The New York Giants’ 50-50 ownershipsplit between the Mara and Tisch families has worked swimmingly for 30 years. The Giants have been one of the model franchises in the NFL over that period, maintaining a level of excellence and class both on and off the field.
But the last seven seasons have not gone as planned. The club has faltered in every phase possible. They failed to maintain the solid base that general manager Jerry Reese inherited from his predecessor, Ernie Accorsi, and have quite simply just lost their way. The results are evident by their lack of success on the playing field.
2019 will mark the Giants’ sixth losing season in seven years, which in team history can only be compared to the 1970s and early 80s, a period known as “The Wilderness Years.”
That near-decade of futility caused the NFL to actually step in a mediate between the team’s two owners (Wellington Mara an his cousin, Tim) and find a solution to help the Giants find their way out of the woods.
George Young was brought in to end the madness and he turned the Giants into champions. His model has been in place for forty years already and that model has not aged well. It’s the for the Giants to upgrade and it will take both John Mara and Steve Tisch to agree on that that new model should be.
George Willis of the New York Post wrote that Tisch will likely push for a blowup while Mara will urge patience. They are only two years into the Dave Gettleman-Pat Shurmur era and could be on the verge of turning the corner:
The Tisch and Mara families could find themselves at odds over whether to fire head coach Pat Shurmur and general manager Dave Gettleman. Two sources familiar with the Giants’ thinking told The Post Tisch has seen enough and wants a fresh start with a new GM and head coach, while John Mara wants to wait until the outcome of Sunday’s season finale against the Eagles at MetLife Stadium before making a decision.
The Giants’ ownership and front office personnel likely will meet on Monday to decide the fate of Shurmur and Gettleman, who would match last year’s 5-11 record by beating the Eagles. A win would be the Giants third straight to end the season, helping Shurmur’s case to stay.
“It will be interesting to see if Steve gets his way,” a source told The Post. “He wants a change. He feels for the fans.”
Gettleman has displayed an erratic style since taking over the team two years ago. He’s changed a lot of the faces but not the results. Shumur has consistently been out-coached but to his credit, has not lost the locker room.
Should the Giants give them both another year, and there is no progress, it will be a wasted year. If they blow things up and the losing continues, that could be worse.
Giant fans are in favor of a blowup and many hope Tisch wins out here. The NFL has changed since the Giants last won the Super Bowl eight years ago.
They were once the standard and they have failed to keep up. It’s time for a serious reboot.
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