It was a little after 7:30 p.m. when Pat Shurmur walked to the center of the field to shake hands with Doug Pederson before he disappeared through the tunnel and what should be forever as Giants head coach.
Dead Coach Walking out into the rainy night.
The final insult: Eagles celebrating their division title and their fans chanting, “Fly, Eagles, Fly” in a stadium that sounded more like the Linc than MetLife during their 34-17 victory Sunday.
Now what?
To clean house, or not to clean house? That is now the question.
This much is certain: the Giants cannot sell Shurmur anymore to their ticket buyers.
Giants fans: Fly, Shurmur, Fly.
“This is a wins business … I get it, I get it,” Shurmur said.
The bottom line: Nine wins in 32 tries.
The problem is there is no George Young to save the Giants from themselves, no Lawrence Taylor to draft, only the black cloud of another Black Monday hovering over 1925 Giants Drive at the end of too many Black Sundays.
John Mara and Steve Tisch will find themselves at the cruel intersection of Handley Way and McAdoo Place when they huddle yet again to attempt to answer an S.O.S. from their aggrieved fan base that deserves so much better than a once-proud franchise lost at sea as a football Titanic.
The Tisch argument is ironically the old Wellington Mara argument:
“The crowd is our customers,” Wellington said towards the end of the 2003 season. “When they leave, it’s the same as someone calling up or writing and saying you’re not doing what it is I want you to do.”
The customers are angry and long for the days of Young and Bill Parcells, or Ernie Accorsi and Tom Coughlin, or Jerry Reese and Coughlin before it started going south.
The Tisch argument: What would we have to lose by starting over with a brand new GM instead of saddling the next head coach with a dinosaur who isn’t the progressive forward thinker we need?
The Mara argument: Changing head coaches every two years shouldn’t under ordinary circumstances be the Giants Way, and it is not any winning organization’s way.
But even worse: firing the general manager after two years has never been the Giants Way.
After these past three seasons — 3-13, 5-11, 4-12 — it is increasingly difficult for Giants fans to trust whatever plan the brain trust decides to execute.
Complicating matters: Ron Rivera, who would have been the right coach at the right time for the Giants, is expected to sign with the Redskins.
Josh McDaniels and Matt Rhule have drawn interest from the Panthers. Both are appealing. Unless the cruel football gods suddenly show uncommon mercy and can somehow deliver Bill Belichick back to the Giants against all odds, the slim pool of frontline candidates also would include Jason Garrett and Mike McCarthy.
But who else is there?
Is Tisch still hot for Nick Saban? Is Dan Campbell ready? Jack Del Rio? Eric Bieniemy? Robert Saleh? Tom Coughlin? Never mind.
The Giants cannot afford to be wrong again. More than ever, the burden of proof rests now on the beleaguered shoulders of Mara and Tisch because this D-Day so soon after the last one evokes fears of another Doomsday among the faithful.
In the meantime, herein lies the tale of the Gettleman-Shurmur regime: The GM needed a head coach who could lead and inspire and develop all the young players he gave him.
The head coach needed a better nucleus of players than the GM has given him. The GM expected the head coach to lead the horse to water and make it drink. The head coach could barely get the nag out of the stable.
Shurmur did the franchise right by beginning the Daniel Jones Era after Week 2, but may have inadvertently sabotaged his chances by benching Manning so soon. It is inconceivable that Shurmur made the switch thinking that he would be in any danger after two seasons with three more remaining on his contract.
Gettleman couldn’t decide whether he wanted to win or rebuild, so he tried both.
Shurmur was hired in large part to shepherd the quarterback who would succeed Manning. Jones fumbled away the score that gave the Eagles a 27-17 lead early in the fourth quarter, but he is among the least of the Giants’ problems.
But only a cat has nine lives following an historic nine-game losing streak in his second season.
There wasn’t discernible progress on gamedays. Shurmur could not find a way to win with what he had. Or didn’t have.
He was asked if he thought he had left the team in a better place than he found it.
“I think so, I do,” Shurmur said. “We can talk about the dynamics of how the team was built and where it’s going. We’re building, we’re building a team. A lot of dead money this year, a lot of cap space next year, and some prime picks where we can use the draft wisely and make decisions on making this team better with impact players … on defense, you need to have impact players, that when the game’s on the line can do things, and we have some strewn throughout this roster, and we’ll have the chance to go get more.
“I think that’s exciting.”
For the next head coach.
“I do know that there’s things that happened this year where this team improved in a lot of ways … and I feel like it’s only gonna get better.”
For the next head coach.
If Gettleman gets to stay, it will be in large part because he drafted Jones.
Remember, he inherited a mess.
And after two years, it’s still a mess.
You clean house only if you have identified a can’t-miss replacement who won’t just talk about kicking ass but walk the kickass talk as well.
A Chris Ballard-type, if he is out there. A Jon Robinson-type.
Keep stability if you don’t, and worry about tomorrow tomorrow.
All eyes on 1925 Giants Drive.
Pray for your franchise.
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December 29, 2019 at 05:32PM
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Dump Dave Gettleman with Pat Shurmur? This is Giants owners' cruel dilemma - New York Post
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