Nick Mangold, the Jets’ starting center, lay belly down on the field in Minnesota like a bear rug. His injury on the Jets’ second play from scrimmage last Sunday against the Vikings looked bad from any angle, especially the one his father, Vern, had from his seat in the family room of Mangold’s prospective in-laws in Ohio.
CBS, which was televising the game, took a commercial break, and as one advertisement bled into another, the thought occurred to Vern that perhaps the network was showing a lot of commercials to avoid having to televise his son being carted off in an ambulance. It was not like the 1996 movie “Jerry Maguire,” in which Cuba Gooding Jr.’s character, receiver Rod Tidwell, is hurt during a game, and his family, which is watching the telecast, phones Tidwell’s agent at the stadium to find out the extent of the injury.
Vern did not know anybody at the Metrodome to call. “He was a nervous wreck,” Therese Mangold, Vern’s wife and Mangold’s mother, said Tuesday by telephone.
When at last the network returned to the game and showed Mangold walking off the field, Vern’s relief was palpable.
Mangold, who sustained a bruised hip when he collided with his teammate Leon Washington, returned for the Jets’ next offensive series and did not draw any attention to himself after that, a sure sign he was performing well.
After the game, Therese reached her son on his cellphone and asked about his physical well-being. He assured her that he was fine, then said, “Mother, you worry too much.”
Outsiders expressed concern at the start of the season about the Jets parting ways with the veteran Kevin Mawae, a six-time Pro Bowl center, and entrusting the line calls to Mangold, a rookie whom the team drafted in the first round, with the 29th pick over all.
It proved so much needless heedfulness. A three-year starter at Ohio State, Mangold has made a seamless transition from Division I-A football to the National Football League. He is a big reason the Jets are 8-6 and in the thick of the playoff race heading into their game Monday night at Miami.
“He’s never rattled,” quarterback Chad Pennington said. “Nothing overwhelms him, whether it’s preparation, whether it’s game time. He just takes it all in stride. It’s pretty amazing as a rookie to be able to do that.”
The 22-year-old Mangold has played as well as any rookie and better than most, including his linemate D’Brickashaw Ferguson, the No. 4 overall pick, who is having a solid season at left tackle. In 14 starts, Mangold has drawn only two penalties and has played every down except one in New England last month, which he missed after being poked in the eye.
He is a deserving candidate for the offensive Rookie of the Year award, although Mangold is really the everyman of candidates: invisible in plain sight.
Since The Associated Press began recognizing outstanding rookies in 1967, running backs have been the most honored (30), followed by receivers (7) and quarterbacks (2). A lineman has never won the award.
“I think it’s hard to overstate how good a job Nick’s done,” said left guard Pete Kendall, an 11th-year veteran, adding, “It’s hard for even guys that don’t play on the offensive line in this locker room to understand the difficulties of playing center, being a rookie and all that.”
Kendall, who started 10 games at center last season after Mawae sustained a season-ending biceps injury, added, “He’s come in and, to me, he’s played like he’s been here before.”
The transition has not been a snap. The shotgun exchange was the bane of Mangold’s training camp. He struggled with it and ended up running a lot of punishment laps. “He put the ball on the ground a couple of times,” Coach Eric Mangini said. “That fazed him and me.”
Mangold is not easily knocked away from his normal state of equilibrium. “I don’t know that I can ever say Nick’s been rattled,” said his mother, Therese, whose stolidity Mangold seems to have inherited. “Everything with him is nice and even-keeled.”
It may not look like it, Mangold said, but every week is a struggle for him. “It’s one of those things where there’s always something that you could do better,” he said.
He has learned a lot from Kendall about managing his assignments and other people’s expectations. “He has taught me about just being your own player,” Mangold said. “Not saying, ‘I’m going to go out there and I’m going to try to mold myself after someone else.’ Just going out there and taking what I know and putting that out on the field.”
[Mangold Stands Out by Being Inconspicuous] – NY Times
One Response to “Mangold Stands Out”
As a lifelong Jets fan I just want to say what a wonderful job you did this year Nick. Honestly, myself I had you catching on around the middle of the season. I was nervous (as I’m sure you were as well) when Trey Teague went down. I just thought there would be too much of a learning curve on the Jets OL. Especially when you consider you had to make the line calls and D’Brick plays the hardest line position IMO. Those are normally not good positions for rookies to be in.
Just the same, YOU did it seamlessly. You made it look easy.
I’m really looking forward to seeing you play next season. I’m hoping the Jets braintrust decides to add a number 1 running back, a guy who can shoulder a games worth of carries. I hear that guy will be Mike Turner, if so that’s great IMO.
I’m really looking forward to seeing what you can do for the team on the toss-sweep. Lamont Jordan and Curtis Martin used to be awesome running behind the open field blocks of Fabini, Kendall, and Mawae. I think you have the ability to be just as good as the for sure hall-of-famer Mawae.
Good luck during the offseason. Relax and enjoy it. You deserve it….
