Could Eric Mangini Be Looking for Work Should Jets Miss Playoffs?

I suspect it was much easier to be a Jets fan a year ago, when they were 4-12 and their playoff aspirations were dashed before Columbus Day. Now, after an offseason full of personnel moves -- none bigger than dumping Chad Pennington for Brett Favre -- New York is 9-6 and very much in the postseason discussion.

They probably should've won the AFC East a few weeks ago, but an inexplicable 1-3 record against the AFC West, and a loss to the four-win Seahawks yesterday, puts them in their current predicament. Which is why it's perfectly reasonable to think that if the Jets miss they playoffs, people might call for Eric Mangini's (figurative) head.

That it has come to this after an 8-3 start is additional evidence that Favre is simply too old to do it, and that coach Eric Mangini is in over his head and should not be retained if the Jets don't make the playoffs. ... No excuses. No explanations. He was on board with the Favre decision, and he must pay the price if the collapse is completed next week. ...

When you lose to Oakland, San Francisco and Seattle -- teams with a combined record of 14-31 -- and go 0-4 on the West Coast against four sub-.500 teams, you don't deserve anything else. In fact, the Jets are lucky to be alive in the playoff race after their disgraceful football in the past four weeks.

I don't know if Mangini deserves to lose his job (he did take New York to the postseason in his first season, and is pretty close to repeating the feat in Year 3) but I'm not a Jets fan, either. If it comes to that, Bill Cowher has to be at the top of the list because, well, he's at the top of everybody's list.

And while I expect Josh McDaniels to get a few job offers this spring, the Jets front office has presumably learned their lesson about plucking names from the wilting Bill Belichick coaching tree.

I'm not convinced the Jets will make the playoffs, and maybe trading for Favre was a little short-sighted, but not many people were complaining about the move when the team was 8-3. Then again, nobody thought they would lose to the Seahawks yesterday.