It’s finally over, Giants fans.
We can all breathe a sigh of relief for the merciful conclusion of the Giants’ embarrassing 2021 season. A year ending with a 4-13 record—tied for the most losses in a single season in Giants history—and marred by total dysfunction at every level of the organization.
Getting to this point required an extreme amount of resolve and metal fortitude. Each progressive Sunday made it harder for the diehard fans not to ditch their loyalty and walk out on the organization for good.
The on-field product was a total disaster, partly due to relentless injuries but also a result of the incompetence of the front office and head coach in building a properly fitted roster and innovative coaching staff. After the neck injury to starter Daniel Jones in week 12, the quarterback play by his relievers—Mike Glennon and Jake Fromm— degraded to some of the worst numbers ever seen in the history of professional football. The Giants inability to score touchdowns made one question if they were watching a soccer game, in their case a very tedious one.
The charades were never finished once the final whistle blew on another Giants loss, they followed right into the postgame. There, fans were force fed another heaping plate of the “culture” talk by Joe Judge while his top playmakers barely scratched the box score and those same fans were leaving with paper bags over the heads.
“I’ll tell you this, we’re a lot closer to where we’re going than further,” was one such thing he said despite his team averaging under 10 points per game in the final six games of the season.
As if the losing wasn’t enough, the Giants organization became an absolute mockery all over local and national media outlets, increasing the calls from team ownership to rethink their seemingly definitive plans to run everything back in 2022.
The horror show culminated Sunday at MetLife Stadium in another meaningless season finale with the Giants providing one of the poorest send-offs to their frustrated fan base and, as it turned out, numerous members within the organization. Their stadium mostly barren, Big Blue laid a goose egg for three quarters before notching a late touchdown to soften the blow of a 22-7 loss and series sweep to the Washington Football Team.
The best thing about the performance didn’t end up being a free medium soda for one PSL-holding fan. Instead, it was Jake Fromm throwing his first career NFL touchdown pass to Darius Slayton amid another difficult start for the young quarterback. That milestone alone wasn’t enough to salvage a mediocre 15/31, 103 yard day with two interceptions, including a pick in the second half.
In what has become a decade-long bout of horrendous football, the latest version of the Giants never looked so many light years apart from the 2011 group that displayed amazing New York grit and captivated so many New Yorkers en route to their title run.
With that travesty behind them, the even greater news is that the time has come for Giants’ leadership to face the music and take accountability for the disastrous campaign that has ensued under their watch and the decisions that led to it.
For weeks, the expectation has been for general manager Dave Gettleman to account for his faults by giving his retirement notice to mark the end of an underperforming tenure in the front office. What everyone has been waiting for is to see what John Mara and Steve Tisch do regarding the embattled Joe Judge following the head coach’s tumultuous second season.
Judge has heavily fallen out of favor with the fanbase and market with his recent phony press conferences and for a lack of descriptive answers for his team’s struggles. The 40-year-old has been dodging repetitive bullets about his job security from the media since late in the year and continued after Sunday’s loss, deflecting instead to questions about the team’s performance and hinting broadly at his intentions for the future.
Judge has tirelessly told reporters his intent to save the deeper conversations about himself or anyone’s futures for his discussions with Mara and Tisch. Well, on Tuesday the time came for Judge to meet his makers, ending his improbable hideout from accountability.
While Judge’s 2022 plan may have sounded convincing as the others since he was introduced, the gavel was ultimately laid down on him. Mara and Tisch reached the final tipping point they hoped they would never reach and once again caved in, making difficult decisions to grant the outsiders their complete wishes.
Dave Gettleman’s Swan Song
After four years of continuously placing the Giants further behind the eight ball personnel-wise, Dave Gettleman’s drawn out tenure as general manager has come to a much needed end.
On Monday, the Giants announced that Gettleman would officially retire from the position he’s held since late 2017 and a lengthy career as an NFL executive spanning two decades. A statement released by the Giants said that the team will immediately begin their search for a general manager candidate “who will oversee all aspects of our football operations” and “provide the direction necessary for us to achieve the on-field performance and results we all expect.”
Recent indications by sources close to the team and situation have espoused the belief that the 70-year-old Gettleman would be hanging it up at the conclusion of the 2021 season. Before the loss to Washington in the season finale, Gettleman was spotted soaking up the pregame activities with family members along the sidelines, sharing friendly exchanges and taking the opportunity to capture the valuable moment in group pictures.
It was an occurrence apart from the pregame rituals that appeared to guarantee that Sunday was the final gameday for the beleaguered general manager. Not even 24 hours later, the team kicked off their Black Monday agenda with the announcement of Gettleman’s swan song.
“We would like to thank Dave for his commitment to this franchise,” Mara and Tisch said in a joint statement. “He has had a highly accomplished 35-year career in the National Football League. Dave was integral in building three of our Super Bowl teams, including two championship teams, and we wish Dave, his wife Joanne and their entire family all the best in his retirement.”
The Super Bowl 50-winning executive’s second stint with the organization after coming over from Carolina (was a scout in 1998 before being promoting to Director of Pro Personnel from 1999-2011) has seen him win individual fights against cancer and public perception in New York surrounding his controversial tenure, but the one battle he wasn’t able to overcome was properly building and fortifying the Giants roster.
When he was hired as the general manager after predecessor Jerry Reese was ousted late in the 2017 season, Gettleman spoke at the introductory press conference about the main objectives behind his partnership with the Giants. In his infamous Bostonian accent, he affirmed to the fan base that his top job was to improve the offensive line through the draft.
“When I came here, I had two major goals,” he said. “Number one to find the quarterback…and number two, the second accomplishment I had as my goal was to set the team up for sustained success.” Part of that success implied attacking the issues on the line that has limited the offense’s creativity and functionality.
Even with the dozens of picks he’s had over four years to draft top quality pass blockers out of the college ranks—“Hog Mollies” as he often called them—one would be hard pressed to find Gettleman successful at that mission. One of his most criticized moves had been the selection of running back Saquon Barkley with the No. 2 pick in 2018. The incredible talent Barkley displayed in his rookie season, before injuries altered everything in 2020, aside, many thought it was ill-mannered of a general manager to select a player of such a risky position that early in a draft especially with the need the Giants have had up front.
Then there was the pursuit of Daniel Jones in 2019. The Giants had the No. 6 pick and a selection later in the 20’s, but Gettleman was in full bloom love with Jones and his athleticism that he felt he had to jump the gun and steal the Duke quarterback off the board with the early pick. It was a move proven to be one the Giants could have made later in the first round while focusing the sixth pick on drafting a linemen. In his first three seasons with the Giants, Jones has displayed spurts of his legs and on-target passing but has often struggled to find his groove and fully excel behind a weak offensive line allowing defenders into his pocket like matadors avoiding the stampede of bulls.
In the free agent market, Gettleman hasn’t been able to find his gems either. Amid pricey and poorly executed spending sprees in the last couple offseasons, Gettleman dished out hefty contracts to mid-value veterans like Nate Solder and Kevin Zeitler in an effort to bring quick fixes to the Giants front line only to see the projects completely combust. The same can be said of the skilled positions where he filled the cap with ridiculous contracts like that of receiver Kenny Golladay (4 years, $72 million) and Golladay has not panned out to be the same deep threat receiver he was in Detroit and that the Giants envisioned would translate to their roster.
The result? The only true kudos Gettleman could deserve for his contributions to the offensive line rebuild lean towards his drafting of current left tackle Andrew Thomas. The rookie out of Georgia has been the quarterback’s most dependable blocker, at one point in the season holding a streak of 462 consecutive pass snaps with giving up more than one sack, per Pro Football Focus.
As he heads for a beach somewhere, the newly retired Gettleman thanked the Giants for the invaluable opportunity to help lead the personnel direction of the franchise while acknowledging he always hoped for more success during his time there.
It was a privilege to serve as the general manager of the New York Giants the last four years and to have spent so many years of my career with this franchise,” said Gettleman.
“We obviously have not had the on-the-field success I expected, and that is disappointing.”
“However, I have many fond memories here, including two Super Bowl victories, and I wish the team and organization only the best moving forward. There are many good people here who pour their souls into this organization. I am proud to have worked alongside them.”
Gettleman departs with a 19-46 record as New York’s general manager but also a three-time Super Bowl champion executive, winning two titles with the Giants in 2007 and 2011. His name may always draw subtle disdain from the Giants faithful for his inability to solve their never-ending line problems, but in the hearts of the Giants organization he will always be a part of their history.
The Giants have already begun their GM candidate interview inquiries as of this week, sending requests to different teams including Buffalo and Arizona to speak with assistant GM Joe Schoen and VP of pro personnel Adrian Wilson, respectively.
It’s going to be an extensive process, as John Mara noted about the Giants openings this week, and he knows the team cannot rush to conclusions. Nor can the traditional route of hiring within the organization or Mara-Tisch web prevail.
The Giants must venture out into the depth of the league jungle and find the diamond in the rough candidate. An experienced professional who can do all the things Mara described but also acquire the right pieces to solidify the line, strengthen the offensive playmakers, and straighten out the salary cap to benefit the team moving forward.
From what we’ve been told, it sounds like they will.
The Joe Judge Experiment Reaches a Verdict
The most important decision may have extended beyond the NFL calendar day known as “Black Monday”, but what matters to the concerned fans is that it happened. After it seemed like the Giants were going to run things back with Joe Judge as the head coach in 2022, the plan has shifted course and he will be joining Gettleman in packing up his office.
NFL Network reporter Ian Rappaport was the first among many sports insiders to break the news from sources Tuesday evening that the Giants had fired Judge after two years with the franchise and a late season plummet that saw the team lose their last six games of the season. Through 33 games, Judge finished with a 10-23 record and became the third head coach to be let go by the Giants after only two seasons.
“Steve (Tisch) and I both believe it is in the best interest of our franchise to move in another direction,” said team president John Mara in a statement Wednesday morning. “We met with Joe yesterday afternoon to discuss the state of the team. I met again with Joe this afternoon, and it was during that conversation I informed Joe of our decision. We appreciate Joe’s efforts on behalf of the organization.”
“I said before the season started that I wanted to feel good about the direction we were headed when we played our last game of the season. Unfortunately, I cannot make that statement, which is why we have made this decision.”
The co-owners’ verdict comes in the wake of a 4-13 outing led by the former Patriots special teams coordinator, giving the Giants their fifth consecutive double-digit losing season and Judge a two-game drop off from his 6-10 campaign in 2020. Also supporting their move was a series of poor press conferences by Judge, in which he couldn’t handle the difficult questions as the more severe losses and in one them went on a lengthy rant about the organization’s culture that has since been widely criticized. It was a decision wrestled with for a number of reasons, but one Mara and Tisch knew had to be made to preserve the integrity of their franchise and rescue Judge himself from the downward spiral he was tightly laced in before it ruined his career for good.
The Giants’ ownership have constantly stated their belief in Judge—the former disciple of Patriots coach Bill Belichick— and trust in the system and vision he was trying to implement within the organization. Back in Week 7, Mara came out publicly and offered his rookie head coach a vote of confidence following a 25-3 win over Carolina despite just a 2-5 record in that stretch. To that point, he had fair enough reason to hold such a view of Judge’s performance.
In Judge’s first season after being hired in January 2020, the Giants went 6-10 and were just left out of the playoffs at the last second in what was an usually bad year for the NFC East division. The team started 0-5 but proceeded to win five of the next eight games, including a huge upset in Seattle with then-backup Colt McCoy, to have them knocking on the door of the playoff picture until they were eliminated during the final Sunday night game of the regular season. With the effort and the dominance of the Giants defense (finished top 15 ranked) there was hope for Judge to be the guy to turn the franchise around.
Even as far as Week 11 this year, the odds were much in Judge’s favor. Sure, his team had lost a handful of games to beatable opponents, some of which were lost on a game-winning score by the adversary after a late Giants mishap. However, they stood at 4-7 after taking two of three games at home and were looking like they were heading in the right direction once again.
That is when a report surfaced from ESPN’s Adam Schefter that indicated the Giants had plans to retain Judge and quarterback Daniel Jones (up for contract extension as early as this offseason) for the 2022 season, regardless of what change came to the general manager position. The news greatly disturbed many fans and media personalities who were becoming fed up with Judge’s postgame antics and a lack of improvement on the offense after the firing of Jason Garrett by Judge, but speculation quickly developed as to whether a complete collapse by the Giants in the final stretch of the season would impact Mara and Tisch’s supposed plan.
Nobody was certainly wishing it upon the Giants who were already looking disheveled enough. Yet, on cue came that exact collapse. The Giants went on to lose the final six games of their schedule by a combined total of 143-56 with five of those losses by a deficit of 15 points or more. After the loss of Daniel Jones to a neck injury in Week 12, the Giants offense stifled and couldn’t find any production behind Glennon or Fromm, both of whom had starts finish with under 30 yards passing and combined for just four passing touchdowns in that span. Fromm, in his start against the Eagles in Week 16, recorded a -10 net passing yards total, the lowest by a quarterback since Ryan Leaf in 1998.
The scoring woes worsened with every game, as the Giants fell from their average of 16.3 points throughout the season to as low as 9.3 points in the final six games. The Giants went 4/8 in red zone attempts in the same stretch to finish the year with the league’s worst redzone scoring rate (45.5%). Their lone perfect day in the redzone came in week 14 against the Chargers, where the Giants two touchdowns late in garbage time to soften a 37-21 defeat. To make matters worse, the Giants were outscored 79-0 in the final two minutes of a half by the end of Week 18, a result of their inability to protect the football and manage drives under Freddie Kitchen’s offense with Judge in cahoots.
Suddenly, the mood in the building was beginning to shift on Judge’s standing within the organization and his favor with ownership. Reports were surfacing of player disdain for the coach among a select few guys within the Giants locker room, although many came in defense of their leader in the final two games of the season. Coming out and laying a three-quarters-long dud against Washington, during which Judge called two inexcusable QB sneak plays on second and third down deep in Giants territory only exacerbated the noise.
Judge remained safe through the end of business Black Monday, but ultimately he met with Mara and Tisch Tuesday evening and was delivered the final verdict on his dismal two-year tenure with the Giants. The Giants had dug themselves a hole so deep into losing and negative media conversation that the time came to hit the reset button and move on from the man they hoped would be their Belichick prodigy. Perhaps he will, just not in East Rutherford.
As the Giants pick up their search for Judge’s successor, they’re also knee deep in a separate search for the next general manager with Dave Gettleman’ retirement. Once that is finished, Mara promised that the team’s selection would spearhead the process of selecting the next head coach.
“We will hire a general manager and that person will lead the effort to hire a new head coach.”
The belief is that new general manager and head coach will work in tandem to decide the fates of several Giants players, notably Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley who are both eligible for contract extensions with the team, The lucky candidates will have much work to do between finding the right pieces in the draft to plug the holes in the offensive line, fixing the Giants awful cap space situation and free agency failures, and evaluating the quarterback competition if Jones doesn’t return better than before the neck injury.
Regardless of the job responsibilities, the Giants have to get both signings right.
They must execute a long, patient process of interviewing candidates, researching them, and making the right choice to lead the team to playoff contention and sustained success. No longer can Mara and Tisch make fast decisions or get caught up in the coachspeak a person spews at an interview or introductory press conference, believing it’s a sign of their ability to be a great coach. Nor can they let their inability to select the right candidates get in the way, they have to let the proven football minds in the building guide them towards the best choices.
These have been the biggest faults for the Giants when it comes to the two roles now vacant. As a result, the previous inhabitants sold ownership a bill of goods to the franchise and their fan base. Joe Judge hid behind all his chosen scapegoats as they dropped like flies till only he remained to assume the blame. The product on the field was humiliating and the Giants are now toeing the line to losing the respect and fandom of their longest-tenured supporters who are growing sick and tired of the same issues and forgetful of the last time they saw winning football inside MetLife Stadium,
If they don’t get these faults resolved this offseason before selecting the new members of the front office and coaching staff and hitting the ground running in rebuilding the program to playoff-caliber competitiveness, you’re going to see more of the same story in 2022 and larger numbers of paper bags donning the heads of newly invisible Giants fans.
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