Tag: jim fassel

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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