Eric Mangini and the New York Jets Could Be in an Interesting Situation Sunday

This weekend, the New York Jets will play the Miami Dolphins and the New England Patriots will play the Buffalo Bills. Each of those teams, except the Bills, is hoping to go to the postseason. The clinch scenario for each team will depend on the success or failure of at least one of the others.

If the Patriots lose, the Jets can clinch with a win. Miami can clinch with a win no matter what. The Patriots can get in by winning their game coupled with a Miami loss.

The Baltimore Ravens will clinch the sixth and final AFC playoff spot by defeating the Jaguars. That is highly likely to happen, but if they should lose, and the Patriots and Dolphins win, the Patriots will take the spot from them. If the Ravens lose and the Jets and Patriots win, the Jets will get the spot.

The only thing Matt Cassel and the Patriots can do on Sunday is win their game at Buffalo. They control their destiny half way. Provided they win, they will clearly be rooting for the Jets.

This is where the interesting situation begins. The Patriots and Bills are scheduled to play one of the "early games" at 1:00. Their game will be over well before the Jets and Dolphins play their "late game" at 4:15. The Jets will know the outcome of the Patriots game before they take the field in their own game.

At that point, if the Patriots win, the Jets will be all but eliminated from the playoffs. They could hope for Baltimore to lose, but that is highly unlikely since the Ravens will be playing the 5-10 Jaguars (at home), and Jacksonville may be without their only dangerous player, Maurice Jones-Drew.

Assuming the Patriots win, the Jets will have the fate of two teams, rivals at that, in their hands. Lose, and watch old friend Chad Pennington and Dolphins complete their stunning redemption from a 1-15 season only a year ago.

Win, and Eric Mangini's archrival Bill Belichick and his Patriots will charge into the playoffs, being one of the season's top storylines (making the playoffs even without Tom Brady).

The Jets and Dolphins look to be fairly evenly matched on paper. Brett Farve vs. Chad Pennington, Ronnie Brown vs. Thomas Jones, Ted Ginn vs. Jerricho Cotchery. Of course, the real life matchup is difficult to predict.

Brett Favre has commented on his throwing shoulder more and more in recent weeks, saying "I’m sure if we MRIed enough, we’d probably find something." These rumblings have been confirmed by his play.

In his past four games, he has six interceptions and only one touchdown. He has been uncharacteristically underthrowing his receivers on passes he used to make without a problem. It seems that age has finally caught up to the "ageless one."

For Eric Mangini, looking up at that big scoreboard at the Meadowlands and most likely seeing the Ravens beating the Jaguars handily, and also noticing that the Patriots took care of the Bills, would the thought of trying to let the Dolphins win to keep Bill Belichick out of the playoffs cross his mind?

The Jets could start to call deep pass patterns, which Favre would undoubtedly have great difficulty with, and which would probably end up in an interception.

"Tanking" a game to prevent another team from making the postseason is one of the lowest things any team in any sport can do. It would probably be above most of the players, and above Mangini in just about every other circumstance. This time though, it's different.

The man he would be halting is Bill Belichick, his former mentor. The man he blew the whistle on in the "spygate" scandal. The man he had an extremely cold handshake with just two years ago, and the one who has beaten him in six of the two teams' last eight meetings, including the '06 wild card playoff game.

Would he do it? Personally, I don't know. Based on the history of the teams and especially Mangini's personal history with Belichick, I wouldn't put it past him, especially if his job may be on the line after the game anyway.

In any case, the stars could very well align perfectly to put him in this very situation, and God only knows what will be going through his head come Sunday at about 5:00.