FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Eric Mangini spent quite a few late
nights at the office helping Bill Belichick draw up
championship-winning game plans during six years as an assistant
coach with the New England Patriots.
The rookie head coach is running his own bleary-eyed meetings
these days with the New York Jets, but Belichick's influence is
clear.
"Anytime that you go into a new position, there are a lot of
things that are borrowed," Mangini said. "And I borrowed a lot of
information from great people along the road."
The Jets and Patriots aren't exactly carbon copies of each
other, but from the 3-4 defensive scheme to the no-nonsense
approach by the coaching staff, the teams have lots in common. And
for good reason. New England has won three of the last five Super
Bowls, so the Patriots' formula for success is an easy blueprint
for title-hungry teams.
"There are definitely similarities defensively," Belichick
said. "The bottom line is the Jets are a good football team. Eric
has done a good job with them, their staff has done a good job with
them. They have a lot of great players."
And some of them are playoff-tested former Patriots such as
defensive end Bobby Hamilton, linebacker Matt Chatham and
cornerback Hank Poteat.
"Y'all say they have a lot of guys that have a lot of playoff
experience, but when you look at our roster, we've got half their
team here, so we've got a lot of playoff experience, too," Jets
receiver Laveranues Coles said.
Belichick and Mangini will match wits for the third time this
season when the Patriots (12-4) host the Jets (10-6) in a
first-round playoff game Sunday. It's the second time the AFC East
rivals are meeting in the playoffs, with the first a victory by New
England in 1985.
"I've been fortunate with the guys that I have been able to
work with, and you're always going to draw on experiences to handle
situations that you've never had to handle before," said Mangini,
New England's defensive backs coach from 2000-04 before becoming
defensive coordinator last season.
"The important thing was taking what I liked from those
experiences and then pulling it all together and trying to put
together the best program for the Jets."
The most obvious similarity between the teams is their use of
the 3-4 defensive scheme, something Mangini brought with him. The
Patriots have thrived in that system, especially this season while
allowing a franchise record low of 14.81 points per game, but it
took some time for the Jets to adjust before winning three straight
to earn a surprising playoff berth.
"We've gotten more comfortable with it as the weeks progressed,
and the coaches got more comfortable with us," linebacker Victor
Hobson said. "That gives people a lot more freedom to do more
things and give different looks."
Tom Brady knows that firsthand. After losing the first meeting
at home in Week 2, the Jets stepped up the pressure against New
England's quarterback eight weeks later. The result was a 17-14
victory, and the lasting image was a muddied Brady sitting on the
turf as the Jets celebrated around him.
"It was a big confidence booster, but that was just one game,"
defensive end Shaun Ellis said. "This is a totally different game,
there is a lot more at stake. They'll be more prepared than the
last game."
Brady, uncharacteristically forced into mistakes in the last
meeting, surely relishes the chance to bounce back in the playoffs,
where he's 10-1 in his career.
"They made more plays than we did," said Brady, who has nine
TDs and three INTs while helping New England to a 6-1 mark since
the last game against the Jets. "All the scheme stuff is
different, but hopefully we are a little more prepared."
Making adjustments is something Belichick has mastered in his
eight years with the Patriots. Whether it's mixing and matching
players on both sides of the ball -- using receiver Troy Brown as a
defensive back or linebacker Mike Vrabel as a tight end, for
instance -- or using a committee of running backs, the Patriots
always seem ready for anything.
"We know each other so well that I'm sure we're both trying to
do something that the other hasn't seen, so it will be a little
unexpected," Jets safety Kerry Rhodes said. "The team that
handles it well, gets hit first and bounces back will be the team
that can pull it out."
New England has also built its success on being unpredictable,
rarely showing the same approach. The Patriots might run a lot one
week and get pass-happy the next; blitz in bunches or hang back in
coverage depending on the game plan.
Sound familiar? The Jets have been doing much of the same, and
that's no surprise to Mangini's former players.
"Even when Eric was here, he was a smart coach," Patriots
defensive tackle Richard Seymour said. "He was aware which way the
wind was blowing. We just understand that he's a smart guy and he's
going to pay attention to detail, and so is our coach.
"When I look at both of those guys, they do a good job of
covering from A to Z and a good job of managing all the situations,
and not leaving much to chance."