Brett Favre's been under a lot of pressure this week because of the seven interceptions he's thrown in the last three games. Defense from his friends on TV and his wife helped deflect some of the scorn, but that won't do much good when your own coach suggests you might want to start playing better.
That's just what Eric Mangini did yesterday, recounting some advice he gave Favre that would work as well in Vegas as it would against NFL defenses.
"You talk through it. You just stress, don't hit on 20, you know what I mean?" Mangini said Wednesday. "Like, sometimes, it's OK to stay and see what the dealer has."
Mangini's got the right idea, but the wrong guy to implement it. Favre throws a lot of interceptions, that's just a fact of life that comes with the hope that he'll hit big plays up the field. It's been that way his entire career. If the Jets wanted a more vanilla quarterback, they probably should have just stuck with Chad Pennington.
It would help more if the Jets also took some insurance, in the form of a smarter game plan from offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer. That would go a long way in limiting how much Favre's mistakes can hurt the team. Just as you can't win in blackjack by hitting on 20 or holding on 7, you can't win in football by wildly veering from one offensive philosophy to another from week to week.
By pushing the blame toward Favre, Mangini is taking it off of himself and Schottenheimer. The constant reinvention of the offense is giving Favre a lot of bad hands to play. He's playing them badly, but the dealer needs to work on his game instead of just blaming the player.
