Projo Sports Blog

By J.P. Pelzman
The Record

Say it isn't so. Has Eric Mangini gone soft?

The Jets' coach said recently that he plans on having shorter practices during training camp, which begins Thursday with two sessions at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y. But rest assured that practices will last far longer than Mangini's cameo on the final season of "The Sopranos."

"I've tried to keep things under two hours," Mangini said of his practice planning. "The stuff that we've learned about recovery, I've tried to incorporate that not just into the practices, but the post- practices, and set up a routine that gives guys a better chance to really take care of their bodies. My goal is to get them as prepared as possible in the best possible shape that they can be in but not fatigued."

In Mangini's first two seasons as a head coach, his training camp practices clocked in at an unofficial average of 2 hours, 23 minutes per session.

"The first year, practice went forever," Mangini said, adding with a smile, "Even I felt it went forever."

Obviously, the Jets' players felt the same way, and had talked to him about shortening practices. He also got some counsel from a friend of his, who Mangini indicated is an NFL player.

"He makes the point about training camp that coaches want to kill you," Mangini said. "His whole point was that it does at some point become counter-productive and I really respect this guy and I know exactly where he was coming from."

Yet while Mangini is tweaking his practice approach, a recent session with the media demonstrated that, in at least one way, he isn't deviating from the formula he has used in his first two years.

He was asked if he felt some pressure entering 2008 training camp, with the Jets having spent a lot of money on free agents after a dismal 4-12 campaign. Mangini, as is his custom, avoided it as adroitly as a quarterback stepping up in the pocket to evade a rush.

"The one thing that is great," he said, "about (owner) Woody (Johnson) and (general manager) Mike Tannenbaum is before I got the job and since I've been in the job we talk about what the vision is and what we are continually trying to work toward. It's not a function of spending heavy in free agency this year as opposed to the other years. Sometimes you just have more resources in that area and sometimes you have more draft picks."

One of those picks, fifth-rounder Erik Ainge of Tennessee, is a quarterback. But he won't figure into the most ballyhooed battle of the Jets' summer, the duel to decide a starting quarterback. Mangini has yet to tip his hand as to whether ninth-year veteran Chad Pennington or third-year veteran Kellen Clemens is in the lead. Pennington could be a better fit for a team that spent a lot of off-season money to win immediately, although Clemens has greater potential.

Mangini did say that he intends to split the practice plays 50-50 between the two, although he didn't say how the preseason games will be handled. He also said he isn't setting a timetable for his decision.

"My approach is that when I name a starter, that guy will be the starter," Mangini said, "but it's not so rigid that there's not a chance to evaluate things as we go. ... The approach is really based on who we think is going to be able to lead the team and do the
best job opposed to the things we did in the off-season."

 Tags  Eric Mangini New York Jets

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