E-Boland & Gang Green

Eric Mangini strolled down the wall aisle of the auditorium in the Jets complex at Hofstra late this morning, stepped onto the small wooden stage and took his place behind a podium.

He gazed at his “team” for the day.

Gazing back was a group that can be best described as a “where are they now” picture for a bunch of people probably picked last for playground games many years before. [Excluding, of course, the Jets PR staff and what seems to be an athletic collection of interns].

We’re talking about the Jets beat reporters from the various media organizations in New York and New Jersey that cover the team on a regular basis, invited to Weeb Ewbank Hall for a day entitled – on the Evite – “Learn defense with Eric Mangini.”

It was a three-hour whirlwind of terminology, charts, film and rapid-fire lecturing/questioning from Mangini, all meant to give those reporting on the team an inside look at what a Jets player experiences almost on a daily basis.

It started with Mangini distributing to each of us an actual playbook. We’ve all seen them in players’ lockers but might be led out in cuffs if ever caught trying to peer inside. Today, we were given a tour through just one section of the playbook, and “tour” is the appropriate word. Size-wise, envision two Manhattan phonebooks bound together. For instance, there were 48 pages on offensive terminology alone. And that was before going through some of the plays, an amalgam of “Xs” and “Ys” and “Zs” running pattern after pattern, page by page by page….

Though the day was about defense, Mangini started with some basic offensive concepts; for instance a call with “22” indicates a formation with two backs, two tight ends and one receiver [a “21” would be two backs, one tight end and two receivers]. Blocking schemes have their own descriptions as well, ACE and ICE but two examples.

As for defense, Mangini photocopied and handed out to us one defense he wanted us to learn. It was a basic 3-4 front that called for a five-man rush, one safety deep and five players in man coverage.

His teaching of that one defense and the seemingly endless adjustments possible off of it based on the offense’s approach reminded me of a classic scene from Back to School when Rodney Dangerfield’s character, Thornton Melon, is in front of his professors to take a three-hour oral exam.

The stuffy English professor, Dr. Phillip Barbay, says to Dangerfield’s character, Thornton Melon, “I only have one question…”

Pause, while Melon briefly exhales.

“In 27 parts.”

Sigh.

There is a professorial quality – though nothing approaching stuffiness – to Mangini, a comparison made by Jets PR boss Bruce Speight. Mangini, obviously, has an expert grasp of the subject matter but also an ability to put it in “real” terms in order to teach it.

Well, sort of.

Mangini likes to put his players on the spot during – or even before – meetings. One thing he likes to do with rookies is in the minicamp distribute everyone’s picture to a rookie, then call on that rookie the next day to stand up and identify as many players as he can. That's 80-90 players.

Today, after everyone in the auditorium introduced themselves, I heard, “Erik, stand up.”

(My thought at that precise moment: insert the "Oh -- " sentence structure of your choice).

“Turn around and give the names of the other people standing up,” Mangini said, gesturing to the five people, Jets employees that I thankfully knew, who were standing.

He said it quite evenly, though for some reason it made me feel as if I was one of R. Lee Ermy's recruits in Full Metal Jacket. It was a severely scaled down version of what Mangini has his players do but the point is, had Mangini put a family photo in front of me – mine not his – I probably would have had to think hard before answering.

Fortunately, when Mangini started quizzing us on formations and even called a few reporters up to draw up defenses for some offensive plays, he didn't get around to my name in that particular game of roulette.

My thoughts during the exercise and now: how do any of these players keep all this stuff straight, either in games or practice, or a meeting for that matter?

If you’ve read this far, thanks. Something to make you feel good about this season? Well, toward the end of the session, Mangini ran through some game film from his two years on the job and some of this season’s minicamp practices. He several times pointed out the intellect of his linebackers – David Harris and Eric Barton in particular – on certain plays, and from one of the minicamp workouts he highlighted a specific bit of teamwork from the new offensive line. He also singled out Darrelle Revis, running back the film several times in showing the second-year cornerback using near perfect technique at the line in taking Terrell Owens completely out of the play.

Anyway, in terms of the day, which was Mangini's idea, it was instructive and he didn’t seem in a hurry to end it. Overall – counting the mini press conference at the very end he gave for some of our pre-training camp stories that will be coming this weekend – Mangini spent roughly four hours talking and teaching football.

And I never got the idea Mangini’s plan was to humiliate anyone. He certainly could have done that at will had that been the idea. Rather, I think 1.) he wanted to give us a rarely seen look at what his players go through and 2.) teach us something new about the sport we cover.

Mission accomplished on both fronts.

In the end, I was reminded of George Plimpton’s seminal book, Paper Lion. During the writer's time in training camp with the Lions, Plimpton was given occasion to play ever so briefly at quarterback in a scrimmage. Remembering later how the fans in attendance that day gave him a loud ovation after a slew of clumsy mistakes, Plimpton wrote:

“It verified the assumption that the average fan would have about an amateur blundering into the brutal world of professional football. The outsider did not belong, and there was comfort in that being proved.”

NOTE IF YOU’VE READ THIS FAR PART II: Don’t forget - a red ink day, I know, for some of you - the Jets live chat is still scheduled for tomorrow (Wednesday) at 2 p.m.

Enjoy the All-Star Game.