New York Jets’ Head Coach Eric Mangini, 1.8 Opening Statement I spoke to the players this morning and I just talked to them a little bit about the game. As we had talked throughout the course of the week I knew that playing a team as good as New England, at their place, it was going to come down to execution. Our toughness was good, our effort was good, our level of preparation was very good and in the end it just came down to them executing better then we did and they made more plays then we did. With any win or loss, the important thing for us now is to take some lessons from this game, to learn from the mistakes we made and to make sure that doesn't happen moving forward. They are all things we could have all done better in all three phases, coaching. We need to learn from that experience. It really comes down to such a small margin of error. Such a small margin of error in a playoff game, you really have to play your best football. They just executed better than we did yesterday. I thanked them for their commitment throughout the season, for their hard work throughout the season. We've talked about that in here quite a bit, how they worked extremely hard from OTAs, the off-season program, training camp. I appreciate and respect that. We need to collectively understand we're no longer 10-6, we're no longer in the first round of the playoffs. Where we are right now is we're back to a clean slate. Each season is its own unique season. The things that happen in any given season are based on what we do, what we collectively do. It's not a function of just picking up where you left off; it's a function of doing all the same things that we did prior to this year and through the course of the year which is going to lead to success. That's got to be our position and the way that we view things moving forward. It's 0-0. We now control what happens based on the things that we do. I told them to relax, enjoy the off-season. It's been an extremely long season. It's been a season where we've all worked very hard and need some time to recharge the batteries. I told them to appreciate their families. We spend a lot of time away from our families during the course of the season. This is the time where they can get to spend some more time with their families. Also if they had any questions or feedback, anything they wanted to talk about, I would be here, would appreciate that. Anything that they can help me learn from so that I can be more effective as a head coach and our staff can be more effective, we can give the players the best possible chance to win, I would appreciate that. My door is open for that. I want to thank all of you guys. I know it's been a long season for you. I appreciate your patience with me. I know I haven't been Don Rickles in here. I'm trying. I think I made some progress. I'll continue to try to make progress. I think the things that you guys do is extremely important. You're the conduit to the fans. I just appreciate your patience with me and your understanding and your support throughout the course of the season. Just wanted you guys to know that. On finishing second in the coach of the year voting… Whether it's Chad's (Pennington) award, Pro Bowls, coach of the year, any of those awards, they're all very nice and they all recognize the effort people put in. Those things are great. I really do appreciate and respect those accomplishments. Our goal collectively, and this is something I talked about in my first meeting with the team, that pro football can make you rich, it can do a lot of things for you, but you can't buy a championship. There are so many people that have a lot of personal accolades but don't have what ultimately everybody is trying to get. That's a really unique thing. What to me is most meaningful is the way that the team played throughout the course of the year and the progress we made. That's the most meaningful thing to me and I really think the most meaningful thing to the players in the room. On Curtis Martin saying this was the best coaching job he’d ever seen… I really respect Curtis. Curtis has been a great asset to me both personally and professionally. He's a really good sounding board when you have a question, whether it is from a player relationship standpoint Coach Mangini, 1.5.07 Page 1-of-5 or on scheme or a way that you're viewing practice. He gives you great insight into what the players are thinking; into a player's thought process. He's just a really good person. To hear him say complimentary things is meaningful because I respect his opinion. On whether this year is a foundation… It really goes back to the message I told the players. This year was this year. This year is unique. It's what we've talked a lot about in here. It really doesn't matter what happened last year. Now at this point the season's in the books. We're 10-6. We had the first-round loss. That's 2006. Now 2007, whatever is going to happen there is a function of how we collectively work, how we collectively prepare and how we learn from the things that we didn't do as well as we could have. That's going to be unique because injuries could take place. So many things can change within the course of a year. What happened in the past really has no bearing on the future. On having a second year with his system in place… Having the system for a second year, having familiarity with the players, them having familiarity with the staff, all those things are positive. But the season itself is going to be a function of the adversity we faced and the approach that we take. You see it every year where a team doesn't do very well, and the following year does really well, or does very well, doesn't to very well the next year. It's just unique periods in time where you can't point to the past and say, Because of that, this is going to happen. On how close the Jets are to the Patriots… I thought throughout the course of the game, it was close. I don't think the score is completely indicative of the level of competition throughout the game. But it is, to quote a thousand guys, what it is. It's really a small margin of error between a lot of plays that will make the difference in those games. They're very good at what they do. They execute extremely well. They've got a lot of good players and good coaches. But there's going to be a lot of other good teams that we're going to have to play and win against in order to just get back into contention, into the playoff mix again. It really goes back to the original comments; we have a lot of things we have to do in order to be successful next season. On competition at quarterback… Well, you saw throughout the course of the year, every position was open throughout the year. You saw guys that were starting one week that didn't start the next week. The one thing I'll say is I have a lot more information on the players that are here now than I did when I first started. I think that Chad has done a terrific job. To come back from the things he came back from, to lead us the way he did, to be as effective as he was, is a real testament to who he is. Any competition that's there is based on a body of information. I have a very good body of information with Chad. But I essentially believe, as a core philosophy, competition is a positive thing. Regardless of your draft status, your contract, any of those issues, it's important that everybody knows they have the opportunity through hard work and those things to play. On his view of Chad Pennington… With all the different positions, we're a little ways away here, so we'll take the whole off-season. What I will say is I know Chad Pennington now. I didn't know him that way when I got here. I like so many things about Chad. I have that benefit now as a head coach, going through a full season with him. He did an outstanding job. On Pennington being a championship quarterback… Before we even get to any of those things, we have a lot of things that we have to do just to get back into the mix, into the tournament. Collectively we have to do things and start over and build back up again. But he won a lot of games for us this year. I thought he did a great job.