Tag: Mike Francesa

Mike Francesa: Giants need to trade for Sean Payton

Former WFAN host Mike Francesa believes the New York Giants should trade for New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton.

The New York Giants are currently on the hunt for a head coach and Mike Francesa believes he knows what the organization should do.

The former WFAN host tweeted earlier this week that the Giants and newly hired general manager Joe Schoen should trade for New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton.

Currently, Payton’s future is very much up in the air. And that’s not just specific to the Saints, but the NFL as a whole.

NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reports that Payton, who has three years remaining on his current deal, has not committed to a New Orleans return.

Meanwhile, Jay Glazer of Sports Illustrated believes Payton may be considering retirement.

“Sean (Payton) changes his mind every two seconds. We talk about it a lot. It’s why I haven’t reported anything because he changes his mind like every two minutes,” Glazer told 105.3 The Fan.

“But that’s also why I said two weeks ago on FOX NFL Sunday during the coaching carousel was that there could be a coach or two step away just because of these last two years of COVID. It’s taken its toll on people.”

Even Saints owner Gayle Benson is uncertain about Payton’s future.

“We don’t know. You know, who knows? We’ll find out soon enough, I guess,” Benson said on Monday. “I don’t think any of us know. But he’ll let us know soon enough.”

There are also rumors swirling that Payton could land with FOX Sports in the event Troy Aikman departs for Amazon.

Payton has spent the past15 seasons coaching the Saints, which comes on the heels of three years as an assistant with the Dallas Cowboys. Prior to that, he spent four years with the Giants — three of those as the offensive coordinator under the late Jim Fassel.

Although Payton would be an ideal solution for the Giants, the team can ill-afford to trade away draft assets for a coach when their roster is so talent-starved. Especially if said coach isn’t sure he even wants to coach anymore.

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Mike Francesa rips Giants’ Joe Judge: He’s a ‘babbling fool’

Former WFAN radio host Mike Francesa pulled no punches on Sunday, calling New York Giants head coach Joe Judge a “babbling fool.”

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Following a 20-9 loss to the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, New York Giants head coach Joe Judge took the podium and regurgitated his usual positive spin.

“There was a lot of things that I saw today in the way we played, a lot of things that are moving in the right direction, a lot of things I’m very pleased with in terms of how we competed. And we were able to make some stops at critical moments, able to make some good decisions. A lot of guys stepped up in different situations,” Judge told reporters.

The Giants scored just nine points — their lowest offensive output of the season — and amassed just 250 total yards.

“I’m pleased with a lot of the things on the team,” Judge added.

What, specifically, was Judge pleased with?

“I saw a lot of players make a lot of big plays,” Judge said, also complimenting the pass protection. “We had a lot of players making big plays. . . I was pleased to see our guys come out with a number of those today.”

After his latest used car salesman press conference, Judge took some heat on social media. But perhaps no one got in a more blunt dig than former WFAN radio host Mike Francesa, who has been at war with the Giants for what feels like ages now.

While those in glass houses should not throw stones, it’s hard to dismiss Francesa’s criticism. The Giants sport one of the worst offensive units in football, are fresh off a loss in which they scored nine points and Judge is talking about being satisfied with the big plays. It’s ridiculous.

Judge’s schtick has worn thin. There’s no other way around that. And Francesa is just calling it out.

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Mike Francesa praises Giants’ hire of Kyle O’Brien

Mike Francesa offered praise for the New York Giants’ hire of Kyle O’Brien, which breaks his trend of negativity towards the organization.

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The former pope of sports talk radio is endorsing the New York Giants’ latest front office hire.

Mike Francesa, now semi-retired and without a steady platform, is all-in the Giants bringing Kyle O’Brien into the fold in the newly created position of senior personnel executive.

Not exactly sure about the relationship between Francesa and O’Brien — if there even is one — leading to the strong endorsement. Since Francesa is no longer on the air on a regular basis, we’re likely to be left hanging in regards to any connection.

What we do know is that O’Brien has been working in NFL front offices since 1999, when he interned for the New York Jets. Since, he’s held various personnel positions for the New England Patriots, Kansas City Chiefs, Jacksonville Jaguars and Detroit Lions.

It is not clear what O’Brien’s direct responsibilities will be with the Giants other than they are realizing they need a fresh approach to player evaluation after four consecutive double-digit loss seasons.

O’Brien is a Harvard graduate, where he lettered in lacrosse. It’s no mistake that O’Brien worked for so many years in New England another avid lacrosse player, Patriots’ head coach Bill Belichick.

The Giants hold the 11th overall selection in the upcoming NFL draft but only have six picks in total — one in each of the first four rounds and then two in Round 6.

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Mike Francesa: Giants are the ‘height of incompetency’

Death, taxes and Mike Francesa ripping the New York Giants are the only sure things in life, and he’s at it again.

In recent days, WFAN’s Mike Francesa has continued his seemingly relentless and sour assault on the New York Giants, claiming the hire of Jason Garrett was a “big mistake” while also shredding the hire of Patrick Graham, who the host admits he knows nothing about.

Francesa clearly seems to be taking a page out of Colin Cowherd’s book, but I digress…

On Monday, Francesa kicked it up a notch, claiming the Giants organization is currently at the “height of incompetency” over their inability to turn things around like the San Francisco 49ers have.

“It’s very easy in this league to get from four to eight or nine wins,” Francesa said on ‘Mike’s On.’ “It’s the easiest thing to do and you almost have to be incompetent over a period of years drafting at the top of the draft, which the Giants now will be doing again, another year — the Giants, that it’s taken them this long, are the height of incompetency.

“Because in this league, this league is set up for you to go from four (wins) to nine (wins) in the snap of a finger. What it’s not set up for you to do is to go from four (wins) to 13. … The Giants languishing shows you just how inept they’ve been.”

Believing that any win in the NFL is “very easy” is ignorance at its finest, but there is some merit to what Francesa is trying to suggest. Unfortunately for him, he can’t seem to leave his salty feelings out of it and loses credibility as a result.

However, the Giants’ inability to turn things around since 2016 despite repeatedly selecting at the top of the draft is alarming, but multiple coaching and scheme changes have that sort of impact on an organization.

Consistency is essential in the NFL and the Giants have gotten away from that. Hopefully Joe Judge is the beginning of something more stable and the Giants are able to rediscover some level of consistency — similar to how they consistently avoid Francesa’s radio show.

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Mike Francesa rips Giants’ hire of Jason Garrett: ‘Big mistake!’

WFAN’s Mike Francesa ripped the New York Giants for their hire of Jason Garrett, calling him a failed head coach with baggage.

The New York Giants have returned to WFAN airwaves after roughly a year absence, but they have still gone to great lengths to avoid Mike Francesa, who has a very obvious grudge with the team.

That continued on Friday night after word that the Giants had hired Jason Garrett as their offensive coordinator, prompting Francesa to fire off a tweet ripping the move.

Remember when Francesa also said the Houston Astros’ cheating scandal was no big deal and would blow over? Pepperidge Farm remembers.

The Giants have done literally nothing right in Francesa’s eyes this offseason and that’s not likely to change. They could go out and win 12 games in 2020, host a playoff game and still Francesa would find something to nitpick. That’s just where we are with this.

The good news? Francesa is wrong on such a remarkably grand scale these days that his criticisms almost guarantee Garrett becomes a perfect, franchise-altering fit in East Rutherford.

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WFAN’s Mike Francesa: Giants’ problems run deep

WFAN’s Mike Francesa unloaded on the New York Giants again on Tuesday, saying their problems run as deep as the owners.

With his time mercifully winding down at WFAN, Mike Francesa used Tuesday’s show to once again take aim at the New York Giants, co-owners John Mara and Steve Tisch, and just about anyone and everything else from within the organization.

Still stinging from the offseason rebuke and essentially being kicked out of Club Big Blue, Francesa lit into the Giants after Tisch briefly met with the media at The March of Dimes Luncheon, where he told NBC’s Bruce Beck that he and Mara need to get on the same page.

“They need to get on the same page,” Francesa said, avoiding his usual on-air nap. “And decide how they are going to restructure this Giant organization. That doesn’t just deal with general manager. That deals with general manager, coach, every facet of how you do your organization. Every single part has to be examined.

“You wonder now if they are even on the same page. That could be part of the problem because I believe there are a lot of parts to this problem. We get on Gettleman and Shurmur, rightfully so, but the Giants problems run deeper than that right now. They run right through the structure of this organization. . . This organization has to decide how it’s going to be as far as how it runs itself as a football entity and that’s where the owners come in.”

The Giants have had communication issues from top to bottom, and it doesn’t appear that anyone is on the same page. However, the organization has ironically and universally agreed on one thing this year: no Mike Francesa.

Go figure.

But Francesa does bring up one solid point that we at Giants Wire touched on yesterday — it’s beginning to sound like Mara and Tisch have a suddenly rocky relationship and that, maybe, they are trending in different directions regarding the team’s future.

“The Giants have fallen off the track in every way possible, which is why they are where they are right now,” Francesa said. “At the bottom of the league and staring down the No. 1 pick, having the worst record in the NFL since the start of the 2017 season.

“We haven’t heard a word from John Mara … but this today jumped out at me because this shows the problems run even deeper than you might think they do. Those problems at the top with Mara and Tisch have to be settled before anything else can be settled because they have to agree on where they’re taking the franchise.”

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Mike Francesa is having fun at Giants’ expense

WFAN host Mike Francesa continued his barrage of the New York Giants and Pat Shurmur following their Week 12 loss to Chicago.

There is obviously no love lost between the New York Giants and WFAN’s Mike Francesa these days. More specifically, there is no love lost between Francesa and both general manager Dave Gettleman and head coach Pat Shurmur.

The war of words between the two sides has raged since earlier this offseason when Francesa essentially called the Giants a losing organization, a circus and then went on to question the character of rookie cornerback Corey Ballentine after he was injured and his friend murdered in a completely random shooting.

Francesa also took aim at veteran quarterback Eli Manning, who had cancelled his weekly radio appearance on the host’s afternoon show. That was then followed up by similar cancellations courtesy of Gettleman and Shurmur, leaving Francesa holding a “struggling radio host” charity cup outside the WFAN offices.

But with the Giants in the midst of a seven-game losing streak and one of the driest stretches in franchise history, Francesa couldn’t help but to kick the team while they are down.

Francesa’s take is hardly as scathing as we’ve seen, but there’s little doubt he’s enjoying the Giants’ failures and is eagerly awaiting the moment Shurmur is fired so that he can celebrate getting one right.

Of course, if the Giants do fire Shurmur and then hire Jason Garrett, as the recent rumors would seem to suggest, Francesa is already waiting to pounce on that as well.

Like or dislike Francesa, he’s obviously not wrong with his recent criticisms, but the personal gratification he seems to draw from this is a little odd.

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