Week 11 DebacleToday was the first time that Eric Mangini has reminded me of Herm Edwards.
When a bold call on offense was called for, the Jets played things ultra-conservative. When a risky move wasn't warranted, Mangini went for one anyway, particularly the onside kick to start the second half.
The Jets had some success moving the ball, which made Chad Pennington's two interceptions especially galling. The running game was lousy again, constantly putting the Jets in 3rd down situations.
Except for Drew Coleman giving a huge cushion to Mark Bradley and then - on what looked to be a safety blitz - failing to finish a routine tackle with no help behind him, resulting in the Bears touchdown, the defense played well. The Bears ran on the Jets (who doesn't), but Rex Grossman was unimpressive.
Few expected the Jets to win today, but the loss is frustrating because had the Jets played like they did last week, this would have been a very winnable game.
Getting back to the Pennington INTs, from my vantage point in section 119, on the first interception, Laveranues Coles was open on the left side of the end zone, but Pennington forced the ball into double coverage. On the 3rd quarter interception, it looked to me as though Pennington did a nice job fooling the defense on a play action, but then simply threw a terrible pass. But I haven't seen a replay, and I could be wrong about both plays.
Finally, it's become clear that Mangini has no confidence in Mike Nugent, who twice was denied an opportunity to try a field goal in the 49-50 yard range.
posted on 11/19/2006
