Transcript of Jets head coach Eric Mangini's news conference after Friday's midday practice — and after the birth of his third son, Zack, in the morning:
Zack was born at 7:43, 7 pounds, 13 ounces, 20 inches long, with very, very healthy lungs. They give him to the dad first while the mom is in the recovery room, and I tried to pacify him there, but I think he was looking for mom at that point. It was great. It was amazing. Everybody is happy and healthy, so we're all excited.
On his baby's middle name…
Why do you ask [smiles]? The middle name is Brett.
On if the baby's middle name is in honor of Brett Favre…
The history behind that is all of my kids have middle names that are related to people that have been important to me in my football career. Jake's middle name is Harrison after Rodney Harrison. He and I get along really well. I was joking with Julie that we should name the baby Rodney, and she said, "I really like the name Harrison." So he became Jake Harrison and [the team] had a really good year that year.
When we were pregnant with Luke, I transitioned from the Patriots to the Jets and gave Luke the middle name William after Bill [Belichick] and had a really good year.
In talking to Brett when we were first recruiting him, I explained that history, and I explained that we were pregnant with our third child, and I really believed that he'd be an instrumental part of another good year and another important part of my football life and that I would commit to "Zack Brett Mangini" at that point [smiles]. That was part of our terms and we stuck with it.
On if Brett Favre is honored…
You'd have to ask him. I think he thinks it's pretty cool. I think it's more interesting, ironic, I don't know what word you use, the fact that he was born on Brett's birthday.
On if he would have been named after Favre even if they didn't share the same birthday…
Yes. That was locked and loaded in the negotiations. But we couldn't have planned that if we wanted to. Pretty exciting.
On if Favre has given a congratulatory present…
I got there right before practice, and I really just went out and operated throughout the course of the day and talked to some guys, but we didn't really discuss it too much today. It is pretty cool that it happens to be on his birthday.
On if he is superstitious and sees the coincidence of having his son born on Favre's birthday as a good sign…
I'm not inherently superstitious, but I like the way it felt.
On the last two seasons going well after he had a newborn…
Yes, I guess maybe there is some correlation there, or a subconscious correlation in my mind.
On if he is hoping his son will be a quarterback…
I don't like my odds there [laughter]. Just judging by how I throw and how every male in our respective families throw, we tend to breed linemen on both sides. Maybe he'll change the equation.
On if he got any sleep…
I went home a little bit early last night just to put the boys to bed because she wasn't going to be home and I wasn't going to be home this morning. Then I finished up some things I had to do and tried to get to sleep, but it wasn't really working out too great there. Then Luke came in at like 2 in the morning, so that broke the REM cycle. He's going to have an interesting adjustment now that there will be someone else potentially in the bedroom beside him.
On how old his son Luke is…
He's 2½. He figured out a way and he's got it cold now -- he goes to bed, falls asleep, but then wakes up when no one is there to put him back in bed. He was waking us up for a while, but then I would take him and put him back in bed, so now he doesn't wake us up, he just climbs in, and you just feel a foot on your head [laughter].
On if Luke slept in a crib…
No, we had transitioned him into the bed. But I like the adjustments he made [laughter].
On if he wakes up and sees that Luke had sneaked into bed…
Yes, he's got it down. He figured out: "If I wake him up, I'm going back." That was good.
On if it is hard to be at work right now…
This is obviously a special day, and I'm going to go back and pick up the boys and bring them over to the hospital. But this is such an important part of our lives as well, being part of the team, and all of this is extremely important to us. But I'll pick up the boys and head back and we'll get to spend time with the family.
On if Favre is going to come over for a birthday dinner…
Rodney and Bill don't tend to come over on Jake and Luke's birthdays, so it's more ceremonial. I mean, they're welcome to come over, either one of them [laughs].
On how old his oldest son is…
He's 4½. I don't know how they're going to react to the fact that they share a birthday and now Zack will get his own birthday. When they didn't have anything to compare it to, I think we would have been in better shape. But now we'll have to see how that goes.
On his two older sons having the same birthday…
I think as we get older, birthdays take on that real significance, not that it doesn't now. Although Julie [Mangini] can shop pretty effectively for both of them.
On naming his sons after people and the risk of having one of those relationships turn out poorly…
To me, it's about the experiences, the meaning, the background and the history. That's really what it's about, and that's what it meant at the time. That never changes. We have an offensive player, a defensive player and a coach. We'll see which one works out better.
On needing a fourth child to represent special teams…
That's right. We don't have a special-teamer. We'll have to go for four.
On if he has received advice from players about how to balance football and a newborn during the season…
We're on pretty different schedules, the coaches and players [laughs]. No, I guess, would be the answer.
On if he is worried that having a child in season won't go smoothly…
No, it'll go smooth. That doesn't concern me at all. Julie is great, and him being up late, that works out for me. What I like is he'll be up when I'm home. The other two will be asleep and we'll be able to hang out.
On if that would cut into his sleep…
It takes me a while to fall asleep when I get home anyway. It'll be great.
On if he has other family willing to help…
Yes, we do. [Julie's] mom is here today. My mom is going to come tomorrow, and different family members will come through the weekend. I have a buddy coming in from Australia for the game, so it's nice he'll be able to see him, we'll have a group coming through. A lot of people come to the home games anyway, so they'll be able to see him there.
On Darrelle Revis' improvement…
It's because of him. It's really because of him. A lot of progress that players make you do gain with experience, and that always helps. It's consistent work ethic. It's consistent practice. He doesn't like to get beat. He doesn't like any of those things.
Every day he's working on a weakness. He and I will talk about it. He's incredibly humble. He takes the coaching point. You see him take that coaching point and go apply it on the field, and that's always what you're looking for from my perspective and from the coaching staff's perspective, that ability to take those things and be confident and comfortable enough with yourself to really work on your weaknesses because it's much easier to go out and play to your strengths. He's done that. As long as he keeps doing that, he'll keep improving.
On Revis' improvements from last year…
There was a play last year where the ball was underthrown, and he ended up getting a pass interference penalty because when it's underthrown and when you're running with a receiver and the receiver slows down, the one thing you know right away is the ball is coming. The ball is in the air, and it's going to be underthrown, so that guy is going to stop at some point, really in the next four or five steps, and the tendency is to turn into the receiver, to face him and play the ball, and that leads to pass interference.
What you want to do is you want to turn back for the ball and actually jump into the receiver, jump up and into the receiver and play the ball. You have to train your body to do that, and there are a lot of keys that you have to recognize. That's one thing that has happened multiple times since then that he's played so much better.
There's not one thing. He's worked on his press-man technique in terms of his footwork and his hand placement. We talked about the stem of the route when the receiver is actually running before he breaks and how to play that, and I can see him working conscientiously on that aspect of it. Zone reads, he made a lot more interceptions in practice, which are now translated into more interceptions in games.
You can go and play the ball in practice and you can do it in one way where you may knock it down and think, "Oh, in the game I'll make that interception." You only get so many chances in a game to play the ball, and if you don't practice playing the ball aggressively and how you're going to do it in the game, it doesn't translate. You have to train your body, and he does that.
I see those things paying off in terms of the interceptions. He's made some incredible ones in practice and some really, really good ones in the game.
