season over weeks ago. And yet the Broncos couldn’t do it.

I guess a win for the Chargers next week would be justice served. The Ed Hochuli game sent San Diego into a massive tailspin and gave Denver momentum for what should have been a season in which they won the AFC West. But a win for the Chargers would be sweet revenge and with the way things have gone this year in the NFL, would anyone be surprised if San Diego beat Denver and went to the playoffs with an 8-8 record? It would be pathetic but so what? Maybe if Hochuli gets the call right in the first meeting between these two teams, the Chargers wouldn’t have collapsed.

The Chargers have all the momentum now, will be playing at home and have a bad taste in their mouths from their loss to Denver in Week 2. Personally, I think San Diego is a lock to win next week.

The Falcons are the best story in ‘08

Mike SmithIf you can’t appreciate the 2008 Atlanta Falcons season, than you probably won’t appreciate most sports stories.

Following a year in which they went 4-12, lost the face of their franchise to federal prison for dog fighting and their head coach to the University of Arkansas in the middle of the night, the Falcons are heading back to the playoffs for the first time since 2004 thanks to a 24-17 win over the Vikings on Sunday.

For everyone who said Arthur Blank was too involved as an owner for the Falcons to succeed, how do you feel now? Instead of throwing his hands up in the air and bailing like that gutless wonder Bobby Petrino did, Blank hung tough and got back to work this offseason. He hired general manager Thomas Dimitroff, who then hired Mike Smith, drafted Matt Ryan and signed free agent Michael Turner. Blank didn’t give up on his franchise and now he’s being rewarded for it.

The Falcons were very fortunate Sunday in Minnesota. The Vikings turned the ball over four times and when Atlanta tried to return the favor with a fumble of their own, they recovered it for a touchdown. Yes, Atlanta could have lost very easily. But so what? It’s about time the ball bounced the way of the Falcons and after a year of suffering one blow after another, they deserved what happened this season.

Who knows whether or not this great story will have a fairytale ending? And actually, it doesn’t matter because the Falcons have already won by showing up this season. They have a great young offensive core in Turner, Ryan and Roddy White, an improving defense, a general manager who gets how to build a winner and a solid football coach to keep everything running smoothly. More importantly, they have an owner that is willing to do anything to succeed.

Thanks in large part to Blank, the Falcons are the best story in the NFL this season and somehow, someway, are heading to the playoffs.

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