The New York Giants have wasted their fans’ time the past five years by thinking they could put band-aids on gunshot wounds hoping that some divine intervention they would turn them back into winners.
Heading into the 2022 season, the Giants are devoid of talent with 60 percent of their salary cap dedicated to seven players, none who can be considered a “franchise” player.
Co-owner Steve Tisch apparently pleaded with his partner, John Mara, to ‘blow up’ the model two years ago and start from the ground up. Mara balked and stayed the course, giving general manager Dave Gentleman a vote of confidence and Joe Judge was hired as the head coach.
You know the rest. The Giants have been going downhill with no brakes ever since. They finally crashed last week when they were embarrassed by a marginal Washington team at home in a game that saw the coaching staff basically circle the wagons and surrender.
Gettleman chose to retire before the team got a chance to fire him but Mara waffled on Judge, who was clearly in over his head after finishing 10-23.
This time around, Tisch convinced Mara it was time to let go of the past and move forward, reports Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News.
Co-owner Steve Tisch did not talk and has no plans to do so, outside of Monday’s statement that it’s an “understatement” to say he is “disappointed.”
Tisch should have to answer for coach Joe Judge’s firing in particular, because sources say Mara was the one who initially wanted to give the coach a third year, but Tisch pushed to blow it up after failing to achieve a full reset two years ago.
Mara knew that firing Judge after two years saddled by 19-46 GM Dave Gettleman — despite hiring him for a long-term rebuild — was not only moving the goalposts on his coach. It was ripping them down.
Mara was fully prepared — and maybe still is — to continue doing things the way he’s done the past decade. Had Tisch not stepped in, the Giants would be conducting their GM search with Judge in tow, and that would have made the job a lot less appealing. Some top candidates would have stayed away. Instead, there are nine very qualified people interviewing for the position.
“I just feel given where we are right now, on the verge of bringing in a new general manager, we have to give that person the flexibility to bring in the head coach that he wants,” Mara told reporters on Wednesday. “And I think that was a large part of the decision here in making a change.”
That’s correct. The tail can’t continue to wag the dog in East Rutherford. It’s time for a real football person to come in and install a 21st century NFL infrastructure to this once proud franchise.
[listicle id=684780]