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New Jersey – We get into a lot of stuff today including Mike Pettine in Buffalo and the GM interview process. Let’s get this thing going . . .
A lot of Jets fans are dead-set against assistant GM Scott Cohen being promoted to GM.
They view him as a Mike Tannenbaum-guy, and since the team is heading in a new direction, why promote the fired GM’s assistant?
I’m not saying Cohen should get the job, but it’s unfair to label him as the status quo. He was with Eagles for long time, during some of Andy Reid’s best season’s there.
I consider him more of a Reid-guy . . .
A long-time league observer made a very interesting point about offensive coordinator candidates Cam Cameron and Norv Turner (though rumors claim he doesn’t want the job).
If one of those two gets the Jets’ job, the team would be going back to the system Brian Schottenheimer ran.
Schottenheimer worked under Cameron in San Diego.
Cameron, Turner and Schottenheimer run offenses that emanate from the Don Coryell-Ernie Zampese tree.
So if Turner or Cameron came to New York, some of the players still around from 2011, will have an immediate level of comfort with the playbook . . .
Mike Pettine had to go.
There is no question about it.
But taking the Jets’ defensive playbook to Buffalo isn’t ideal for Rex Ryan and company.
“I’m hoping he doesn’t take that (Buffalo) job,” Ryan said on Tuesday. “I’m hoping he goes somewhere else. (joking) Mike thinks it’s best that he goes to a different team as a defensive coordinator and I wish him all the best, unless he goes to Buffalo. (joking).”
The Jets put the word (joking) on the transcript three times. Perhaps he was joking on the surface, but it was probably truth in jest.
Pettine and assistant secondary coach Jim O’Neill going to Buffalo is bad for the Jets.
With Dennis Thurman taking over as Jets defensive coordinator, O’Neill was the heir apparent for the secondary job, so now the Jets need to find a new DB coach.
But this Pettine deal is a double-whammy.
Recently WFAN’s Mike Francesa accused Pettine of being Manish Mehta’s main source in the building.
“Everyone in the world knows how close [Mehta] is to the defensive coordinator,” Francesa said. “It’s not a secret there. Everyone in the building tells everybody [Pettine’s] the source.”
So with this out there, the Jets needed to move on from Pettine.
But not only does he leave, but he takes Rex’s playbook to a division rival. The purging of Pettine could have not worked out worse for the Jets.
And if you believe he was a leak, do you think it’s going to stop now?
Now, he has nothing to lose by leaking everything he knows about the Jets to reporters.
And could provide great insight on what the Jets are doing on film to certain reporters . . .
While he fell through the cracks during the first round of interviews, the Jets did a smart thing including the name
Brian Gaine, in their second round.
He is the Miami Dolphins Assistant GM.
For the last few years, he’s done a lot of advanced scouting for the Dolphins, so I’ve run into him a few times in press boxes.
Talking to him, you come away impressed.
The 6-5 former University of Maine tight end, is extremely bright, and was like a sponge being around Bill Parcells with the Jets, Dallas and Miami.
According to a league source, this is the job he wants.
He spent six years in the Jets personnel department, and all his family is in area. He is the son of Irish immigrants who settled in Pearl River, N.Y..
I’m not going to stump for a candidate, but I will say this guy is absolutely ready for this job.
January 9, 2013
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