New York Jets Fire Eric Mangini

From Super Bowl to couch potatoes in less than 5 weeks.

The New York Jets were on a opium like high after beating the Patriots and Titans in back-to-back weeks, and had everyone calling for a New York vs. New York Superbowl. Only one New York team remains.

Bad play calling festered and spread like a disease over the last month of the season where not going for field goals or passing on third and short when you have a pro bowl running back who is in the midst of his best season. Many things went wrong this season for the Jets, who earlier this year made key acquisitions that had many NFL fans optimistic about gang green.

In the end the season came down to a must win game against the Miami Dolphins and some help from the Jacksonville Jaguars. Neither piece of help came through, the Jets lost their game and the Jags were steamrolled by Baltimore.

The hammer came down today as Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum said that they will be letting Eric Mangini go. A 9-7 season full of hope down the drain will do that for you.

Owner of the Jets Woody Johnson called Mangini and gave him the news. Johnson followed the call with a press conference in which he said that firing the head coach is the "...most difficult thing you can do, Eric has done amazing things, no one worked harder, he was a good teacher, but it was time to make a change. This decision was not made in the last seconds or couple games; this was a decision that was running through the season. We want to build on the successful foundation that he left, but as of right now we believe that we can find a better fit for this team"

Life long Jets fan Asad Aziz claimed to get over the fact that this season would end in disappointment weeks ago. "[The loss] had to do with poor coaching, poor execution, and bad play from Favre." Regarding Mangini, Aziz said "Mangini had to go, he constantly played way too conservatively in most situations, and situations where he should play conservatively he'd be aggressive. He was terrible at in-game adjustments. And people who say it should be Tannenbaum who should go are wrong because the personnel he brought in was good enough to get Mangini to 8-3 with a loss to the Raiders." Disappointed with the players and the outcome of the end of the season, Aziz followed his thoughts about Mangini by saying "The team sent seven players to the Pro Bowl, just look at the roster, there’s no way you should not be able to win 11-12 games with the squad he had."

An anonymous Jets player had strong words about the team, coach and general manager on Monday. "We are busting our butts out there and Favre is turning the ball over. We did not play the way we should, focusing on TJ [Thomas Jones] and running the ball. Bad coaching was prevalent and all they did was cater to Favre instead of letting this team play the way they were designed and that’s to run the ball."

As the Jets look to fill their new void, names like Bill Cowher will surface and resonate through the airwaves. What will the Jets do? What will Brett Favre do?

Only time will tell.