Braylon Edwards traded to the New York Jets, Eric Mangini helping rebuild the team that fired him

October 8, 12:28 AMNew England Patriots ExaminerSean Crowe

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Cleveland Browns coach Eric Mangini, left, talks with
wide receiver Braylon Edwards (17). The New York Jets
reached an agreement with the Browns. Wednesday
Oct. 7, 2009, to acquire Edwards in exchange for wide
receiver Chansi Stuckey, linebacker Jason Trusnik and
undisclosed draft choices. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)

Tears were shed in New England when Eric Mangini was fired by the New York Jets. Seriously.

Nobody in New England was happy to see Mangini leave the Jets. We were all hoping for Mangini to stick around for a few more seasons.

With him around, we knew the Jets would always be...well…the Jets.

When he was fired, we were devastated. When he was hired by Cleveland, we were perplexed (and a little amused). This is what I said after the Browns announced they had hired Mangini:

Let me get this straight, because I’m a little confused here.

The Patriots had Romeo Crennel as their defensive coordinator. He was wildly successful. The Cleveland Browns hired him to become their new head coach.

He was, by all accounts, a failure.

Eric Mangini was the Patriots’ defensive coordinator after Crennel left. He was mediocre, even having his play calling duties stripped towards the end of the season. He then became the head coach of the New York Jets and was fired after overseeing one of the great collapses in NFL history.

And the Cleveland Browns have hired him to replace Crennel.

Gee, I wonder how this is going to work out?

On the bright side, we all thought, at least there’s another AFC team we won’t have to worry about for a couple of seasons.

We knew there’d be entertaining developments like rookies being forced to take 10 hour bus rides to help out at Mangini’s camp, $1700 fines for forgetting to pay for a $3 bottle of water, and lots and lots of losing.

In a “we like to watch train wrecks” sort of way, we were kind of looking forward to it.

What we never expected was that the incompetence of a Mangini run Browns organization would result in the New York Jets landing a franchise quarterback on draft day and the number one receiver they desperately needed this week.

Seriously Eric? Did you look back on your years in New York and decide you felt bad? Wanted to do a little something for the old team to make up for how inept you were when you were still cashing their checks?

Braylon Edwards could be, I stress could be, the missing piece for the Jets offense. Yesterday the Jets had nothing resembling a number one receiver. Edwards gives them a guy who, while he’s struggled recently, certainly has the talent to be that guy.

Thank YOU Eric Mangini. You haven’t screwed New England this bad since you tanked the Denver playoff game on your way to New York.

To be fair, Edwards could be looking at a suspension for allegedly punching one of LeBron James’ friends in the face outside a club in Cleveland. And when LeBron James doesn’t like you, you’re probably not going to last very long in Cleveland.

That said, the Browns are now directly responsible for giving the Jets their starting quarterback and best wide receiver.

And the Jets are a better team today than they were tomorrow thanks to Eric Mangini. Which is something we very rarely said when he was actually working for the Jets.

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Questions? Comments? Insults? You can email them to Sean Crowe at scrowe@gmail.com.