The Jets finally have a productive West Coast trip.

After seeing their '09 season crash and burn as a result of an o-fer on four different trips to the West coast for the Jets the fifth time was the charm.

48-29.  16-13 (OT).  24-14.  13-3.  Four trips to the left coast, four terrible losses each one worse than the last..  It took a fifth trip to the West coast for the Jets to finally win one out there.  Last month at the NFL owners meeting the Jets hierarchy met Mark Sanchez and set in motion one of if not the biggest draft day trades in club history, a move that never would've been accomplished without Eric Mangini making a bigger contribution to the Jets future than he ever made during his three years here as the Jets HC.

When the NFL held their Annual Owners' Meeting in Dana Point, California the Jets contingent were so enamored of Mark Sanchez that they even snuck him into the teams hotel to conduct a more thorough interview with him.  When Sanchez held a private workout for the Jets at his former Mission Viejo high school that sealed the deal.  If the Jets could draft Sanchez without blowing up their future that's what they were going to do.

Enter Eric Mangini.

Without the involvement of the Cleveland Browns there's no way the Jets could have made the trade to get Sanchez for so little in return.  Because Mangini, for whatever the reason, seems so enthralled with bringing in ex-Jets with him to Cleveland, the Jets pried the fifth overall pick away from the Browns for a second round pick and a trio of players that can easily be replaced.

While the jury will remain out for quite a while to see if making this bold move up the draft board will pay off there can be no complaint about the price paid to get Sanchez.  No other NFL team would have taken so little to swap the #5 and the #17 spots in the first round.

You have to like the confidence Tannenbaum has in making these big kinds of moves and the way Ryan has brought swagger to the Jets.  In Sanchez the Jets found themselves a QB who has the confident swagger guys like Tannenbaum and Ryan have been looking for since last season ended devoid of both those emotions.

I don't know how much initial success those things will bring to the Jets but after living under the paranoid thumb of Eric Mangini these past three seasons one thing is certain.  This Jets team will be having fun when they play, which should give Jets fans a far more enjoyable product on the field.

Woody Johnson sold a lot of PSL's yesterday and the Jets may have gotten themselves the player they have been trying to replace for the last 33 years. Sounds like a pretty good day for all those concerned.