December 27, 2015
Peter Solari Follow @4PeteSakeNY
20 hours before the Giants take the field in Minnesota, their playoff hopes were dashed. With their 38-24 win in Philadelphia Saturday, the Washington Redskins clinched the NFC East championship.
This marks the fourth consecutive year, and the sixth time in seven seasons, that New York has failed to make the playoffs. In their only postseason appearance in that span, the Giants won Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis, after the 2011 season.
Saturday night's mistake-filled game between the Redskins and Eagles was indicative of just how bad the NFC East has been this season, but Washington was the most consistent, and frankly the least bad of the teams within the division. Somebody from the NFC East had to make the playoffs, and the Redskins were most deserving of that accomplishment.
Like so many of their games in 2015, the Giants were able to keep their season alive into the fourth quarter, before ultimately falling short. And just like most of those games, the team has nobody but themselves to blame for their shortcomings. With this latest failure, the annual discussions on whether to fire coach Tom Coughlin and general manager Jerry Reese, have commenced.
The Giants would certainly be justified in replacing Couglin at this point; even he'd tell you that, but the franchise really isn't in a position to make such a drastic move right now, because their options on a replacement are limited. There's no coach available with a resume as strong as Coughlin's, and there aren't a whole lot of up-and-coming assistants that are going to excite Giants' fans. The franchise brought Offensive Coordinator Ben McAdoo in prior to the 2014 season, with the idea that he would take over as coach one day, but not this soon. McAdoo has only been calling plays for two seasons and his inexperience could be disastrous if the Giants were to go that route. The team might be forced to retain Coughlin as coach if a viable candidate doesn't emerge to replace him.
Coughlin's entire tenure has been marred by injury, which is ironic considering he vowed to put an end to that at his introductory press conference, though the problem seems to have multiplied under his tutelage. The last few seasons have been particularly painful. The Giants were the most injured team in the NFL in 2013 and 2014, and they're well on their way to the trifecta this year. But Coughlin doesn't bear responsibility for this rash of injuries, at least not entirely. After all, it's not the coach's fault when his star wide receiver shoots himself in the leg, or when his best defensive player nearly blows off his hand in a fireworks accidents. However, the other 31 teams don't seem to be dealing with these unusually high number of injuries, at least not as consistently as the Giants are. At the end of the day, somebody has to answer for that.
This is where Reese, the general manager, comes into the story. Reese hasn't been a bad GM by any stretch. Like Coughlin, he's managed to win two Super Bowls through all the turmoil. Unlike Coughlin, however, he's managed to avoid the hot seat for the most part. He hasn't been scrutinized the way the coach has, though all of that is likely to change in the coming weeks.
Reese has made some good moves in his time as GM. On his watch, the Giants drafted Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw late, and both of them turned into major contributors on two championship squads, especially the 2007 team. Under Reese, the Giants also drafted Odell Beckham Jr., the most dominant player the they've had since Lawrence Taylor. However, there have also been some questionable decisions along the way, such as the Jon Beason signing, drafting Jay Bromley in the third round, and ignoring the glaring holes the team has at certain positions, including tight end and linebacker. It's also worth mentioning that Reese is the man responsible for assembling these oft-injured teams over the past eight seasons.
If the Giants are intent on making a change within the organization, relieving Reese of his duties would be the move to make. His rosters have consistently fallen short of expectations, and more importantly, the Giants are in a far better position to make a change at GM.
While a coaching change presents uncertainty for the Giants at the moment, the team's next GM is in place, within the organization at this very moment. Marc Ross, the Giants' Vice President of Player Evaluation is a rising star in the NFL. He's in charge of the Giants' draft and is credited with the acquisitions of players such as Beckham, Justin Pugh, Weston Richburg, and Ereck Flowers. He's garnered serious consideration from other teams about vacant GM jobs the past couple of years. The Giants, who think quite highly of Ross, have been fortunate to retain him this long, but he'll likely get swooped up by another organization if they don't promote him soon. If that promotion were to come to fruition, the transition would be seamless.
It's hard to conclusively say that either Reese or Coughlin should be fired at this juncture. Strong arguments can be made either way for both of them. But if ownership is dead-set on a making a change this offseason, and nobody could blame them if they were, replacing the GM makes more sense for the team's immediate future, than a coaching change would at this point.
