NEW YORK — The New York Jets interviewed Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo about their coaching vacancy Saturday.
Spagnuolo, one of the team’s top candidates, also met Thursday with Cleveland and Detroit about their openings, and was scheduled to talk to Denver on Saturday night.
The Jets spoke with current assistants Bill Callahan and Brian Schottenheimer on Friday in the first round of interviews since the team fired Eric Mangini on Monday.
New York received permission to speak with Baltimore defensive coordinator Rex Ryan, but won’t be able to meet with him until the Ravens’ season is over or during the bye before the Super Bowl, if the Ravens make it.
The Ravens play at Miami in the playoffs today.
Similarly, the Jets wouldn’t be allowed to offer Spagnuolo a job until the Giants’ season ends. The NFC’s top-seeded team has a first-round bye in the playoffs. Spagnuolo, 49, has become a popular candidate because of the Giants’ success on defense the last two seasons.
He turned down the Washington Redskins job last year after being lauded for the pass-rushing game plan that stunned Tom Brady and New England in last year’s Super Bowl.
Jets owner Woody Johnson is out of the country and was not involved in the interviews conducted by general manager Mike Tannenbaum, but is said to be in constant contact with him regarding the coaching search.
Johnson has made it clear he prefers to keep football, business and coaching duties separate, so any coach the Jets hire would have to fit into that structure.
That prerequisite likely cooled New York on Mike Shanahan, fired Tuesday by the Broncos. Shanahan went 146-91 over 14 seasons, including the playoffs, but was also the team’s executive vice president of football operations.
Bill Cowher, thought to be the Jets’ early No. 1 target, pulled his name out of consideration late Tuesday night.
Vikings avoid local TV blackout
EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. — Fans purchased more than 20,000 tickets to Minnesota’s playoff game over six days, assuring there will be no local TV blackout when the Vikings host Philadelphia at the Metrodome today.
The Vikings announced the sales results Saturday afternoon for their wild-card playoff game with the Eagles after moving the remaining 3,100 seats that were still unsold the day before. There were a limited number of tickets remaining for the game, including some returned by the Eagles.
The NFL gave the Vikings two extensions, the second until Saturday — 24 hours before kickoff — after they sold about 5,000 seats from Thursday to Friday.
The last blackout was for the Vikings’ last game of the 1997 regular season.
Jets’ Favre leaning toward retirement.
Brett Favre appears to be leaning toward retirement. For now.
But if previous offseasons are any indication, be sure to check back next week.
Favre, in his first public comments since after last Sunday’s season-ending loss to the Dolphins, gave the impression to Sports Illustrated’s Peter King, in a conversation Friday night, that he will retire.
King wrote that Favre responded, “I’ll take some time, but it may be time to look in a different direction” as far as the Jets’ quarterback position is concerned.
Lions ex-president Millen takes rap for 0-16 record.
Fired Detroit Lions president Matt Millen, the architect of the NFL’s first 0-16 team, says he’s responsible for its historic encounter with failure.
Appearing Saturday on NBC’s “Football Night in America,” Millen said he would have fired himself after the 2008 season. He said that being sacked after the third week cost the Lions and coach Rod Marinelli some needed stability and consistency.
Detroit went 31-84 under Millen, a Super Bowl-winning linebacker lured out of the broadcast booth by owner William Clay Ford in 2001.
The Associated Press
