I came home for lunch today and saw a link on my homepage that said, "Mangini out as coach after Jets miss playoffs."
I had to shake the coughy, sneezy, watery-eyed cobwebs out of my head and read that link again. And again. Yeah, the Jets imploded down the stretch, and how they're out of the playoffs is as much of a mystery as how the Eagles and Chargers are in the playoffs.
But I never saw that one coming. Am I the only one who thinks that Eric Mangini's something of an up-and-coming genius? The guy's 37 years old, he's learned a little bit under Bill Belichick...and he gets canned after three years with the Jets.
I think I actually made the sweeping "c'mon over" arm motion to nobody in particular, and said out loud, "Heyyy! There's a job open in Detroit!"
A couple hours later I got a Twitter update on my phone that said, "Brian Billick will not be the Lions next coach," and I nearly jumped out of my chair and yelled, "Hooray!!" but today was another one of our Monuesdays at work, so I didn't really have the time. I was shouting it on the inside, though.
That is...until I came home and clicked the link and found that it was really just the opinion of Lions beat writer Tom Kowalski. I sure hope he's right. I don't...want...Billick...screwing up my favorite team. The Lions have a long history of hiring outstanding head coaches who accept nothing but the best effort from their players, and produce some fine, fine results.
(Did I mention I'm not feeling well? Forgive me for that last sentence. But I STILL don't want Billick on the Lions' sideline. Why? Because. That's my in-depth answer.)
I saw a little blip across the scroll line last night, that Brett Favre wasn't too happy playing for Mangini, because he'd call out the quarterback in front of other players for making bad throws during games. And as I watched the scroll line for a while longer, that was the only time that little tidbit showed up. Either I missed it again, or it magically disappeared after that.
I haven't read other stories confirming or denying that, but...gee, do you think Favre made a few bad throws at the end of the season?? What's the stat, something like nine picks in the last five games? If he was crying for getting called out for making bad throws, that's pretty prima donna-ish, don't you think?
So. No idea if the Favre story has anything to do with Mangini getting fired, because 99 percent of people who watch and analyze and cheer for and know how to spell football think that Favre is finished.
But there's also a little story out there today that Bill Cowher told the Cleveland Browns he wasn't interested in their coaching position, but that he'd listen to what the Jets have to say.
Do you think Favre would stay around another year to play for Bill Cowher? I kind of...do.
I'm straying way off topic here...which is easy, seeing as how there are so many topics to jump to.
Bottom line: Bring Mangini to Detroit, and I will have renewed interest in what I realize will still be a horrible football team for the next couple of years. OK, decades. A head coach is one part of it, but the Lions filled front office positions by promoting from within, so the dream of Parcells coming to Detroit was short-lived.
Just to keep things in perspective, Mangini's name hasn't even been mentioned on the list of possible coaching candidates. Yet. Right now there are a bunch of offensive and defensive coordinators being penciled in for interviews.
And one of the scariest things I read so far today: "Lions owner William Clay Ford will have final say in the head coach decision."
Anybody wanna bet against 0-for-32?
"There are only two kinds of coaches—
those who have been fired,
and those who will be fired."
—Ken Loeffler
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