Here's one for Jets fans: The Cleveland Browns fired head coach Eric Mangini. Mangini went to the Browns for the 2009 season after three seasons with the Jets (he went from "Mangenius" to "Manboob", partly thanks to the Favre year), and the Jets hired Rex Ryan to replace him. And then Mangini helped the Jets get Mark Sanchez! Now Mangini, a Hartford, CT native, may be headed to...UConn. more ›

Rex Ryan stepped to the podium and announced that he expects his team to meet President Obama in the next few years as Super Bowl winners. It was the start of an entertaining and feisty press conference from a coach who clearly doesn’t lack confidence and learned a number of lessons from his father, Buddy. Ryan was not as confident on other burning topics. While saying that “Anybody would want Brett Favre to be their quarterback,” he did add, “All the particulars we’ll get into later. The rest of it, I’m not prepared to answer.” He mentioned assistants from Eric Mangini’s staff who would be joining his, but admitted he still needs to talk to Brian Schottenheimer. more ›

The Jets are making a huge mistake leaving the door open for Brett Favre to return to the team. Besides the various reports that Favre was a divisive figure in the locker room, his presence is a major hindrance in the Jets search for a new coach. Already Bill Cowher has turned down the Jets and the guess here is that other veteran coaches will stay away from the team because they do not want to be saddled with possibly having to deal with Favre and all the questions that go along with him. more ›

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Yesterday, the Jets' firing of coach Eric Mangini brought some satisfaction to fans and sports writers. But owner Woody Johnson's and general manager's apparent inclination to keep aging quarterback Brett Favre has some scratching their heads. The Post's Steve Serby writes:

If Johnson and GM Mike Tannenbaum are really serious about staying with Favre and a right arm that needed an MRI yesterday, a scattershot right arm that will be 40 years old in October, then they aren't moving forward. They are being held hostage to a pipe dream that our favorite Hall of Fame icon can go Pack to the future and remain forever young, and they are holding their next head coach hostage to that pipe dream as well while Favre holds them all hostage with his Shakespearian lament, To Play Or Not to Play?

Jets owner Woody Johnson and general manager Mike Tannenbaum just announced that coach Eric Mangini will not be returning next year. Johnson said:

We met with the coach this morning...We thanked him for all the good things he had done for us, we thanked him for his dedication and his loyalty. But he understood... For the current New York Jets organization, we've made the decision to move on. It's a judgment call. This is not a decision that we reached yesterday or 10 minutes ago. We don't take this decision lightly. We want to build on the successful foundation that he's laid.

Jets coach Eric Mangini gave his newborn son the middle name "Brett" after quarterback Brett Favre. Zack Brett Mangini, 7 pounds and 13 ounces, was born on Friday, which is also Favre's birthday! Mangini apparently promised to bestow Brett on his unborn child when the Jets were wooing Favre, who said, "The odds of the child being born on the same day as my birthday, I don't know what the odds are ... The odds, in some respects, are a lot like me. What were the odds of me ever coming to the Jets?" Mangini's two other sons' middle names are also related to football: Son Jake Harrison's middle name is after New England safety Rodney Harrison (Mangini worked for the Patriots) and Luke Wiliam's middle name is after Pats coach Bill Belichick. Gang Green faces the Bengals today at 1 p.m. more ›

Things are going well in Jets land. Eric Mangini's wife had a baby. The child has the middle name of Brett and shares a birthday with the Jets' starting quarterback. The team is coming off a bye its biggest offensive output in recent memory. To make things better, the 0-5 Bengals that are coming to face them will be without Carson Palmer thanks to an elbow injury. So a team that made the Cowboys and Giants sweat will instead truck out Ryan Fitzpatrick, who went to Harvard. This game, which precedes games at Oakland and against Kansas City, could be the start of a winning streak. more ›

When ESPN secured this game for Monday Night Football, the network couldn't have dreamed that it would be a Brett Favre showcase. It also wouldn't have bet that the Chargers would be 0-2 after losing two of the most heart-wrenching games possible. The 1-1 Jets will be facing a team that all but needs a win to keep its season alive. more ›

With the amount of love lost between the Patriots and Jets, don't think Eric Mangini and Co. sent a condolence card to Foxborough after Tom Brady's knee got torn apart. But also don't count on the Patriots' rolling over and dying in the 2008 season. They may have lost one of the game's top all-time quarterbacks, but they still have one of the game's all-time coaches in Bill Belichick. Even without the tangible benefits of Brady and the potentially tangible help from filming team's defensive signals, Belichick's Patriots will be tough to handle. more ›

It was one of those rare instances when a debut actually lived up to the hype. Brett Favre looked like everything the Jets want him to be last night. The problem is, the game didn’t count. more ›

Being the sixth-worst team in the NFL has its advantages come April. The Jets had the sixth pick in this weekend's NFL Draft, and, despite hopes that Arkansas running back Darren McFadden would fall to them, ended up taking talented Ohio State defensive end Vernon Gholston. Then they traded up to make another first-round pick, surprising most with their pick of Dustin Keller, a pass-catching tight end from Purdue. more ›

A timeout and a holding penalty on the Jets couldn't prevent Mike Nugent from hurting the Jets' draft position helping the Jets end a disappointing season with a 13-10 win over Kansas City on Sunday evening at the Meadowlands. A 33-yard make, which set off some premature celebrations, turned into a 43-yard try after Wade Smith got nailed for holding. Nugent made that too, a fitting sendoff for special teams coach Mike Westoff, who told his team he wouldn't be back next season. He's been suffering from a malignant tumor in his femur and has walked around on crutches while leading the most successful of the Jets units. Given how inconsistent the offense and defense have been, that shouldn't be too hard, but the Jets' Leon Washington was one of their biggest threats -- as a returnman. more ›

While much of the football excitement this weekend surrounds the New York Giants' game versus the New England Patriots tonight, the Jets still have an interesting Week 17 matchup. more ›

Eight of the Jets' 12 losses have come by seven points or fewer. Too many of them have followed the script of Sunday's 10-6 defeat at the hands of the Tennessee Titans in Nashville. Jets fans have to be sick of a banged-up team not expressing confidence in its quarterback -- Chad Pennington wasn't named the starter but played over Kellen Clemens and his sore ribs -- and then going out there and laying an offensive egg. Without his most dynamic playmaker (Laveranues Coles is on injured reserve), Pennington still found a way to complete 81 percent of his passes and throw for 264 yards. more ›

The Patriots and Jets didn't have the worst weather in the league Sunday, but they still had plenty to complain about. Rain and wind didn't stay the Patriots from improving to 14-0 with a 20-10 win over the Jets in Foxborough, Mass.. It did help the Jets keep the game close and easily cover the record 27-point spread, for those who care about those things. more ›

The spread opened at 27 points. It's recently settled at 24 1/2 points, which, if held, would be the largest ever for an NFL game. More went into that spread than a terrible team playing an unbeaten one on the road. The Patriots have been running up the score on opponents all year, and everyone thinks they're doing it to teach the league a lesson after it was exposed -- on the word of jets Coach Eric Mangini -- that New England was recording the Jets' defensive signals during a Week 1 win in the Meadowlands. more ›

With the Jets 3-10, the best thing that can be said about them is that they're still playing hard. They seemed insulted that people thought the Dolphins could beat them last week, and, despite playing in front of empty seats in a heavy rain Sunday, the Jets fought back before losing to the Browns, 24-18. Kellen Clemens scored the Jets' only touchdown with his quarterback sneak in the fourth quarter, but his inconsistent play and... more ›

As the Jets look ahed to their game Sunday against the Cleveland Browns, they may be hoping that's where they are in a season or two. Cleveland, like the Jets, is coached by a former defensive protege of Patriots Coach Bill Belichick. Romeo Crennell had a rough go of it during the first few seasons, but he now has an offense filled with playmakers like Braylon Edwards and Kellen Winslow and run by an unheralded... more ›

Maybe the Jets shouldn't have been underdogs against the Dolphins, but no one figured they'd roll as easily as they did in their 40-13 win in Miami on Sunday. Miami remained winless at 0-12 as the Jets improved to 3-9 -- with two of those wins coming against Miami. Playing without Jerricho Cotchery and his finger injury, the Jets did have Laveranues Coles back earlier than expected from a high ankle sprain. He responded... more ›

Bye weeks can do wonders for football teams. Time off certainly helped the Jets. They held their own against the Pittsburgh Steelers and then secured a 19-16 win in overtime after trailing by three with two minutes, 23 seconds to go in regulation. For the second straight game, Kellen Clemens engineered a game-tying drive capped by a Mike Nugent field goal -- although this drive probably should won the game. The Jets finished the job... more ›

Even if a good portion of the announced paid attendance wasn't there to see it, the Jets played an entertaining if not successful football game in their 23-20 overtime loss to the Redskins on Sunday. Kellen Clemens showed flashes of brilliance and moments of poise -- including a drive that culminated with the game-tying field goal with 10 seconds left in regulation -- but the Jets defense didn't hold up its end of the bargain.... more ›

Remember how excited some people got when Roger Clemens announced he was coming back to the Yankees? New Jets starting quarterback Kellen Clemens -- no relation, but like Roger's kids, his name does start with "K" -- won't get as much attention, but he still has quite a following. Weeks of calls for Chad Pennington to sit in favor of Clemens didn't persuade Coach Eric Mangini, but a 1-7 start has been enough for him... more ›

What better symbol for the Jets' season than cornerback's Darrelle Revis' collision with safety Abram Elam? Revis, going for an interception against Buffalo's Lee Evans, instead got a mouthful of his teammate and a great view at the Bills receiver's march to the end zone. That score clinched Buffalo's 13-3 win in the Meadowlands on Sunday. The Jets have now lost twice to the Bills and have fallen to 1-7. Their only win came against the Dolphins, but the NFL will still insist that it counts. more ›

If they want to, the Jets can trace the morphing of their season from disappointing to disastrous from their Week 4 loss in Buffalo on Sept. 30. Before that, their only defeats came against the Patriots and the Ravens. Those are nothing to be ashamed of. But now the team hasn't won since a Week 3 squeaker against the Dolphins, and, let's face it, everybody's beating Miami these days. The Jets will try it all over again at home this Sunday, but the change everyone wanted made hasn't happened. Chad Pennington is still the quarterback. more ›

Chad Pennington gets all the attention, but the Jets' problems run deeper than the quarterback position. Eric Mangini said as much during an unusually open news conference following the latest Jets debacle, a 38-31 loss at Cincinnati on Sunday. Pennington looked fine in the first half, throwing two touchdowns to Lavaranues Coles. In the second half, the rest of the team's wheels fell off at once. Kenny Watson tore up the Jets' rush defense. When the Bengals did go to the air, Darrelle Revis, the rookie cornerback and a No. 1 draft pick, got called for two pass interference penalties. Nick Manigold, the center, botched a snap. On the last meaningful series, Pennington had an interception returned for a touchdown. more ›

Chad Pennington couldn't pick a better game to save his starting job. Some have said this could be the quarterback's last chance to make an impression. Given Coach Eric Mangini's loyalty, that may not be the case, but even the Jets offense should find openings against a suspect Bengals defense. Cincinnati has been beset by injuries to its linebacking corps and on offense. Carson Palmer and his wide-receiving duo of Chad Johnson and T.J. Houshmandzadeh don't work as well when Rudi Johnson has a hamstring injury and right tackle Willie Anderson misses time. more ›

If a change in clothes doesn't help the Jets, what will? Despite looking snazzy in their New York Titans throwbacks, the Jets looked anything but sharp on the field in a 16-9 loss to the Eagles on Sunday. Some creative playcalling, including a reverse, got the Jets deep inside Eagles territory as the fourth quarter wound down, but Chad Pennington couldn't get the ball to Laveranues Coles on fourth-and-one fade. more ›

So much for taking advantage of an easy schedule. The Jets were handed a rookie quarterback, a banged up defense and an 0-3 opponent. They took one look at the pile under the Christmas tree, rewrapped the presents and gave them right back. But not before adding a bow to each of them. They now sit at 1-3 instead of 2-2. The season lost a lot of promise Sunday. more ›