12/01 — Eric Mangini opened his news conference today, less than a day after the Jets' 34-17 home loss to Denver, with a mea culpa.

"I really don't feel much differently than I felt after the game," the Jets head coach said. "None of the three phases played the way they're capable of playing. Obviously I need to do a better job of coaching."

That led Jane McManus of the Journal News to ask Mangini what specifically he might have done differently during the game or during the week before the game.

"I think anytime you go out and don't perform as you can, there are things we need to do and to get corrected," he said. "During the course of the week it could've been more consistent. That's really a function of what I have to do, make sure it's as consistent as possible."

McManus followed up by asking about anything he might've wanted to do differently in the game. Mangini offered two examples.

"I think on the reverse play with Brad [Smith], I probably would've changed the ballhandling and made it an underhanded pitch instead of an overhanded pitch. That would've softened it a little bit," he said. "I didn't feel like the conditions made that exchange impossible. I thought it was very reasonable. But I think [a softened pitch] could've helped that.

"On the fourth-and-1 play, I liked the concept of going with big people to hard-sell the play action. We really felt like the safety would suck up and we had a chance for a big play to Chris [Baker]," Mangini said. When the safety didn't come up, he said there was a problem with the design for the outlet on that play.

"We had an outlet. I just don't think it was as good as it could've possibly been so Brett had a better opportunity to get a first down. That part of the play didn't work. So those were two things."

Besides self-scouting, Mangini was asked about official scouting, specifically of the ruling on the Jerricho Cotchery fumble of that first-quarter pitch from Smith. After J-Co appeared to get possession of the ball, rookie LB Wesley Woodyard hit him hard, jarring the ball loose for safety Vernon Fox to pick it up and return it for the game's first score. He said this was a play the Jets would be talking with the league about, as they and all teams do with officials' calls every week.

"Yeah, that's definitely one we'll want some more clarity on," he said, "in terms of what the coaching point is going forward, how should you attack defensively in terms of a player lying on the ground."

Mangini wasn't as sure about talking to the league about the Denver injury situation in the second half.

"Player safety is a priority and I respect that," he said of asking the NFL to review the matter. "It's individuals. It's hard. I don't know how you would be able to get clarity on that."

But the coach has had clarity for a long time on how to improve the Jets, which is why he was more direct in his remarks about the loss to the Broncos after the game and again today.

"Usually, losses don't make me happy," he said. "When you've set the bar high in terms of your preparation, your consistency and your execution, you want to see that same consistent level. That's what your expectation is, and when that's not met, to me that's a different type of loss.

"To me it's about consistency, the way we approach practice and preparation for each opponent, each game. I thought we'd done a really, really god job with that. To me, you set the bar, you meet the bar, you exceed the bar. Each game of the season, you should be getting better at that. You're either getting a significant gap, or you're letting that gap decline, or someone's getting an edge on you."

Tight Spots

Mangini was asked by the Star-Ledger's Dave Hutchinson about opposing teams' success using their tight ends against the Jets defense this season.

"Most of the teams we've played, their tight ends have been heavily involved in the offense," the coach said, then referring respectively to Tony Gonzalez, Benjamin Watson and Bo Scaife, he said, "Kansas City, he's heavily involved ... New England, he's heavily involved ... Tennessee, he's heavily involved.

"A good receiving tight end or multiple good receiving tight ends, they can create problems. Usually the coverage is on your safeties and linebackers. Play action comes into that because then you can sell the runs more. I don't think it's necessarily unique to one team. We're trying to involve our tight ends as well."

Indeed, rookie Dustin Keller continues to impress. In his last four games he has 27 receptions for 313 yards, 20 going for first downs, 10 converting third downs and one moving the chains on fourth down.

Whatever the reason for this wrinkle in Denver's game plan, the tandem of Daniel Graham and Tony Scheffler continued the success of the tights vs. the Jets this season. Graham and Scheffler combined for 13 receptions and 149 yards. If that sounds like a lot, that's because it is. It's the most catches by the opponents' TE position in a game since 1996. And the last time a team had more TE receiving yardage vs. the Jets was in the second game of '96, when the Colts' Ken Dilger caught seven passes for 156 yards.

Here are the three games this season when the opponents' tight ends caught at least 10 passes:

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"Inside the Jets"

Tonight's edition of "Inside the Jets" on 1050 AM ESPN are S Abram Elam, LB Marques Murrell and recent practice squad players of the week Jehuu Caulcrick and Ropati Pitoitua. Also on hand representing the Jets Flight Crew will be Natalie and Lauren. Don La Greca hosts at Charlie Brown's restaurant in Chatham, N.J., beginning at 7 p.m. today.

If You're Going to San Francisco...

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