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Former New York Giants offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride, who helped the team win two Super Bowls under head coach Tom Coughlin, is glad to see that the organization is finally coming to their senses regarding an area that was in need of a major upgrade.
That area is, of course, the offensive line, which has been an issue for the Giants since Gilbride’s final season in 2013.
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“I think Dave Gettleman has been very conscious of the need to improve the offensive line and I think he has made a considerable effort to do it. It has probably come together a little more slowly than he wished, but you can see the acquisitions and the draft and everything else he has tried to do,” Gilbride told Giants Wire in a phone interview.
Gettleman vowed to fix the offensive line when he was hired as general manager in 2018, but it hasn’t gone as quickly as anticipated.
The Giants’ offensive line struggled mightily until mid-way through 2020 season when they finally started to see some improvement from their “hog mollies.”
Nick Gates, Andrew Thomas and the entire unit as a whole began to come together and build some stability. With Saquon Barkley out for the year, Wayne Gallman rushed for 682 yards and six touchdowns, while the Giants became a decent rushing team, ranking 17th in the league without Barkley.
While the Giants are just starting to see some results of their multi-year rebuild of the offensive line, Gilbride saw the writing on the wall prior to the second Super Bowl title season in 2011.
“Our offensive line started to disintegrate. To be honest with you, I was fighting for that (rebuilding the offensive line) from 2010 on. You saw in 2008 we were still really good, 2009 we started to get a bit nicked up. By 2010 it was already starting to decline,” said Gilbride.
The Giants had one of the best offensive lines in the league from 2005-09. The group was also the backbone of their 2007 Super Bowl championship team.
But by 2010, this unit was banged up and aging.
Long-time Pro Bowl center Shaun O’Hara dealt with injuries in 2010, which led to his release after the season. Starting guard Rich Seubert, who filled in nicely at center that season for O’Hara, was also released following the year. Both linemen would ultimately announce their retirement not long afterwards.
That left Chris Snee, David Diehl and Kareem McKenzie as the last men standing from the ’07 group. This also forced the Giants to insert Kevin Boothe, free agent David Baas and 2009 second-round pick Will Beatty into the starting lineup.
But Beatty suffered a detached retina in November 2011, which knocked him out for the season, forcing the Giants’ coaching staff to once again shift guys around. Luckily, it all worked out as they went on to win the Super Bowl in 2011, defeating the New England Patriots for the second time in four seasons.
But putting a patch on the tire won’t fix the issue long-term, and this proved to be true for the Giants, as well.
Besides Beatty in 2009 and Justin Pugh in 2013, the Giants did not make much of an effort to replace some of their aging big guys up front at the end of Gilbride’s tenure.
“In 2012 we went 9-7 and then in 2013 our line was awful. We also started six different guys at running back. It was a joke, where we were personnel-wise,” said Gilbride.
With a broken offensive line, quarterback Eli Manning led the NFL with 27 interceptions that year and the Giants started off 0-6. On a brighter note, they were able to finish the season at 7-9 as a result of winning 7 of their last 10 contests.
Following the year, Gilbride announced his retirement from the NFL. Fast forward eight years later and the Giants are still trying to fix their offensive line.
“My pleas fell on deaf ears for a while, but now I think it has finally become painfully clear to everybody in that building these last few years that it was an area that needed addressing and I think (Gettleman) has made an effort to do that. Hopefully this year is the year it all starts to click,” said Gilbride.
Since retiring back in 2013, Gilbride has turned down numerous coaching offers, including one from the crosstown rival New York Jets following his departure from the Giants.
When XFL CEO Oliver Luck called and made him the offer to coach the New York Guardians for the league’s inaugural 2020 season, Gilbride initially declined. However, he later changed his mind once he heard the blueprint.
As a coach in the developmental league, Gilbride can help young players improve in order to pursue their dreams of making the NFL, which is one of his favorite aspects of coaching, while also spending time with his family and grandkids.
Although the XFL went away due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there is now a new Spring League, which is the premiere developmental league for players who are looking to showcase their skills in order to make it to the NFL.
Coach Gilbride is leading the Jousters this season as part of an expanded league from six to eight teams. These teams will play in two hub cities (Houston and Indianapolis), with the games set to begin on May 6, airing on FOX, FS1 and FS2.
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