Tag: Steve Tisch

Before kickoff against the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday afternoon, the New York Giants watched as a plane flew over MetLife Stadium with a trailing banner for the second consecutive week.

This time, the message read “Mr. Mara enough. We won’t stop until you fire everyone.”

As it turns out, the architect was not the same fan who chartered a plane ahead of a Week 14 game against the New Orleans Saints, although he initially planned on doing it that day.

Instead, the anonymous fan pushed it back a week and changed his message to be in lockstep with the first fan, who also remains anonymous.

“I was made aware of the other group doing it, and thought it wouldn’t really help to do two planes in one week,” the second fan told NJ Advance Media on Sunday. “So I pivoted. I might as well piggyback off it with a new message to show the further frustration of the fans.”

The original message was intended to be “Fire Schoen and Daboll” but High Exposure Inc. rejected it because it targeted individuals. Ultimately, the fan opted to craft a message more similar to the Week 14 banner that read “Mr. Mara enough. (Please) fix this dumpster fire.”

The purpose, the fan said, is to embarrass ownership.

“The biggest thing that the Mara family prides itself on is pride in themselves,” he said. “And so, if you’re able to make it more embarrassing, it will further force them to take action.”

The fan describes themselves as “apathetic” at this point, which should concern co-owners John Mara and Steve Tisch more than anything else. It’s a sentiment shared by most of the fanbase.

“Pissed is the wrong word. I’m apathetic,” he said. “The product is so poor to where today we were losing so poorly that the only bright spot for the offense was the Ravens’ defensive penalties and Tim Boyle.

“And the worst part is that all evidence points to Schoen and Daboll doing a poor job. And somehow we have to have this conversation of, ‘Are they coming back?'”

Daboll and his players once again dismissed the fan protests after the game, but there’s no way this is escaping the attention of Mara and Tisch. Coupled with a half-empty stadium and loud cheers for the opposing teams, it has become a public relations nightmare for the Giants.

There is one more home game remaining — a Week 17 matchup against the Indianapolis Colts — and multiple anonymous fans have told Giants Wire they, too, are considering a banner protest.

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The New York Giants are mired in one of their worst seasons ever and fans are beginning to show their frustrations in the form of protest.

Ahead of Sunday’s game against the New Orleans Saints, a fan-chartered plane circled MetLife Stadium with a banner that read, “Mr. Mara enough. (Please) fix this dumpster fire.”

Protests continued at kickoff with empty seats lining more than half of the stadium and tickets being sold for as little as $1 on the secondary market.

Then, to make sure the point was hammered home, fans cheered as the Saints blocked a Graham Gano field goal with seconds remaining, securing the Giants’ 11 loss of the season.

Out in the parking lot, a dumpster was literally set on fire.

Despite the circus the Giants have become, NFL insider Albert Breer believes co-owners John Mara and Steve Tisch will run things back, keeping both general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll in 2025.

The Giants got their high-end evaluators multiple live exposures to seven different college quarterbacks — Sanders, Miami’s Cam Ward, Georgia’s Carson Beck, Texas’s Quinn Ewers, Ole Miss’s Jaxson Dart, Alabama’s Jalen Milroe and LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier — headed into the week they went out to see Sanders in a practice setting. Over Thanksgiving weekend, they sent guys out again to get one last live look during the final full weekend of college games.

So what does this show? To me, it’s two things. First, the Giants were under no illusion that they should bank on Jones breaking through to another level — the way he did in 2022 — again, to justify picking up the $30.5 million on his contract for next season. Second, it makes it apparent that the plan has been, as John Mara has said, to stay the course with the current regime and give Schoen and Brian Daboll the chance to draft a quarterback.

Schoen and Daboll have had multiple drafts to land “their own” quarterback. They passed in the first two and failed to trade up for their target in 2024. They also chose to pass on other quarterback prospects such as Bo Nix (Denver Broncos).

Instead, they made the decision to hitch their wagon to Daniel Jones before misreading the Tyrod Taylor situation and settling for Drew Lock.

Their quarterback decisions have been suspect at best, but Breer still believes both will get a pass and return in 2025 and potentially beyond.

There’s also the fact that the Giants have, as I’ve mentioned a few times, pulled the plug quickly three times in the past decade, and the premise that Mara most certainly doesn’t want to do it again.

Which is to say, yeah, I still think Daboll and Schoen will be back next year, with some changes on the staff. But given where the Giants are right now, it’s probably best to wait before saying that with complete certainty.

The Giants have found new and humiliating ways to bottom out each week and it’s unlikely Daboll manages to buck that trend over the final month.

But it’s beginning to sound like Mara and Tisch are willing to endure the seemingly endless embarrassment because they no longer trust themselves following multiple regime failures dating back to the unnecessary parting of ways with Tom Coughlin following the 2015 season.

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It’s been a nightmare year for the New York Giants, which began in January when a blowup between head coach Brian Daboll and defensive coordinator Wink Martindale led to an ugly divorce.

Things got no better during free agency when running back Saquon Barkley split to join the Philadelphia Eagles, only to have that separation play out for the world to see on “Hard Knocks: Offseason with the New York Giants.”

Then came the play…

The Giants are 2-8 entering Week 12 and have released quarterback Daniel Jones only 20 months after signing him to a four-year, $160 million contract.

It’s been one snafu after another and the franchise has become the NFL’s whipping boy. They are routinely mocked on network television and criticized the league over — by current and former executives, current and former players, and media personalities alike.

Despite it all, co-owner John Mara gave the current regime a vote of confidence back in October and apparently intends to stand by that.

Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports reports that Mara intends to keep Schoen as GM beyond this year.

Multiple sources reiterated this week to CBS Sports that Giants owner John Mara intends to keep Schoen beyond this year. Mara has said as much publicly, and Schoen has echoed his boss as recently as last week. Yet questions around the league have persisted in recent weeks about whether Mara would make a move on the general manager who signed Jones to the four-year, $160 million contract two seasons ago.

Sources say the answer is no, and they explain that because Mara is present for the day-to-day operations, he understands why and how the contract was given in the first place.

In addition to Schoen, Jones reports that the team also appears inclined to keep Daboll as its head coach into 2025 and potentially beyond.

Giants head coach Brian Daboll is also presumed to return for 2025 as Mara does not wish for more upheaval. Daboll spent more time with the quarterbacks this season, coaching Jones hard at his request after becoming the full-time playcaller. He is expected to get the opportunity to coach up a new quarterback with the Giants next season.

“I don’t think there’s a strong appetite for change,” a source said.

After a decade of constant resets, rebuilds, and front office turnover, Mara and fellow co-owner Steve Tisch appear poised to stick this one out. At least for one more season.

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Three weeks ago New York Giants co-owner John Mara told reporters that he still had confidence in general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll.

“Obviously, we’re all very disappointed with where we are right now,” Mara said. “But I’m gonna say one thing: we are not making any changes this season. And I do not anticipate making any changes in the offseason, either.”

The Giants were 2-5 at the time and the season was somewhat salvageable. Fast forward three weeks and three more losses later and one has to wonder if Mara is rethinking his endorsement.

His 2-8 Giants are a sloppy, uninspired bunch that finds different ways to lose winnable games on a weekly basis now. They lost to Pittsburgh by eight points, Washington by five, and now by three to Carolina in overtime on Sunday.

Combine those games with a three-point loss in Washington in Week 2 where they screwed up their kicker situation and a five-point defeat at the hands of a dysfunctional Dallas team in Week 4 and this season has been a series of “what-ifs.”

They also lost to the high-flying Bengals by a respectable score of 17-7. The score was 10-7 until the final two minutes.

Had they been more disciplined and focused in some of those games, they might just be in the thick of things right now.

And that’s not just the players we’re talking about. The coaching staff and front office should be lumped in there as well. They have mismanaged the roster multiple times this season and have made dubious choices in handling injured players.

Throw in Daboll’s erratic in-game coaching decisions that have backfired and the Giants have no one to blame but themselves. He has outsmarted himself time and time again. The truth is, he has a winning percentage of just .398 as Giants head coach — the fifth worst among Giants head coaches in their history.

Mara has to be frustrated. The fans are, for sure. This NFL season is wide open and the Giants aren’t competing.  The Carolina loss was the final blow of a long flurry of final blows this season.

Whose fault is it? WFAN host Sal Licata says look no further than Mara.

“To me, the main culprit is the owner,” Sal said. “If I were John Mara, I’d wake up today and fire myself! That’s how bad he’s been. Their problems go back years, whether it’s pushing Coughlin out, hiring McAdoofus, allowing Gettleman to draft a running back second overall, and then forcing Schoen and Daboll to extend Daniel Jones… Every step of the way, it’s been wrong decisions, and it starts at the top with Mara…the problem is, he’s not going anywhere.”

Of course, Mara didn’t force Schoen to decline Jones’ fifth-year option. If he were truly meddling, that would have never happened and Saquon Barkley would still be dressing in blue. That suggests Schoen and Daboll are acting freely.

Still, Mara is not without blame.

Firing Schoen and Daboll will just keep the revolving door going. They are new to their jobs and may not be very good at them for all we know.

Mara has to take into account his role in this mess. These are not pleasant times for the Giants and their fans. Will they ever be able to escape this losing cycle again?

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The idea of “tanking” in the NFL is preposterous. Hundreds of millions of dollars are invested into 53 players and a full coaching staff, all of whom are designed to lead multi-billion dollar organizations to the precipice of the football world.

Those at the NFL level are also wired differently. They are among the most competitive humans walking the face of the earth and the idea of shutting that instinctual nature off is a non-starter.

Over the past two decades, only one NFL team has deliberately “tanked” in a single game, and that was the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 17 of the 2020 regular season. It was an extremely rare sighting — like seeing Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster.

Despite the rarity of “tanking” and the near-impossibility of it among players, it’s exactly what Alex Ballentine of Bleacher Report believes the New York Giants should do during the 2024 season.

Whether the Giants can afford to tank in 2024 probably depends on whether owner John Mara is able to extend some grace to Brian Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen for the Daniel Jones contract.

Schoen gave Jones a four-year, $160 million contract last offseason while contract talks with Saquon Barkley stalled and resulted in a one-year deal. Fast-forward to 2024 and Jones’ status as franchise quarterback is still in question. Barkley is now with the division-rival Philadelphia Eagles.

Those Eagles not only added Barkley, but also added Bryce Huff on defense in addition to two new coordinators who could fix their woes from last season. The Cowboys still have a ton of talent even if it feels like everyone is in a contract year. The Commanders have an exciting answer at quarterback and a new head coach.

The Giants have been flailing since 2012. Co-owners John Mara and Steve Tisch have zero patience for losing, which is evident by the mass head coaching turnover since 2016. There’s absolutely zero percent chance they’re willing to burn their money for no reason in 2024, allowing the embarrassment of the franchise to build further over the next 365 days.

But Ballentine continues.

There are things to get excited about with the Giants. Malik Nabers gives them their biggest potential star at receiver since Odell Beckham Jr. and the defensive line added a huge missing piece in Brian Burns.

But it feels like this offense is still far from providing the Giants with a contender. If Mara can exercise some patients, making moves that would see the team be more competitive with a potential first-round quarterback might be the best path forward.

And how would one sell this to players? An NFL shelf life is short and every player on the roster is compelled to compete in search of their next big contract. Surrendering a full season is not something any of them would swallow.

None of this even takes into account the jobs that would be lost or the assistants that would want out. Tanking certainly wouldn’t reflect well on their resume and it would, potentially, end careers even if Mara and Tisch were somehow drugged and convinced to sign off on it.

So, no. The New York Giants will not be tanking in 2024. It won’t even be so much as a whisper of consideration. Nor should it be.

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