JET NOTES

In the wake of Chad Pennington’s three-interception game in last week’s blowout loss to the Jaguars, Eric Mangini was asked if Pennington’s performance has shaken his confidence in the team’s starting quarterback entering today’s home game against the Dolphins.

“Not one ounce,” Mangini said. “Chad has the competitiveness that we talk about. He hates to lose. He’s played a lot of good football. There are going to be games where throws get away from you and decisions get away from you. The important thing is to correct it and move on. But he’s played a ton of good football.” Pennington said he put the Jacksonville game behind him as soon as he was handed today’s game-plan.

“I take losing hard,” he said. “I take pride in what I do and I take pride in how our team performs, and that falls on the quarterback with his performance.

When I don’t perform well, I look at that analytically and criticize myself and take it very hard and see where I can get better and help our team win.

“I use Monday and Tuesday to look at that and learn from it. I moved on to Miami once I got the game plan.” Pennington conceded “trying to do to much” in last week’s loss.

“It was a simple case of a quarterback trying to do too much and trying to make more out of something that wasn’t there,” he said.

“That’s why I was disappointed in myself, because that’s not normally how I play the game.

“Normally I try to let the game come to me and let those opportunities come when they present themselves, not try to force those opportunities. And that’s what I did, I forced those opportunities and it hurt me.”

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Two significant branches of the Bill Belichick coaching tree face each other today in Mangini and Nick Saban. Both worked under Belichick in Cleveland before Mangini worked under him with the Jets and in New England.

Saban actually offered Mangini the Dolphins’ defensive coordinator job last year before Mangini was eventually offered the Jets’ head-coaching job.

“Eric certainly proved to be an outstanding coordinator with New England and they’ve had so much success there, and now he’s doing a really good job as a head coach,” Saban said. “Eric is a really bright guy. He understands football, he’s been in a great system for a long time with a great coach in Bill Belichick and obviously we both come from the same tree, root system, professionally and philosophically.” Said Mangini: “I think that Nick Saban is an outstanding coach.

He’s done well everywhere he has been . . . He’s very smart, and very detail-oriented.

“I spent a little bit of time with him in Cleveland. It was a cup of coffee there. Then I interviewed with him down in Miami. I respect him as much as I can respect any head coach in the way he approaches things.”

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WR Laveranues Coles took a pragmatic look at the Jets’ current situation: “I was always brought up to think that you’re only as good as your last game . . . Our last game wasn’t too good, so were not very good right now.”