The roast of Giants GM Dave Gettleman is fun, but out of context

New York Giants GM Dave Gettleman is being roasted for his comments at the NFL Combine, but that’s because context is being ignored.

When New York Giants general manager Dave Gettleman took center stage at the 2020 NFL Combine on Tuesday, everyone watching knew there would be an immediate line of “gotcha” questioning.

And how could there not be? Gettleman’s old school approach to interviews clearly doesn’t work in today’s media market, so he’s an easy target.

To some degree, Gettleman actually recognized and acknowledged that.

“One thing you have taught me very well is that there are no throwaway lines anymore,” Gettleman told reporters.

This is something we at Giants Wire caught onto and addressed this past year.

That generational communication gap persisted on Tuesday and despite Gettleman’s best efforts, throwaway lines were again nitpicked and run with. Specifically, Gettleman’s comments about defense winning championship resulted in a mob with pitchforks once again running down the street after “Dinosaur Dave.”

From For the Win:

You’d think after watching the Chiefs outscore the 49ers’ elite defense to win the Super Bowl, Gettleman’s faith in the old cliche would be shaken. Nah, this is a man who is undeterred by evidence — no matter how overwhelming it may be. The evidence showing how foolish it is to build around a defense continues to pile up, but Gettleman has chosen to ignore it. Which shouldn’t come as a shock. He drafted a running back with the second-overall pick, after all.

Of course, context matters and that was ignored in the single one-line tweet FTW used to concoct that opinion.

Here’s what Gettleman actually said in full context:

“I told you guys the day I walked into the door, offense scores points and defense wins championships. That’s the way it is.” Gettleman said. “From what I’m told, in the six Super Bowl games where it was the No. 1 offense versus the No. 1 defense, the defense is 5-1. And I was on the wrong end of that stick in 2015.

“You can’t expect your defense to hold someone to three points every week. You can’t do that. And you can’t expect your offense to score 50 every week. So, you’ve got to play complimentary football.”

As far as the Kansas City Chiefs upending the San Francisco 49ers, let us not pretend horrendous play-calling and clock management from Kyle Shanahan didn’t factor in. Had he gotten it right, we’d be talking about how the team with the better defense won out again. That’s a fact.

Either way, ole “Dinosaur Dave” wasn’t going all-in on the “defense is more important offense” angle that some are imprinting on him. What he did point out, which comes directly from the analytics everyone loves and pretends he ignores, is that historically, a top defense will predominantly win out when squaring off with a top offense.

Analytically and statistically, that’s a fact. The “evidence” proves it. So kudos to Gettleman for embracing those analytics, right? Or does it not count this time? It’s hard to keep track of where the line is drawn when it comes to DG.

What makes some of this so ironic is that Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians made a comment on Tuesday that was widely praised, but it was one that had it come off the lips of Gettleman… Yeah, the reaction would have been very, very different.

Where are the stories about Arians being old and out of touch? Ignoring data? Questioning math and analytics? There aren’t any.

We don’t agree with everything Gettleman says or does (see: Leonard Williams and that entire disaster), but we also refuse to go along with the notion that Gettleman is some sort of senile old fool based on out-of-context nit-picked line lacking any and all substance. And we’re now encouraging fans to read or watch the entirety of Gettleman’s interviews/press conferences because that’s the only way you’re going to get the full story.

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