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Coach Mangini boxes clever to inspire Jets
2007-01-03
Few people gave the New York Jets a fighting chance of contending for the NFL title this season, yet rookie head coach Eric Mangini has managed to instil a combative spirit that has lifted the Jets into the playoffs. Transforming the Jets from a four-win season to a 10-6 mark, the coach has been dubbed "Mangenius" by local tabloids as he parlayed a disciplined approach and his love of boxing into tutorials that have helped bring out the best in his team. Before most games this season, the 35-year-old Mangini has shown a fight film at a team meeting -- featuring the likes of Muhammad Ali, Vito Antuofermo and Aaron Pryor -- to deliver a message or underline a theme for the game. Mangini gets one more duel with mentor Bill Belichick when his Jets go on the road Sunday as big underdogs against AFC East champion New England Patriots (12-4) in the first round. Defying the odds is nothing new for New York, who have already split a pair of close games this season with New England, where Mangini served his NFL coaching apprenticeship under three-times Super Bowl winner Belichick. Prior to New York's November encounter with the Pats in Foxborough, Mangini screened the first Sonny Liston-Cassius Clay heavyweight title bout to urge them not to be intimidated by an opponent who had beaten them seven times in a row. Mangini also invited noted boxing trainer Teddy Atlas to address the players before the contest. Atlas, who ran the famed Catskills gym of Cus D'Amato and was the first trainer of a teenaged Mike Tyson, spoke about the intimidation factor. "I told them one thing that I know about Tyson, that his greatest strength was other people's weaknesses," Atlas told Reuters in a telephone interview. "He didn't really have a pro fight until 30-something fights. His first pro fight was against a guy named Buster Douglas in Japan," he said about Tyson's first defeat. "That was the first time somebody didn't go in there just intimidated and just giving him a free ride. "He (Douglas) behaved the way you're supposed to behave, like a professional fighter. Tyson had never had a pro fight, but that night he did. (Douglas) showed up and he fought him. "When you're playing New England, why don't you just go play them? Go play them." The Jets beat the Patriots 17-14, showing the fighting spirit that helped them post a 6-2 road record this season. CHARACTER VALUE Mangini has found his own style of preparing a team but acknowledges the debt he owes Belichick. "Philosophically there are a lot of similarities, attack weaknesses, minimize strengths and play to your strengths," he told reporters this week about their game-planning approach. Mangini said the value of character was the main thing he took from Belichick and his New England experience. Atlas also touched on that area in his talk to the team. "My belief is that... most knockouts are allowed. Most of them are submitted to," Atlas said about a fighter giving in when he is in trouble. "You allow yourself to go to the gray room and when you're in the gray room there's a black room behind that door. And you know what that room is. You know what it represents. "You have a chance to get out of it, because you're in the gray room. You make a choice right there. A willing choice to let yourself drift a little more to the black room and then it's done. "Or you can make a decision to get out of there. One of the things we can control in this life is how you behave." Mangini wants his players to battle through adversity. "I'd say the one thing I took away from that whole New England experience was the value of character. To me, character wins," the Jets coach said. "When things are tough... those are the guys that continue to fight. If you're down a lot of points, those are the ones that continue to fight."
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