Eric Mangini was introduced to the folks in Cleveland yesterday.

Well la-dee-F%$#kin-da.

The abused puppy syndrome has been rampant throughout Jets nation and I expected Mangini to deliver a body blow right away.  Surely the first thing Mangini would do as head coach is have a sit down with Romeo Crennel.  They’d reminisce about the good ol’ days in Boston when they used to win games and cheat in Super Bowls.  Crennel already stated publicly that he’s up for remaining in Cleveland as the Defensive Coordinator so why wouldn’t he want to stay on with an old colleague? Mangini’s got to know that the Jets have an eye on Crennel to replace our lame duck defensive coordinator Bob Sutton because he’s a perfect fit to come in and patch up our 3-4 defense.  It’s a personnel specific defense and if we went back to the 4-3 we’d have to some serious overhauling.  Crennel’s one of the few 3-4 coaches out there and not only that, he knows how to run it to perfection.  You just can’t argue with winning 3 Super Bowls in four years.

The word on the street (and in the rags) is that Mangini is looking to hire Rob Ryan, his old buddy and colleague.  I can see why Mangini would go that route.  After all, he has been trying to lure Ryan away from the Raiders for years.  I’m not saying this is a mistake on Mangini’s part, it’s more of a break for the Jets.  Crennel won’t go from Head Coach to Linebacker Coach.  If Mangini and Ryan reconnect in Cleveland, Crennel is back on the market for a job and why not jump back into the incestuous AFC East where he’ll intimately know everybody on any side of the ball?  I guess Belicheat might try to talk him out of it.

Whoever ends up coaching the Jets next year will inherit a 3-4 defense that still needs some work.  Will they stick with the scheme or revamp?  Crennel’s a great fit for a coach (let’s say Rex Ryan) who already runs the 3-4.  Diabolical combination, that one could be.  I guess we’ll have to wait a few weeks for this one to play out but for me, Mangini’s off to a great start in Cleveland.