Mangini, Belichick thaw frosty relations

Eric Mangini smiled when asked if his knack for making halftime adjustments was something he learned from watching Bill Belichick at "the other place."

That, of course, is New England. And the New York Jets coach has often referred to his former employer with that vague description. Mangini changed all that Wednesday.

"We can say `New England' now," he said, causing the contingent of at least 40 media members at the Jets' practice facility to chuckle. "When I was at New England _ with Bill _ I thought he made outstanding adjustments."

That might have marked the first time this season he said the words "New England" and Belichick's first name in one breath.

"We all evolve and change," Mangini said with a grin. "I had a lot of great experiences at New England. We can say `playoffs' now, too. I think there's a lot of words we can talk about now, but, no, I don't attribute it to some epiphany that I had late at night."

Maybe not, but being in the playoffs apparently thaws out even the frostiest of relationships. The two coaches, who'll meet again Sunday in the first round of the playoffs, were full of praise for each other Wednesday. It was a bit of a departure from the tension-filled comments that at times overshadowed their first two meetings as opposing head coaches.

"Eric has done a great job and he's seen the team improve through the course of the year," Belichick said on a conference call with Jets reporters, noticeably referring to Mangini by his first name a number of times.

"I'm not surprised at all," he added. "It's a good football team, it's been a good football team and I'm sure they'll continue to be a good football team."

Mangini took it a step further with his comments about Belichick.

"Obviously, Bill is going to the Hall of Fame as a coach," he said. "You can see that consistently in the level of play and the level of execution week in and week out."

That almost qualifies as a lovefest, considering the apparent cold feelings the two have had since Mangini relinquished his role as Belichick's defensive coordinator to join the Jets last January. It's uncertain what led to the strain because neither coach will address it, but it was clear something went sour.

"I've never said anything negative," Belichick said before repeating the statement twice more.

Before the previous two meetings _ in Week 2, when the Patriots beat the Jets, and Week 10, a road win for New York _ both danced around questions about each other. When asked Wednesday what happened between the two, Belichick paused for several seconds.

"I made comments about Eric when he was hired," he said. "I still feel that way. Nothing has changed there. This game is about these two teams this week playing to keep their season alive. That's really what my focus is and that's what our team's focus is, to try and play well on Sunday and keep our team's season going."

After the first game at the Meadowlands, the two met on the field and exchanged what amounted to a brief, loose handshake. Mangini made it a little more substantial after the Jets won in New England, grabbing hold of Belichick's hand _ although the Patriots coach had little interest in exchanging pleasantries.

"My goal is the respect of the people that I work with, the respect of the coaches and the players, the New York Jets," Mangini said. "That's what my focus is on. That's what I care about. How we play, how we perform, that's what we're all focused on. It's the New York Jets."

The players certainly aren't going to talk about what transpired between the two even if they know.

"I don't think we get that close to Bill," Patriots linebacker Mike Vrabel said. "He's our coach and what we see of him is Xs and Os, and what his personal feelings are toward somebody, we really don't share in."

Belichick has won three Super Bowls with Mangini on his staff, and now has to match wits against him in the playoffs. On the flip side, Mangini knows he's still the student who's spending countless hours drawing up a potential game plan _ the same way the teacher is spending his week.

I think that Bill is ... one of the qualities I admire so much about him, as smart as he is, as much success as he's had, his work ethic hasn't changed," Mangini said. "He puts in the same amount of time and energy and effort and thought into the preseason games, the first game of the season, as he does any other game. It doesn't matter whether it's three Super Bowl rings, man of the year, whatever the accolades are. It doesn't change."

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AP Sports Writer Howard Ulman in Boston contributed to this story.