Brett Favre played what could be his final NFL game on Sunday as the Jets lost to the Miami Dolphins 24-17. You could say Brett Favre would have rather been "Missing in Action" instead of playing.
Favre threw 3 interceptions in the loss and after every single one, Mangini looked as though he despises Brett Favre. Mangini had said publicly earlier in the season that he wants Brett Favre to throw less interceptions. He obviously does not realize that Brett Favre is known for throwing interceptions.
There was a time before the season when Jet fans believed Brett Favre would carry the team to the Super Bowl. Everything was Favre, Favre, Favre. They figured his shoulders would be sore from carrying the team! Well his shoulders were sore for other reasons. People thought Favre would still carry the Jets to the Super Bowl after the win against Tennesse. However, that still was not the case as the Jets missed the playoffs. Even if they had beat Miami, the Jets would still fall short because Baltimore beat Jacksonville.
Now the question is what does this mean for Brett and what does this mean for the Jets?
Well in my opinion, whether Favre wants to retire or not, I cannot see the Jets brining him back. I think the Jets will force him into retirement. The Jets cannot afford to just release him of course. As I said earlier, I think Mangini despises Favre. After seeing some of the faces he made I cannot imagine he wants to see Favre out there (this of course assuming Mangini is back but we will dsicuss that a little later on). I think the Jets are ready to see what Kellen Clemens could do or I can see the Jets making an attempt at franchsining free agent quarterback Matt Cassel. The Patriots are not going to pay a large sum of money to Cassel to play behind Tom Brady.
Even if Favre was a free agent I do not think he is at a point in his career where he wants to go team hopping and have 1 year stint after 1 year stint.
In my opinion as I mentioned on my internet radio show many times, there was no reason for Brett Favre to be with the Jets unless he got them to a Super Bowl. Why? Because if the Jets do choose to see what they have in Kellen Clemens, then Kellen Clemens could have come out this year and also not gotten the Jets to the playoffs. They did not need to bring in Favre to do something Clemens could have easily done. Clemens probably would not have thrown nearly as many interceptions either. Granted, if Favre never came the Jets would probably still have Pennington but when push comes to shove, Pennington is in the playoffs and Favre is not. So overall, now that Favre has not gotten the Jets to the Super Bowl let alone the playoffs, this was a royal waste. Now Pennington may have continued to struggle in New York. But then of course you would have seen Kellen Clemens who is now in a sense one year behind in his development. If Kellen Clemens got playing time this year, he would become better quicker. Clemens is not going to get younger.
Now as far as Eric Mangini goes. Well first off he shows no emotion and I don't know if that is the real Mangini. He may be putting on some sort of Bill Belichick or Joe Torre act. I do not know. But at the same time, Mangini has not done a very good job with this Jets team. In 2006 he brought the Jets to the playoffs where they lost to the Patriots. Follwing that, the Jets went 4-12 last year and then of course has the big collpase this year wih Brett Favre who was supposed to act as a football g-d.
In my opinion, there is no sense in keeping Mangini. I think the Jets and their fans have had enough of him. There are plenty of other possible coaches floating around that can probably do a better job. There are probably only a handful of people that would be angry to see the current head coach go and the only people that would not like it is anyone with the last name "Mangini."
The next question becomes, would I or the Jets feel the same way if the Jets beat Miami? Well, the Jets still would have missed the playoffs and if it was up to me I would still say he is gone. Granted if they won and made the playoffs I would have a different answer. But the bottom line is, the Jets were in a situation where the really seemed unstoppable. However, losses to Oakland, the 49ers and the Seahawks really do not make Mangini seem better. The Jets on the other hand may have thought differently. If the Jets won maybe he would stay anyway. Then again at the time of this blog post Mangini has not been fired and the Jets lost. I am just assuming he is gone.
Feel free to comment on any of this.
Mark Elliot Wishnia <---------------------------CLICK!
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