A lot of people were shocked when the New York Jets fired head coach Robert Saleh on Tuesday, but Eric Mangini probably was not one of them.
Mangini was the head coach of the Jets from 2006-2008. He currently works as an analyst for FOX Sports 1. During a segment on an episode of “First Things First” last week, Mangini referred to the Jets’ game against the Minnesota Vikings as an “absolute must-win.” His rationale was that Jets owner Woody Johnson, who served as the United States ambassador to the United Kingdom from 2017-2021, would not want to be embarrassed in front of his friends in London.
“This is an absolute must-win, and here’s why. Woody Johnson, the 66th ambassador to the U.K., all of his buddies are gonna be over there and after the game when he’s eating tea and crumpets, he’s gonna want to be talking about his team and how successful they are,” Mangini said. “Not only that, you’ve got the former first-round draft pick of the New York Jets playing against you and playing really well, and you’ve got a 40-year-old quarterback.”
As Mangini delivered the take, his colleagues burst into laughter. One of them even said, “What a take, who wants to follow that one?”
You can see the video:
Last week, Eric Mangini predicted Woody Johnson would be “pissed off” by a loss in London because friends from his time as US Ambassador to the UK would be in attendance. pic.twitter.com/B6AfcmY1QZ
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 8, 2024
Well, who’s laughing now? If the Jets beat Sam Darnold and the Vikings in London, Saleh would still have his job. That means the game was a must-win for the head coach, at the very least.
Johnson also said on Tuesday that firing Saleh was “my decision alone.” Mangini’s prediction that Johnson would be livid if the Jets lost in London seems spot on.
There has been speculation about what Rodgers’ role in Saleh’s dismissal may have been, but the reality is the London loss seems to have held a lot of weight. Mangini knows Johnson better than most, and he proved it with his Nostradamic take.
