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Michael Lombardi has been a successful NFL scout, personnel director and general manage for nearly 40 years. He has been working in media imparting his wisdom for various media outlets since the 1990s and is generally a respected voice on the football landscape.
During a recent appearance on the 94 WIP Podcast, Lombardi laced into the New York Giants after their flaccid 27-13 loss to the Denver Broncos last Sunday. His first first salvo was aimed at general manager Dave Gettleman and the front office.
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“They can’t evaluate their own players. They over-judge their own players. They’re not good,” Lombardi said. “They’re not even good on D. Everybody thinks, ‘well, we’re good on defense,’ — they gave up 420 yards!”
Unfortunately, that is all true. The Giants have drafted poorly, picking players in the wrong spots and ignoring important needs. They have become a team that swings and misses in the draft and then is forced to overpay in free agency in attempt to make up for those misses.
Lombardi then moved on to offensive coordinator Jason Garrett, who has the offense sputtering to the tune of 17 points per game going back to the beginning of last year. His style and results have fans clamoring for days of Kevin Gilbride.
“There’s no imagination,” Lombardi said. “I mean, there’s no design in the running game. The Clapper refuses to design a run game, this is just not a misdemeanor. But look, the Giants have been bad for five years. They’re 28th in win percentage over the last five years, they’re 26th over the last 10 years. This isn’t just a one-time thing. … It’s one of the worst offenses to watch, and you’re not helping the quarterback.”
Lastly, Lombardi took a shot at ownership, which we have been suspect of when it comes to their competence.
“John Mara is one of the nicest human beings on planet earth. Unfortunately, John Mara can’t have an honest conversation about his organization or evaluate himself. That’s just a problem. It’s just a hard thing. He’s loyal to people, he likes people. They’re stuck in time. They can’t get out of it,” Lombardi said.
Again, bingo, right on the money. They need modern day thinking in the building and they don’t have it. At one time, they were on the cutting edge. Now they are doormats and not even trying to copycat the successful teams in the league.
We’re not sure why Lombardi is attacking the Giants out of the blue, so to speak. Perhaps he was shunned employment by them at one time (?) or maybe he’s a simply a fan who is sick and tired of being sick and tired. There’s plenty of those these days.
Or, it’s just disgusting to watch and the subject is low-hanging fruit for the media. The league is better when the Giants are competitive and this organization has lost its way and doesn’t know how to get off the treadmill of losing.
Regardless, there is no legitimate rebuke to Lombardi’s analysis. The numbers are what they are as Bill Parcells once reminded us.
Lombardi and I are around the same age and remember when the Giants were turned around by George Young in the 80s and were handed off to Ernie Accorsi in the late 90s. Accorsi and his assistant, Jerry Reese, kept the ball rolling and built a team in the 2000s that won two Super Bowls.
Gettleman also worked under Accorsi but this is 2021. All the methods on how to build and run a team we knew to be sound in the days of Young and Accorsi are no longer sound. The league is run by 21st Century thinkers. The Giants are still stuck in the 20th Century.