Jets fire Mangini after 9-7 season, 23-26 tenure as coach - NFL - CBSSports.com Football
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- The New York Jets fired coach Eric Mangini, a day after a team that harbored Super Bowl hopes with five games left failed to make the playoffs.
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The Jets started the season 8-3 under quarterback Brett Favre, beating New England and Tennessee on the road in consecutive weeks and raising visions among their fans of a Super Bowl trip.
But they went 1-4 in their final five games, losing to Denver, San Francisco, Seattle and Miami and barely beating Buffalo. They did not reach the postseason for the second straight year despite a massive offseason spending spree that included trading for Favre after his retirement and unretirement from Green Bay.
The 39-year-old Favre had just two touchdown passes and nine interceptions in those final five games, led the league in interceptions with 22 and complained after Sunday's 24-17 loss to Miami of shoulder, neck and back pains. The win gave the Dolphins the AFC East title under Chad Pennington, the Jets' longtime quarterback who was cut when the team obtained Favre.
The 37-year-old Mangini was 23-26 in three seasons in his first head coaching job. He had another year remaining on his contract. In 2006, his first season, he took a team that had been 4-12 the previous year to the playoffs with a 10-6 record and earned the nickname "Mangenious" from the local tabloids.
"For the current New York Jets organization, we've made the decision to move on," owner Woody Johnson said at a news conference Monday morning. "It's a judgment call.
"I don't think it was one thing," he continued. "We had to go in a different direction. There's nothing specific. It's just a call we made. Hopefully, it's correct."
Johnson said the final decision was made Sunday night but that the process had been going on a long time.
"We met with the coach this morning," Johnson said. "We thanked him for all the good things he had done for us, we thanked him for his dedication and his loyalty. But he understood."
Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum praised Mangini, saying he did not think he had lost the team.
"Again, Eric has left a really good foundation here, and we're looking forward to building on that foundation," Tannenbaum said.
The Jets, 4-12 a year ago, began the offseason by spending big money on veterans, notably offensive linemen Alan Faneca and Damien Woody and linebacker Calvin Pace. They also traded away linebacker Jonathan Vilma, a young standout, because he did not fit Mangini's 3-4 scheme and traded for Kris Jenkins, a 350-pound defensive tackle with a history of back problems.
Jenkins was a standout during the early part of the season but tailed off toward the end.
Lions put Marinelli out of his misery after 0-16 season - NFL - CBSSports.com Football
ALLEN PARK, Mich. -- The Detroit Lions fired coach Rod Marinelli on Monday, a day after the team became the first in NFL history to finish with an 0-16 record.
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The Lions issued a news release announcing the firing, with team owner William Clay Ford promoting Tom Lewand to team president and Martin Mayhew to general manager.
The team planned to open their locker room to the media Monday morning. Marinelli was to be available for comment at a news conference.
The Lions completed their winless season with a loss to Green Bay on Sunday, pushing aside Tampa Bay's 1976 season of 0-14 as the league's worst.
Marinelli won only one of his last 24 games and was 10-38 in three years after former team president Matt Millen gave the former Buccaneers assistant his first head coaching job.
Millen was fired as team president three months ago, but the players he left behind coupled with the former Tampa Bay players Marinelli wanted created the perfect storm for a historic season of futility.
Marinelli was the third coach Millen hired -- following Steve Mariucci and Marty Mornhinweg -- in what has been the NFL's worst eight-season stretch since World War II.
ALLEN PARK, Mich. -- The Detroit Lions fired coach Rod Marinelli on Monday, a day after the team became the first in NFL history to finish with an 0-16 record.
Browns follow Savage firing by ousting Crennel as coach - NFL - CBSSports.com Football
BEREA, Ohio -- The Cleveland Browns have fired coach Romeo Crennel following a 4-12 season.
The firing came one day after general manager Phil Savage was dismissed. Owner Randy Lerner met with Crennel on Monday morning and the team announced the coach's firing moments before a news conference was to begin.
Crennel had three years left on a contract extension he signed in January after the Browns went 10-6 and just missed the playoffs.
Crennel went 24-40 in four seasons with the Browns, who entered 2008 with huge expectations but collapsed amid a series of injuries and uneven play on offense and defense. They didn't score an offensive touchdown while losing their last six games and posted their fifth season of at least 10 losses in six years.
Although Crennel's dismissal had been expected for some time, Lerner waited until after the season out of respect for the 61-year-old coach and former defensive coordinator, who had never been a head coach at any level before taking over the Browns in 2005.
Lerner is expected to make a strong run at former Pittsburgh Steelers coach Bill Cowher, who has been working as a studio analyst for CBS since stepping down following the 2006 season. Cowher has given no indication he is ready to return to coaching.
Crennel was regarded as the top coordinator available when the Browns hired him shortly after they brought in Savage. Crennel accepted Lerner's offer in the hours after winning his third Super Bowl as New England's defensive coordinator. Crennel won two previous Super Bowl rings as an assistant coach with the New York Giants.
Crennel's vast experience, defensive knowledge and even-keeled demeanor were vital at the time for the Browns, who were coming off a 4-12 season under Butch Davis. Cleveland went 6-10 in Crennel's first year and just 4-12 in 2006, when they lost six of their last seven games.
But after a 10-6 season in 2007, Crennel was given the contract extension through the 2011 season. With an explosive offense and six Pro Bowlers, the Browns were tagged as one of the league's rising teams entering '08. They were rewarded with five prime-time TV appearances but their schedule proved to be too much.
They were also ravaged by injuries as quarterbacks Derek Anderson and Brady Quinn were lost for the season, forcing Crennel to start recently signed Bruce Gradkowski in the season finale at Pittsburgh. The Browns were beaten 31-0, dropping Crennel to 0-8 in his career against the Steelers - the only full-time Browns coach not to beat Cleveland's rival.
Crennel was genuinely respected by the Browns. The players referred to him as RAC, his initials, and were disappointed they didn't play better for him.
