Tag: jim fassel

Giants can set several unwanted franchise records in Week 15 vs. Ravens

The New York Giants can set or tie several ugly franchise records in Week 15 against the Baltimore Ravens at MetLife Stadium.

It’s been that kind of year for the New York Giants. One for the record books.

And not the good kind of records.

The Giants were hoping to etch some exciting new team records into the books in their 100th season as a franchise. Instead, they’re likely to enter the books on the negative side of the ledger.

One record they are closing in on is consecutive losses. They are currently on an eight-game skid and face the explosive Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens as 14.5-point underdogs this Sunday at MetLife Stadium.

The franchise record for consecutive losses is nine, first set in 1976 and then tied in 2003-2004 and again in 2019.

The odds of the Giants winning this game are +700, or in layman’s terms, not a chance. The rest of their schedule offers no safe harbor, either.

Their final three games are: at Atlanta, home versus Indianapolis, and a trip down the Turnpike to face Saquon Barkley and the Philadelphia Eagles.

“Unfortunately, I’ve been part of some losing streaks like this and some winning streaks. I think you are part of a lot of different things when you do it for as long as I have,” head coach Brian Daboll told reporters on Monday.

“You get a little bit of roll; you start playing good. Turnovers are a big, usually a big factor in that. Situational football is usually a big factor in that. Whether that be red zone, third down, and that helps scoring points, or preventing points. I’ve been part of a few of them where we started out and had a fair amount of losses, finished strong. Again, every season’s different, every game’s different.”

The Giants are also on the verge of setting a record for home losses in a season. They are 0-7 this year with two games remaining. They are currently tied for the franchise record, which was set back in 1974 and equaled in both 1983 and 2003.

In 1974, the Giants were winless (0-7) at home under first-year head coach Bill Arnsparger. It’s the only time in their 100 years of existence that they did not win a game at home.

In 1983, they went 1-7 at home under another first-year head coach, Bill Parcells. In 2003, the Giants went 1-7 in Jim Fassel’s final year as head coach.

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How Brian Daboll compares to other Giants coaches after 42 games

New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll’s record after 42 games isn’t much different than that of many of the team’s best coaches.

The New York Giants have begun the 2024 NFL season by losing six of their first eight games, which has become the norm in East Rutherford in recent years.

The Giants have started seven of their last eight seasons 2-6 (or worse) after eight games. The only exception was 2022 when they got off to a 6-1 start en route to a 9-8 season and a playoff berth.

Head coach Brian Daboll, since taking over the reins as head coach in 2022, is 17-24-1 in the regular season and 1-1 in the postseason.

There have been numerous conversations and articles suggesting that Daboll should be on the hot seat. But looking back a the history of the Giants, his record isn’t much different than that of his predecessors.

Daboll is the 10th man to coach 42 or more games for the Giants in their century-long existence and the seventh since the 1970 NFL-AFL merger.

Here’s where Daboll stands against those other six Giant head coaches after 42 games:

  1. Jim Fassel (23-18-1)
  2. Tom Coughlin and Dan Reeves (23-19)
  3. Bill Parcells (19-22-1)
  4. Alex Webster (19-23)
  5. Brian Daboll (17-24-1)
  6. Ray Perkins (15-27)

So, Daboll is just two games worse than the great Hall of Famer Bill Parcells and ahead of Perkins, who is largely credited with helping to modernize the Giants under general manager George Young after decades of ineptitude.

Still want to fire Daboll? Or do you want to be a little more patient now that you know where he stands in team history?

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Michael Strahan remembers Jim Fassel at Giants 100: A Night with Legends

New York Giants legend Michael Strahan called the late Jim Fassel “a hell of a coach” at the team’s 100th anniversary event last week.

The New York Giants held their Night with Legends event at The Theater at Madison Square Garden last week which featured many of their stars of the past recollecting some of the team’s greatest moments.

Their four championship teams of the Super Bowl era were honored along with their head coaches — Bill Parcells and Tom Coughlin.

The Giants’ other Super Bowl team, the 2000 NFC Champions that lost Super Bowl XXXV, was also recognized.

Hall of Fame defensive end Michael Strahan, who played on the 2000 team as well as the Super Bowl XLII team, took time out during the show to honor the late Jim Fassel, who coached the 2000 Giants and died of a heart attack in 2021 at the age of 71.

“We got to give it up for Jim Fassel. Rest in peace, Jim,” Strahan said to the audience and panel, who applauded.  “I mean he was a hell of a coach. We won that division championship and went to that Super Bowl with him. I know we didn’t win it all but he was a big part of changing, I guess, the culture of the organization.

“He pushed them all (the proverbial poker chips) into the middle of the table,” Strahan said of the famous in-season speech Fassel gave in front of the media guaranteeing his team would make the playoffs that year.

“I think he was watching Kenny Rogers, The Gambler, and I think he got a little excited. That inspired all of us.”

Fassel coached the Giants from 1997-2003 and was named NFL Coach of the Year in 1997. His 58 victories are fourth on the Giants’ all-time list.

Perhaps his biggest victory of Fassel’s tenure was the 41-0 drubbing of the Minnesota Vikings at Giants Stadium in the 2000 NFC Championship Game.

Earlier in the night, co-owner John Mara recalled the game, which was played on a field of what his father Wellington called “painted mud” at Giants Stadium.

“That was special, to be standing on the field at the end of that game watching the fans celebrate,” Mara said. “Many of you were at that game who are in the audience. That was a special moment.”

“I think it was our greatest win in Giants Stadium,” Mara declared.

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Flashback Friday: Giants lose to expansion Texans in 2002

In Week 12 of the 2002 season, the New York Giants lost to the expansion Houston Texans, who only picked up four wins on the year.

The New York Giants will face the Texans this week for just the sixth time since Houston entered the NFL as an expansion team in 2002.

The Giants have won the last four meetings after losing the first one in Week 12 of the 2002 season. The host Giants, under head coach Jim Fassel, entered the game with a 6-4 record, while Dom Capers’ squad was 2-8.

The Giants outgained Houston 369-212 and held quarterback David Carr — the top pick in that year’s NFL draft — to 103 yards passing, sacking him five times.

But they still managed to lose the game, 16-14. They finished 10-6 and qualified for the NFC Playoffs, but this loss was a head-scratcher.

From the AP:

The Texans used a trick play, a big punt return and two field goals by Kris Brown — the last one a 50-yarder with 6:57 to play — to defeat the Giants 16-14 Sunday.

“This one is going to sting,” Giants quarterback Kerry Collins said. “We did not play well enough to win, but we are just going to have to come back and get a win next week.”

Let us not forget the bad snap on a punt that went for a safety — the eventual difference in the game. It was one of the many inexplicably listless and sloppy performances the Giants logged during Fassel’s tenure.

“All week long, all I talked about was being ready,” Fassel said. “I know we made mistakes. They were trying to play hard and were playing hard, but we just made mistakes too many times. … We made enough mistakes to cost us the game: a field goal missed that should have been made, a ball over the punter’s head to give them two other points. I’m not happy about that at all.”

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Throwback Thursday: Tom Coughlin’s Jaguars dominate Giants in 1997

In Week 2 of the 1997 season, Tom Coughlin’s Jacksonville Jaguars beat up on the New York Giants, defeating them 40-13 at Alltel Stadium.

With the New York Giants facing off against the Jacksonville Jaguars this Sunday, there comes to mind the obvious connection between the two franchises — Tom Coughlin.

Coughlin was the initial head coach of the Jaguars when they entered the NFL as an expansion team in 1995. He coached there for eight seasons and to this day remains the only head coach to leave with a winning record.

With Jacksonville, Coughlin went to the postseason four times from 1996-99 and advanced to two AFC Championship Games.

In 2004, Coughlin, after a year off, was signed as the head coach of the New York Giants. We are all aware of his 12 seasons here and the two Super Bowl wins.

Coughlin faced the Giants just once as the Jaguars’ head coach, in Week 2 of the 1997 season. The Giants were in their first year under head coach Jim Fassel and came into Jacksonville with a 1-0 record. The Jags were also 1-0.

The Jaguars were going with backup quarterback Steve Matthews that day since their starter, Mark Brunell, was sidelined with torn knee ligaments — an injury sustained via Giants linebacker Jessie Armstead during the preseason.

The Giants scored first on a Tiki Barber four-yard touchdown run. The Jags came storming back with 23 unanswered points to take a 23-7 halftime lead.

The second half was all Jacksonville. They outscored the Giants 17-6 and walked away with their revenge in a 40-13 rout. The Giants were shredded for 252 yards in the air from Matthews, who was hustled into the game during the week after Brunell’s backup, Rob Johnson, injured his ankle.

“They brought me in here with one week of practice and said, ‘Hey, you’re going to be our number two guy.’ That just doesn’t happen in the NFL,” said Matthews. “I wasn’t going to let them down.”

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Flashback Friday: Panthers dominate Giants to end Jim Fassel’s tenure

In the latest Giants Wire Flashback Friday, we head to 2003 when the Carolina Panthers dropped the New York Giants to end the Jim Fassel era.

The Jim Fassel era in New York Giants history is littered with highs and lows. Fassel, who took the Giants to the playoff three times and the Super Bowl once, was so revered by the team that when they fired him in mid-December of 2003, they let him coach the team for the remaining two games of the season.

The final game that year was against the surging Carolina Panthers, coached by Fassel’s former defensive coordinator, John Fox. The Panthers came into Giants Stadium on the Sunday after Christmas with a 10-5 record and headed towards the Super Bowl.

Fassel’s team was 4-11 and had lost seven straight games. His team wanted him to go out with win. They sure didn’t show it.

The Panthers took an early 20-0 lead on Steve Smith’s 53-yard punt return, a 27-yards interception return for a touchdown by Ricky Manning Jr. and field goals of 42, 33 and 34 yards from John Kasay. The Giants could not recover and lost miserably, 37-24, in Jesse Palmer’s third and final start as their quarterback.

The loss wasn’t the story, however. That belonged to Fassel and his weird, but sad, farewell. Fox felt for his friend and the two hugged on the field after the game.

“I spent the very first moment with him when he was hired and the very last,” said Fox. “I feel proud to have been associated with him. He has a lot to be proud of, as I told him.”

After the game, Fassel was greeted by throng of about 200 of the Giant faithful in the end zone to wish him well. The players all hugged and praised him after the game as well.

“It’s definitely a sad feeling,” said Giants receiver Amani Toomer. “I wish we could have given him a win. A lot of things happened this year. It’s kind of a relief to have it over. We wish it didn’t happen the way it did.”

Unfortunately, winning is what counts. Fassel’s 58-53-1 record over seven years wasn’t bad but the eight-game losing streak to kill another season was too much for ownership to bear. It was the first Giants team to finish the season with eight consecutive defeats since 1966, the worst season in franchise history (1-12-1).

“I feel maybe it is a better place than when I came in,” Fassel said. ” I know a lot of the older players have said that to me and that has stuck with me a lot.”

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