EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ – It was another rough Sunday for the New York Giants and another miserable season is mercifully over. With a chance to dash the playoff hopes of the hated Eagles and give the fans at least a taste spoiler schadenfreude, the G-men again fell short. The Eagles, despite a rash of injuries, somehow won the division at 9-7 and made the playoffs as the four seed. No one gives them much of a chance, but the 2011 Giants limped into the playoffs in the same position and won the whole frickin’ thing. You never know.
Sadly, that was the last championship for New York and the only one in the decade. Jacob deGrom was given “NY Athlete of the Decade” by the NY Post, for whatever that’s worth. But New York is all about winning championships and Jake ain’t got no rings, Lieutenant Dan. Eli’s got two, you may have heard.
The rain poured down on his head as he watched his replacement struggle against the remnants of the Eagles. It was a undeservedend for the franchise’s greatest offensive player. If not for Eli, Tom Brady would be close to filling his second hand with rings.
Thank you Eli. Not just for the memories, but for being a stand up guy and a true professional.
It pains me to say this, but the Eagles are exactly what the Giants are not as an organization right now. The Chip Kelly Era was not ideal, but they never won fewer than seven games in his tenure and they found their man in Pederson. They didn’t blow it a second time, like the Giants did with McAdoo then Shurmur. They draft well year after year, and the organization is stable. They build from the trenches and always seem to have a solid defensive front.
Pat Shurmur was the interim head coach for the Eagles when Kelly was fired. They didn’t like him enough to keep him on. After two horrendous years as head man of the Giants, his lifetime coaching record now stands at 19 and 46. That is a .292 winning percentage. For the Giants, he was 9 and 23 with a .283 winning percentage. Yeeeesh. For context, Ray Handley was 14 and 18 in two seasons.
Shurmur never showed a lick of creativity on offense. While down and out teams like Miami and Detroit were dialing up trick plays and throwing it to their QBs, the Giants kept running the same predictable plays with the same personnel and formations they’ve used all year. Shurmur lost several close games and never stole a win.
Other than the long TD, Saquon was bottled up. They didn’t do nearly enough to get him the ball in space. It looked like Shurmur wanted to hug Saquon after the TD, but Barkley did not looked thrilled. Dead man walking.
They decided to keep Dave Gettleman, as John Mara thought it was premature to fire him. One reason given was that Gettleman spent much of the first year in the organization fighting for his life. Not to sound insensitive, but that comment worries me. You believe he’s the right guy or you don’t. Don’t give him another year because you feel badly for him.
Mara also said Gettleman’s “batting average has to go up” next season. Yeah dude. 283 might be a pretty good batting average in baseball but it’s freaking pathetic as an NFL winning percentage. Is there any way this isn’t going to end badly and we’re going to be back here next year talking about potential new GMs? Then after another mediocre season the following year, the speculation will start on whether the head coach will be fired because the new GM wants to hire his own guy. See Jets, New York. They should have just cleaned house and let the new GM hire the new coach.
As far as personnel, on offense, it looks like Danny Jones can be the guy. And you have Barkley. Darius Slaton looks like a keeper. But the O-line needs a revamp on the revamp. And they have very few definite keepers on the defensive side of the ball.
I don’t think we’ve seen the last of Eli, though. He still thinks he can play. How about Tampa? Head Coach Bruce Arians wasn’t exactly committal about bringing back the only QB to ever throw 30 TD and 30 interceptions in the same season, Jameis Winston. His season ended fittingly with an overtime pick six. Arians sounds like he thinks he can win with a different QB. Hey, Eli is a different QB! And Tampa has two stud WRs so it might be attractive to him. And he’d be pretty close to his roots in New Orleans. It could be a fit.
Matt Rhule has emerged as the leading candidate to be the next head coach. He has had success rebuilding teams, at least at the college level, and he’ll have work to do in Jersey if he gets the job. Supposedly, he was a finalist for the Jets job last season and is considered a rising star. The Jets passed on him to hire Adam Gase. Come back in one year’s time for a similar piece on the firing of Adam Gase.
And come back tomorrow for my man Angry Ward. He plans to ring in the New Year with a whole bunch of appletinis, but that’s just what he does on Tuesdays. Follow us on Twitter at @BenWhit8, @MeetTheMatts, @Matt_McCarthy00, Instagram @MeetTheMatts and like our Facebook page, Meet The Matts.
