Now the sniping begins

SPORTING GOODS

Not surprisingly, the calls for both Favre and Mangini to go have begun.

[I]f the Jets think for a minute that Favre is worth bringing back next season, they're in greater denial than anyone could have imagined ...

The purge shouldn't end with Favre. Mangini has to go, too. He is as much at fault for the late-season nosedive as anyone. There is zero charisma in the guy, he is out-coached regularly, and his team plays with the same lack of emotion he shows when he stands expressionless and with arms folded at midfield.

I'm following this story primarily because the Jets let me down yesterday by losing to the Dolphins and denying the Pats the chance to go to the playoffs. However, there's also a somewhat profound relationship between the Jets and the Pats: Eric Mangini is a graduate of the somewhat celebrated Belichick University. Given that, were I a Jets fan, I don't know if I'd necessarily want to cut Mangini loose. After all, "zero charisma in the guy [and standing] expressionless and with arms folded at midfield" describes pretty accurately a coach here in New England who's won three Super Bowls and engineered an 11-5 2008 season with chewing gum, rubber bands, and 39-year-old retired linebackers. And, it goes without saying that said coach's acumen wasn't always readily apparent in his early days as a head coach.

Perhaps I'm putting too much faith in Mangini, but when it comes to quarterbacks in a Belichick offense, a Favre-type signal caller won't cut it. After all, New England's golden boy, Drew Bledsoe, came this close to being benched before he was injured in 2001.

Sigh. As I was writing this, ESPN was reporting that Mangini has been fired.

UPDATE — Maybe I give too much credit to the vaunted Belichick University given this recent track record:

Mangini - fired
Crennell - fired
Weis - struggling