By Tom Rock
Don’t expect too much in the way of a regular-season scheme from the Jets on Friday night. Eric Mangini said he won’t use this third preseason game as a dress rehearsal for the starters, as many coaches do. Mostly that is due to the fact that most positions don’t have clear-cut starters.
“It really hasn’t changed,” he said of his philosophy heading into the Giants game. “To me, whoever the starter is going to be has to just show that that’s the position that they deserve. You’ll see more rotation this week. It will be the same deal, it could be on the offensive line, could be with the quarterbacks or it could be with the defensive backs. It’s just another opportunity against a new opponent to distinguish yourself in a positive or negative way. The guys have been doing that and this is another chance for them to do that.”
Mangini also analyzed his own training camp, and found some surprising details that a head coach must address.
“I never really planned an itinerary,” he said. “I never really worried about what time the buses showed up. I got on the bus, I read the itinerary and got on it. Those are the things that come up that are important. Not as important as what your going to do on third-down and two, but it’s still important for everybody to be able to operate effectively, for everybody to be able to avoid distractions, for everybody to be able to focus on the things that are important and those things are learning, working, studying and getting ready to compete.
“There was a spectrum of things that I had to deal with. It’s just quite different.”